Harlem playwright’s award-winning opera depicts effects of police brutality

More than a month prior to the wrenching viral video of George Floyd being killed by Derek Chauvin, which caused worldwide reverberations to our social fabric, the prestigious Music Critics Association of North America (MCANA) decided to grant Playwright and Director Tazewell Thompson the award for Best New Opera for “Blue,” a production for which Tazewell made his debut as a librettist. His co-recipient was the opera’s composer Jeanine Tesori. The decision wasn’t announced…