Persons and Kimper: Patience and Sarah.

In what may be an operatic first, a lesbian love story takes center stage

Think Little House on the Prairie. Add passionate lesbian love. That's one way to describe Isabel Miller's classic 1972 novel Patience & Sarah, a tale of two 19th-century American women who defy the conventions of their time, writing their own rules and settling on a farm. Romantic, even inspirational--but an opera? Indeed. Seventeen years in the making, Patience & Sarah--the first opera in memory that centers on a lesbian love story--is scheduled to make its world premiere in New York beginning July 8 as part of Lincoln Center Festival 98.

The idea for the opera originated in 1981, when librettist Wende Persons used a crush on a certain soprano to fuel her creative muse. "To impress her I finished the first draft in three weeks," says Persons, who works by day as director of promotions and product management for Deutsche Grammophon records.

But the soprano didn't return Persons's feelings, and the libretto sat on the shelf until Persons met and fell in love with composer Paula M. Kimper in 1989. But Kimper, a graduate of Eastman School of Music who had scored only film and theater, wasn't sure about taking on her first opera. "It's a huge undertaking," says Kimper. "I wasn't up for the challenge until I saw a lot of opera with Wende and got inspired."

The next challenge was persuading the reclusive Miller to grant the rights to her novel, which was itself inspired by the true story of American primitive painter Mary Ann Willson and her companion, known only as Miss Brundage. (Willson's works will be on display concurrently with the Patience & Sarah premiere at Lincoln Center's neighboring Museum of American Folk Art.)

Persons recalls, "Isabel Miller wasn't an opera lover, but both her ex-lover and her lover were. Her first words to me were, `This is all a bit much for me, but my friends tell me it's very good.'" Although she died in the summer of 1995, Miller lived long enough to give her blessing to Persons and Kimper and to see the opera get a workshop production under the wing of New York's American Opera Projects.

Persons and Kimper ended their relationship in 1996, but Patience & Sarah has been like a child, a bond between them as they made the transition from lovers to friends. Ironically, the soprano who first inspired Persons has since left the business. Another lesbian singer now gets the glory--mezzo-soprano Elaine Valby, who will perform the part of Sarah Dowling at Lincoln Center opposite Lori Ann Phillips as Patience White.

Buzz about Patience & Sarah has spread in the opera world and in the gay and lesbian community, strengthened by a favorable 1996 review in The New York Times. The project commands impressive support even among some of opera's most discriminating devotees. "Terrence McNally was dragged to a performance grumbling that he wasn't going to give us any money," says Kimper. "But after seeing the work, not only has he given us money, but he hosted a benefit for us in March."

Along with McNally's support came the assistance of director Doug Moser. "My introduction to opera was Patience & Sarah," he says. "Paula's work transcended my fears about what opera was--people in funny hats singing in high notes for five hours. There's a sincerity to Patience & Sarah. It's a beautiful work, and once you've been in its presence, it opens your heart, and you believe in it." Moser, who is gay, is certain that Patience & Sarah will touch other gay men as well. "If any gay man thinks that an opera about lesbians will not speak to him," he says, "this is the work to change their minds. It's the same for straight people who might be put off by the idea of a lesbian love story and puritan women kissing onstage. The people who reject this work haven't seen it yet."