The Opera Workshop presents The Old Maid and the Thief

Date of Release: 02/24/2005

SAN MARCOS—The Opera Workshop will present Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Old Maid and the Thief 8 p.m. March 4-5 at the University Performing Arts and Conference Center at Texas State University-San Marcos.

Under the direction of Cina Crisara, D.M.A., the Texas State School of Music production will feature both undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in the opera workshop class. Admittance to the class is by audition only, and serves to provide singers with performance opportunities as well as to teach movement and acting for opera, and to allow the study of opera repertoire and literature that students will encounter throughout their careers.

The opera was premiered in 1939 as an NBC radio broadcast and the Texas State production will be staged as a recreation of that original broadcast. The opera takes place in small-town America, where Miss Todd, an old maid, takes a wandering stranger, Bob, into her home. When the neighborhood gossip tells Miss Todd there is a murderer on the loose who fits Bob’s description, shenanigans ensue to prevent Bob from being taken away. Add in a scheming maid and you have a classic operatic tale written in Menotti’s inimitable style. The principal roles will be sung by Sara Michael Jacobi, Jeremiah Drake, Casey Ford and Abby Dawson.

Tickets cost $5 for general admission and $3 for students. For more information, call (512) 245-3046.