Welcome to Central City Opera's 2010 Festival!

Hello and welcome to Central City Opera's 2010 Festival! 

Are you excited for Madama Butterfly, Orpheus in the Underworld, and Three Decembers yet? I know I am! If you’re as big of a theatre geek as I am, (and I’ll place a bet in one of Gilpin County’s many casinos that many of you are), then I know you’re just itching to know what’s going on behind-the-scenes of this year’s festival. Well, you’re in luck, because that’s where I come in. I’m Lucy, Central City Opera’s 2010 PR Assistant, and I’ll be your blogger for the summer. Through me, you’ll get to know the men & women in charge of our three lovely operas. You’ll get that behind-the-scenes glimpse I’m sure you’ve all been longing for. And you’ll get to read about the excitement of opera life and life in Central City. For now, though, I’ll just fill you in on the life of a Central City Opera intern so far.

To give you some background on me, I was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA, and I go to school in Ithaca, NY, where I'm studying Drama & English at Ithaca College. I love theatre and I grew up constantly hearing my mom play opera, so of course I jumped at the chance to work at Central City Opera this summer. My official title is “Festival Staffer & Public Relations Assistant,” but basically I’m an intern.

The 2010 Central City Opera Interns

Some people call us the lowest on the totem pole, but I think they’re just jealous of all our fun. I don’t know about you, but working with 13 twenty-something theatre kids and being surrounded by art all summer seemed pretty darn good to me when I signed up for this gig. And so far, my predictions have been right!

We interns have been here for almost two weeks, and basically, we’ve been getting ready for all of our awesome artists to arrive. This involved a lot of schlepping furniture around and cleaning up, but it also gave us interns plenty of time to bond. The artists have finally started arriving, however, and things are getting lively in Central City. We’ve already had the annual Pink House Party, thrown at the Teller House due to rain, but fun nonetheless. There, artists, staff, and interns mingled and got to know each other, and Artistic Director Emeritus John Moriarty welcomed us to the 2010 festival.

Other events have included the opening of the Gilpin County History Museum, which served townspeople 40-cent meals in celebration of its 40^th Birthday – May 29, 2010. Happy Birthday, History Museum!

This week is bound to be just as exciting as last week, if not more so. There’s "Death by Aria", where Apprentice Artists show off their talents by singing a piece they've selected; then there’s the first Madama Butterfly staging rehearsal, Guild Planting Day, and maybe (if we’re lucky), a few surprises. I’m looking forward to telling you all about them!