Commissioned by George C. Wolfe and the Joseph Papp Public Theater, THE VOICE OF TEMPERANCE was premiered in New York in 1995. It is a full-evening piece for 8 singers.

Based on actual historical texts of the Prohibition era, the story takes place on the eve of the repeal of Prohibition. It is performed as a political action play by protesters who consider themselves the moral majority.

These whimsical yet passionate songs rail against wine and whisky, warn against loose women, and beg for redemption.

They form a last desperate cry in a losing battle to save a nation that just might be going to the devil.