Take the new production of "Amistad," reconceived for this second hearing as contemporary rather than grand opera, with an impressive production-in-the-round
-Anne Midgette, The Washington Post

Memminger is an open space with moveable seating, and Caleb Hale Wertenbaker created the simple but effective set: a raised oval platform with the audience on its two long sides.
-Heidi Waleson, The Wall Street Journal

Set designer Caleb Hale Wertenbaker has made imaginative use of the new Memminger Theatre's large black-box space. If you sit at the north end of the hall, you will find yourself walking over the painted silhouettes of dead slaves and through an adjoining space that serves as a wood-paneled smoking room for elite citizens and politicos. Opposite the paneling, a large space is set aside for conductor Emmanuel Villaume and the Spoleto Festival Orchestra, who can be seen clearly by the audience.
-Perry Tannenbaum, Theater Mania

Director Sam Helfrich, set and costume designers Caleb Hale Wertembaker and Kaye Voice, and lighting designer Peter West collaborated to make Amistad flow with ease across the stage in Memminger’s black-box interior. Indeed, the production is a coup of music theater for Spoleto — an experiment in opera grand and intimate and timely in its content.
-Wes Blomster, Opera Today