The Buzz | Charleston a focus of 40th season of Spoleto Festival USA

Historic Charleston is a large focus of next spring’s 40th edition of the Spoleto Festival USA, from glimpses of the city in the iconic opera “Porgy and Bess” to the tragedy of the Emanuel AME Church shootings.
The lineup for the internationally known arts festival that runs from May 27 through June 12 was unveiled on Sunday.
It features Spoleto’s first production of George Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess,” the famed opera about Charleston and its people based on the novel by Charleston native DuBose Heyward. The production is being designed by Jonathan Green, the local artist known worldwide for his colorful paintings of black residents of the sea islands on the southeast coast.
The opera will be Spoleto’s first production in the Gaillard Center, the city’s new USD142 million performing arts center that opened last fall.