Inspired by text drawn from public record, composer Curtis K. Hughes recounts his experience watching the 2008 Vice Presidential Debate. “When watching the US Vice Presidential debate in 2008, I was struck by the extraordinary musical contrasts between the voices of Sarah Palin and Joe Biden, as well as the convergence of two such fascinating life stories, both containing tragic, heroic, and comic elements. The audience for my opera ‘Say it ain't so, Joe’ will experience a surreal and fractured vision of that remarkable encounter, as well as brief glimpses of other contemporaneous events and political figures, with some fantastical digressions."

Composer: Curtis K. Hughes The cast: Jennifer Ashe as Sarah Palin; Aliana de la Guardia* as Sarah Palin/Diane Sawyer; Amanda Keil as Hillary Clinton/Gwen Ifill/Unnamed Interviewer; Brian Church as Joe Biden/Joe "the plumber" Wurzelbacher; Kent O'Doherty,* saxophones; Rane Moore, clarinets; Javier Caballero, cello; and Mike Williams,* percussion. * indicates core-ensemble members of Guerilla Opera. Directed by Nathan Troup.