Opera at the improv

It's July, and time to start working on "Instant Opera!", our first appearances at Wolf Trap's Children's Theatre-in-the-Woods (http://www.wolftrap.org/performances/woods.html) since the late 1980's. The old format (in which I participated as a pianist) involved taking staged one-act operas to the "TITW". The average attendee is probably about 7 years old, and the one-acts, while a great experience in many ways, were problematic. We've been looking for a way to return to the Children's TITW with a vehicle that would engage the children and challenge our artists, and now we have it.

We're taking a format called Interactive Opera to the TITW in mid-July. Our kick-off meeting today (me and 6 of our singers) was energizing and frightening. It's sobering to think that in a few weeks, we'll be doing daily performances of this improv-based program in front of hundreds of children. And we all know that kids are the toughest audience of all. More later!