THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 13, 1995 TAG: 9505130238
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: By MARK MOBLEY, MUSIC CRITIC
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Long : 110 lines
Opera isn't all gods and doomed sopranos. It is also fourth- and fifth-graders singing their own songs.
Friday marked the world premiere of ``The Write Stuff,'' an opera conceived, composed, produced and performed by The Kids Opera Company. The Churchland Academy students were on stage, backstage and in a makeshift orchestra pit at the back of the school gym. The show runs through Tuesday.
The opera follows last year's ``Just Kickin,' '' the first local product of a training program run by New York's Metropolitan Opera Guild. Two Churchland Academy teachers, Lori Mounie and Sue Blake, learned the basics of opera production at Yale University in 1993. Then they helped their students create an original drama about a young soccer team.
``I saw the opera they did last year and I crossed my fingers my son would get into this class this year,'' Marilyn Peacock said at the dress rehearsal Friday morning. Her 9-year-old son Sean is in the percussion orchestra for ``The Write Stuff.''
Sean sounds the bell that starts the show. Just before rehearsal began, he said that his friends ask him, `` `You're in the opera? Your class made it all?' They just can't believe it, that kids made this opera by themselves.''
With easygoing melodies, the new opera tells the story of a school newspaper staff torn between revealing or concealing a student's homelessness. An article about the child is written, rejected and then inadvertently printed. The school is shocked and accusations of wrongdoing fly, but the staffers reconcile and the homeless student is taken in by a teacher.
``It was hard deciding on a theme and a thesis,'' Mounie said. ``The first thing you do is brainstorm on things that are important to you, and it took forever. We have some very deep and mature thinkers and we didn't want to do something trite and obvious.
``To see it all come together has just amazed all of us.''
``I've seen opera on TV and stuff, but I couldn't understand what they were saying if they didn't have the words at the bottom of the TV,'' said Jazminne Wynn, 10. This opera, she said, is ``exciting because it's about kids like us. The best thing is you get to see your friends up there on stage and you can see how good they can act, and you can see their inner self.''
The opera begins with a flurry of activity. Sean Peacock's bell sends students rushing in from the back of the room, through the middle of the audience. The actors stand around a water fountain that - as Marilyn Peacock pointed out - was just a cardboard box a couple of weeks ago. With homemade footlights beneath them, they sing the chorus ``Going Home.''
The newspaper staff meets to discuss stories. ``Real news reporters have to dig deep to find their scoop,'' someone tells Deigh, the reporter assigned to write about the homeless.
``How do I find someone homeless?'' sings Deigh, who was played by 10-year-old Jennifer Buckley. ``How do I know how they look?'' She discovers that her classmate Danny is homeless and writes a profile of him.
``Wait until you read my article. It's brilliant, if I do say so myself,'' Deigh says.
Another staffer answers, ``Telling everyone that one of your classmates is homeless is risky business.''
The story is killed, but it finds its way into the paper when Brian, played by 11-year-old Aaron Esposito, entrusts a friend with taking the stories to the printer. The students gather in the hall with fresh copies of the paper. One exclaims, ``That Deigh, she certainly has some nerve, printing an article like this.''
``Now they think it's all my fault, why should I take the blame?'' Brian sings. ``I might be a bit sarcastic. I like to joke and play. But I wouldn't do anything harmful and I usually don't mean what I say.''
All is soon forgiven. The cast sings the finale: ``Decisions, decisions, decisions. They may be right, they may be wrong. Deciding what to do is often risky.''
The homeless child is adopted by the P.E. teacher, Mr. Spencer.
The name ``Mr. Spencer'' was selected in tribute to Derrick B. Spencer, a classmate who died in an automobile accident during the rehearsal process. And the production is tinged with sadness in another way. Peggy Bartlett said the teachers had planned to travel to New York for further training, but the city schools' constricted travel budget would not allow it.
But Friday morning, the 54-member company was focused on the show. Sean Peacock said he was kind of nervous. ``For some parents this is their first time, and they will be like, `How is this opera? Is it going to be good? Will they play it right?' ''
For Sean's mother, the signs of success are already apparent. ``We've been to shows at Chrysler Hall, but he didn't know anything about putting on a show,'' she said. Now, ``he sings all the songs all the time. My daughter says, `Would you stop doing opera?' '' ILLUSTRATION: Color staff photo by BETH BERGMAN
Chanell Copeland, 9, feels the sheer joy of performing during the
final number of ``The Write Stuff.''
Nadia McCall, 10, hovers backstage during the performance of an
opera composed and performed by the Kids Opera Company. The opera
deals with a student newspaper and the ethics involved in publishing
a story about a student who is homeless.
COMING UP
``The Write Stuff'' by the Kids Opera Company will be performed
again Monday at 10 a.m. and Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at Churchland
Academy, 4061 River Shore Road, Portsmouth. Call 686-2527 for more
information.
Students at James Hurst Elementary are performing ``The Magic
Gondola,'' an original opera about orphans dreaming of travel to
Italy, Saturday at 7 p.m. at the school, 18 Dahlgren Ave.,
Portsmouth. Call 558-2811 for more information.
The opera ``Hotel of Terror'' will premiere May 31 at Cradock
Middle School, 21 Alden Ave., Portsmouth. Call 393-8788.
by CNB