''An Embarrassing Position'' is a short play written in 1895 by American author

Kate Chopin Kate Chopin (, also ; born Katherine O'Flaherty; February 8, 1850 – August 22, 1904) was an American author of short stories and novels based in Louisiana. She is considered by scholars to have been a forerunner of American 20th-century feminis ...

, which was adapted as a

comic opera Comic opera, sometimes known as light opera, is a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending and often including spoken dialogue. Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a ne ...

in 2010 by American composer

Dan Shore Dan Shore (born 1975) is an American composer and playwright from Allentown, Pennsylvania, whose works include ''The Beautiful Bridegroom'', '' An Embarrassing Position'', ''Travel'', ''Works of Mercy'', and ''Lady Orchid''. Education Shore atte ...

The play

Chopin wrote ''An Embarrassing Position'' while living in

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

. She submitted it to the ''New York Herald'' drama competition, but did not win. It appeared in the St. Louis ''Mirror'' on December 19, 1895. Later, interest in her work grew, and in 1970 the play was published as part of ''Kate Chopin: Complete Novels and Stories'' by the Library of America.Zell, Martin Allen
"Stray Leaves: Portrait of the Artist with Two Heads"
. ''NOLA Book and Literary News'' The play has been studied as an example of early American literature; for example, it is included in Yvonne Collioud Sisko's book ''Looking at Literature: 12 Short Stories, a Play, and a Novel''.

The opera

After

rewrote Chopin's play as a comic opera, ''An Embarrassing Position'' was first produced by the

New England Conservatory The New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) is a Private college, private music school in Boston, Massachusetts. The conservatory is located on Huntington Avenue along Avenue of the Arts (Boston), the Avenue of the Arts near Boston Symphony Ha ...

in 2010, and went on to win a Big Easy Entertainment Award and the National Opera Association's Chamber Opera Competition. The opera has been praised for its lyricism and its evocation of turn-of-the-century New Orleans. The opera was favorably reviewed in ''

The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate ''The Times-Picayune , The New Orleans Advocate'' (commonly called ''The Times-Picayune'' or the ''T-P'') is an American newspaper published in New Orleans, Louisiana. Ancestral publications of other names date back to January 25, 1837. The cu ...

'' in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

. and ''

Gambit A gambit (from Italian , the act of tripping someone with the leg to make them fall) is a chess opening in which a player sacrifices with the aim of achieving a subsequent advantage. The word '' gambit'' is also sometimes used to describe si ...

'' magazine.Coviello, Will
"Review: Blue Monday and An Embarrassing Position "
''Gambit: The Best of New Orleans''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Embarrassing Position, An 1895 plays Works by Kate Chopin