March 27 - Shorter College’s professor Linda Lister will play a lead role in “Picnic,” a world premiere opera that will debut April 2 at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Lister, who serves associate professor of music, opera director and vocal coordinator at Shorter, will portray the character Madge in an operatic realization of the William Ingle’s 1953 Pulitzer-prize winning play.

A graduate of UNCG School of Music, Lister will share the stage with fellow alumnus Chuck Schneider, as he portrays the role of Hal. The UNCG School of Music commissioned Libby Larsen, a nationally known composer, to adapt the play into a modern opera. “Picnic” is a joint project with the UNCG Department of Theatre. David Holley, director of UNCG Opera Theatre, wrote the libretto and directs the opera. “Picnic,” which was also made into a 1955 movie with William Holden and Kim Novak, revolves around a downtrodden former football star named Hal, who shakes things up in a small Midwestern town when he meets Madge.