SDSU Opera Theatre is proud to present, A Double Bill of One-Act Operas. The event will run at the Mainstage Theatre at San Diego State University March 6-9.

Audiences will have the opportunity to share an evening of intense drama and farcical comedy with The Medium and Le docteur Miracle.

Travis Sherwood, associate professor & director of SDSU Opera Theatre began leading the program last year. He shared “I want the audience to be entertained. Opera is deeply intentional storytelling that sometimes – quite literally – gets lost in translation. The Medium will be performed in English and Le docteur Miracle performed in French with English supertitles. I’m hoping the audience will find opera an accessible art form that deftly speaks to the human experience.”

Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Medium is a haunting drama of deception and guilt chronicling the mental and emotional decline of a desperate mother who enlists her children to choreograph fraudulent seances for money.

George Bizet’s Le docteur Miracle is an absurd comedy of trickery and disguise depicting a young couple’s attempt to dupe a controlling father who is determined to keep them apart. The production will feature Music Voice Performance students from both SDSU’s Undergraduate and Masters programs.

Sherwood continued “Choosing the right opera is always challenging. First and foremost, we want to select a piece that serves our students. The opera must be suitable for younger voices while also challenging them to grow as artists. This Double Bill provides a wealth of opportunity for our students. It would be hard to find two operas that are more contrasting in subject, composition, and style, yet it is this stark contrast that makes for an exciting night at the opera.”

Sherwood added “Every young artist in this Double Bill has grown throughout the rehearsal process. I always love watching a cast bond. Many argue that opera is the peak of artistic vulnerability. It requires your whole self. It requires us to dig deep and access parts of ourselves we never knew existed. The limits of this vulnerability are tested in the rehearsal room. It has been exceptionally rewarding to see the young artists in these operas allow each other the space to make bold artists risks without fear of criticism.”

Performances of A Double Bill of One Act Operas will run Thursday/Friday/Saturday at 7 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m. Visit: https://music.sdsu.edu/calendar.

Tickets are $10-$15 and SDSU students are free.

CAPTION: A Double Bill of One Act Operas runs March 6-9. (Photo credit: Ken Jacques)