Riders to the Sea

Yesterday was the final performance of my school's spring opera production -- and the reason it's been a little quiet around here lately!  We did two one-act operas: "Riders to the Sea" by Ralph Vaughn Williams, and "Gallantry" by Douglas Moore.   Which are about as different as two operas could possibly be!  Riders is incredibly dark and tragic -- set in a little fishing community on one of the Erin Islands in Galway Bay, it's bleak and sad and lots of people die.  Gallantry on the other hand was written in the late 1950s and is an honest-to-goodness "soap opera".  It's great!

My photos are all from Riders because that was my opera.  Besides having a lead role (I played Cathleen, one of the daughters), I spent countless hours in the concert hall this past week working on the sets.  I learned how to paint a pretty convincing fake wood grain!  And also how to paint a floor you'd swear was linoleum - at least from the audience :-)

Photo by Calli Smith: courtesy of C.S.Photography

This was an incredibly rewarding opera for me - I learned a lot as a singer and performer, and I also had the chance to do a lot of the behind-the-scenes work, painting and putting the set together, and helping pull together the props.

Our family: Nora, Cathleen, Maurya, and Bartley.

Doesn't the ladder really look like aged wood?  I painted it!  The floor wasn't me, though.

And look!  That spinning wheel on set?  Yep, that's mine.  I got to sit and spin for about 10 minutes a night... which doesn't sound like a whole lot, but I almost filled a bobbin with a pretty grey single during the course of rehearsals and the performances.  

Spinning in the dressing room after our last performance.

I may have more photos later - obviously since I was onstage I couldn't take them myself, but we had a professional photographer (and my good friend) who came to the dress rehearsal and got lots!  The one I posted above is her work.  Once she gets the rest online I'll see if I can get permission to blog them for you, or at the very least I'll direct you to her website so you can see them if you wish!