The University of Toledo’s Dr. Matt Foss first read Norman Maclean’s “A River Runs Through It,” a semi-autobiographical account of its author’s upbringing in early 20th-century Montana, as a wildlife biologist for Fish, Wildlife & Parks in the late 1990s.
In the years he’s since established himself as a playwright and screenwriter, in addition to a professor in UToledo’s Department of Theatre and Film, he hasn’t stopped thinking about bringing that state-favorite novella on the stage.
Michael Kuhn portrays the character Paul Maclean in Opera Montana’s ‘A River Runs Through It.’ Photo credit: Nile Scott Studios.
That dream finally came to fruition in mid-September when UToledo faculty collaborated with Opera Montana to stage a world premiere of “A River Runs Through It” that received positive reviews in high-profile outlets including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post.
Foss directed and co-wrote the libretto for the opera, while Stephen Sakowski, a professor and chair of the Department of Theatre and Film, served as lighting director and Abby Glanville, an adjunct instructor in dance, served as choreographer.
“It is an incredible honor to help bring such a quintessential American story to the operatic stage,” Foss said. “At its heart, ‘A River Runs Through It’ is a universal meditation on love, loss and how we care for the people closest to us — even when we don’t know how. Bringing this project from the page to the stage alongside my UToledo colleagues made the achievement all the more meaningful.”
Opera Montana commissioned the opera in honor of the 50th anniversary of the novella’s publication in 1976. Foss’s stage direction and Sakowski’s lighting design worked in tandem to craft a visually striking production that lifts the work off the page, shifting between quiet moments inside the family home and fly-fishing scenes on the Blackfoot River.
“The creative collaboration on this production reflects the caliber of professional creative research happening within our department,” Sakowski said. “Lighting a story so deeply rooted in natural landscapes required balancing the warmth of home with the luminescence of the river, and it has been a privilege to share that vision on a national stage.”
Opera presented a new medium for Foss and Sakowski, each of whom drew on extensive experience with stage and screen. This includes 2019’s “All Quiet on the Western Front” and 2020’s “20K Leagues Under the Sea,” two works on which they collaborated and premiered at UToledo’s Center for Performing Arts before receiving Joseph Jefferson Awards, recognizing excellence in Chicago-area theater, as well as accolades from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Foss most recently wrote and collaborated on an independent film, “Method,” that’s expected to hit the festival circuit in 2027. Several UToledo students and alumni joined the crew during production on campus in June.
“I think it’s vital as a professor in the arts to actively be practicing what I profess so my students can see me taking the same risks and reaching for the same expectations of excellence I ask of them in my class,” Foss said. “I am committed to integrating students into my work in whatever ways are possible. ‘River’ is expected to have a life after the premiere, both in opera companies and reorchestrated for Broadway-style stages, so I’m hoping this is just the beginning of our involvement with a project of this caliber.”
