When Jeffrey Lockwood received an automated emergency message from his son’s phone on July 13, 2024, he could not yet know how profoundly his family’s life was about to change.

Hours later, a surgeon called with a stark instruction: “Get here as soon as possible.”

Lockwood understood what the surgeon meant. His son Ethan might not survive the night.

Ethan had been critically injured in a head-on collision with a truck driven by a drowsy driver. When Lockwood arrived at the intensive care unit in Wenatchee, Washington, his son’s body had been shattered and his brain seriously injured.

What followed were months of uncertainty, pain and recovery, including 13 fractures, eight surgeries and a skin graft. Lockwood remained alongside his son through hospital stays, rehabilitation and the long emotional journey that followed.

That experience became the inspiration for Hurting, Healing, Hoping: A Trio of Medical Operas, which will be performed at the Gryphon Theatre in Laramie on October 23 and 24.

“The accident and the months that followed forced me to confront the power and limits of medical knowledge,” Lockwood said. “I also came to understand the challenges that doctors, nurses and other healthcare providers face in integrating technical expertise with human compassion.”

Lockwood, a University of Wyoming professor emeritus, author and experienced opera librettist, transformed those experiences into three short operas composed by Michael Udow. Together, the works move from the anxiety of waiting for medical news, through the suffering of a patient in pain, and finally toward the difficult process of physical and emotional recovery.

The first, The Waiting Room: Being Patient, follows two people awaiting life-changing news—one about a possible cancer diagnosis and the other about his son’s emergency surgery. Joined by a hospital chaplain, they wrestle with suffering, meaning and the idea of miracles.

In Being There: A Prescription, a doctor and caregiver struggle to ease a patient’s pain while confronting the limits of medicine. Ultimately, they discover one intervention that can be powerful without carrying medical risk: human touch.

The final opera, Kintsugi: Golden Seams in Cracked Vessels, takes its name from the Japanese practice of repairing broken pottery with gold. During a rehabilitation session, a man, his body and his mind become separate characters, revealing both the visible and invisible wounds left by trauma.

“Healing is a journey, not a destination,” Lockwood said.

For Lockwood, opera provided a particularly powerful way to share the story. It combines narrative, music, visual art and live performance, allowing an audience to understand difficult ideas while also feeling their emotional weight.

The production was created for both the medical community and the general public, including those who may never have attended an opera before. All three works will be performed in approximately one hour, in English, with the words displayed above the stage.

Audiences can expect three professional singers accompanied by a five-piece chamber orchestra. A reception will follow the October 23 performance, while the October 24 performance will be followed by a discussion with the audience.

Lockwood hopes the operas will “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable”—reminding people facing illness or injury that they are not alone, while challenging assumptions held by those who have never experienced a medical crisis.

The production is also a tribute to the thousands of people working in healthcare and social assistance throughout the Laramie community.

For Lockwood, hope is not simply believing that everything will turn out well. It requires action.

“Hope comes from acknowledging the past, being grateful for the present and looking forward to possibilities,” he said. “It entails a commitment to work for positive change in the world.”

All proceeds from ticket sales will benefit the Laramie Downtown Clinic, putting that idea of hope into practice here at home.

Hurting, Healing, Hoping: A Trio of Medical Operas will be performed at 7 p.m. Friday, October 23, and Saturday, October 24, at the Gryphon Theatre, 710 E. Garfield St. Tickets are $20, with all proceeds benefiting the Laramie Downtown Clinic. Ticket sales will be announced through the Gryphon Theatre.