Mass Justice

Background

The Karen Read case emerged from the 2022 death of Boston police officer John O’Keefe and quickly became a matter of intense public attention in Massachusetts and beyond. Read was charged in connection with O’Keefe’s death, and the case has involved competing narratives, disputed evidence, and extensive media coverage. As legal proceedings unfolded, the matter prompted widespread debate about investigative process, evidentiary standards, and the role of public opinion in shaping perceptions of guilt and innocence. The case has been closely followed not only for its legal complexity, but for what it reveals about how modern institutions and communities respond under conditions of scrutiny and uncertainty.

Mass Justice in progress

Set within the ritual framework of a Catholic Mass, Mass Justice unfolds as two women - Karen and Jen - stand before a priest who serves as both confessor and judge. Through aria, duet, and confrontation, they bear their inner lives in a space where faith, law, and judgment intersect. Inspired by public response to the Karen Read case, the opera engages not with the adjudication of events, but with the moral and communal reverberations that follow when a legal process becomes a public spectacle.

A turba-style vocal quartet, drawn from the tradition of Passion settings, function as crowd, conscience, and collective voice. The chorus comments, interrupts, and amplifies the unfolding narrative, embodying how accusation, belief, doubt, and evidence circulate within communities during moments of intense public scrutiny. In an era when investigations unfold in parallel with media commentary, social discourse, and institutional review, Mass Justice considers how trust is built - or eroded- within systems designed to evaluate claims carefully and deliberately.

The libretto weaves texts from both the Old and New Testament with original material, inhabiting the space between allegation and adjudication, and between evidence and belief. Rather than reenacting events, the opera reflects on how communities seek meaning, accountability, and moral clarity when legal processes remain unresolved. In doing so, Mass Justice situates the Karen Read case within a broader cultural conversation about investigation, due process, institutional responsibility, and the human cost of prolonged public judgment.