A Night At The Opera - In Springs

"Some people think opera is long and boring and in another language. We hope we change your mind," said Olen Helgesen, a Springs School student, as he introduced the brand-new Springs School Opera Company in its performance last night.

The troupe - 40 fourth, fifth, and sixth-graders who survived a rigorous "audition" process - presented "The Rumor," an opera written, composed, and produced by students.

"The Rumor" grew out of a Metropolitan Opera Guild teacher-training program, Creating Original Opera. The composer Stephen Dickman, a Springs resident and an artist-in-residence in the Manhattan program, oversaw the project with Greg Pliska, another Met artist-in-residence.

To find a story line, Sue Ellen Winter, a Springs teacher, worked with six children who "brainstormed all the major issues in the lives of fourth through sixth-graders."

"We kept coming back to the idea of 'pressures'," said Ms. Winter. And the greatest pressure, the students decided, is caused by rumors.

Events turn on "a kid who starts a rumor and how it affects a group of friends," as explained in the introduction.

In the first act, singers step forward with examples as the chorus in the background keeps up a steady chant: "Pressures. Pressures."

"All around my home, I'm pressured to be the perfect child," sang one.

"I am always picked last in gym or recess. That's pressure," sang another.

"My life is miserable/It's clearly visible/no one likes me," sang Zachary Hyman, who played Kevin, the subject of a rumor about his supposed romance with a classmate.

"He's such a loser, his father's a boozer," sang Zachary's classmates in the refrain.

A comforting resolution comes about in Act Three, "Friendship," although at the very end of the opera, rumors begin to surface again.

Last year, Mr. Dickman suggested that Springs participate in the Opera Guild program, and this year the school became the only one on Long Island to do so.

"This program required a high responsibility level from each person," declared Olen, who doubled as production manager, in his introduction.

Because student responsibility is so high on the program's list of goals, Mr. Dickman and Mr. Pliska required applicants to complete a series of assignments to demonstrate their commitment.

These auditions were held in October right down the line, not just for performers but for writers, composers, electricians, carpenters, make up artists, costume and set designers, and public relations people.

Mr. Dickman and Mr. Pliska, with Ms. Winter and another teacher, Colleen Whelan, who served as co-producers, met with each work team two or three times a week.

The student composers, a group of six led by Mr. Dickman, then designed a musical motif to express the mood and feeling of the words. Musical notes, phrases, and sections are analogous to words, sentences, and paragraphs, Mr. Dickman stressed.

Each student experimented with instruments to create his or her own musical proposal; then the group chose what they thought was best.

Kyril Bromley, a pianist whose fourth-grade son, Nick, took on carpentry tasks, accompanied the cast.

Students were expected to use what they have learned in the classrooms in their opera tasks. Painted backdrops for "The Rumor" were lowered and raised with a pulley system designed by the stage crew, whose members had just studied the concept.

"This is the kind of thing that gives kids opportunities to do real work and to see the results," said Dr. William Silver, the Springs School Superintendent. "I'm excited about it."

"What this really is, is an authentic work experience," said David Dik, director of education at the Metropolitan Opera Guild.

"We looked at what the kids will need to be a part of the 21st-century work force. . . . The process deals with taking risks, working together, interacting."

Creating Original Opera is as much about teaching teachers as teaching children. A follow-up weeklong summer workshop for teachers is part of the package.

The total cost to the district is $3,500. The Metropolitan Opera Guild, an association of operatic "angels," underwrites the remainder of the $11,000 program. For inner-city schools, the entire cost is subsidized.

Ms. Whelan will likely be one of three Springs teachers to attend the summer workshop, in which teachers learn not only how to take the reins for future productions, but also, perhaps, to change their perception of the entire classroom learning process.

"This is not a program that teaches opera, but a program that uses opera to teach," explained Mr. Dik.

Also, he said, Creating Original Opera is "something that really informs students about what opera is. Kids need knowledge of how it's done to become critical consumers of the art."

"I get a lot of pleasure out of it," said Mr. Dickman, who usually oversees two productions a year, mostly in New York City schools. "The kids at Springs School are very responsive," he added.

To follow up their own production, the Springs students will visit the Met to see how it's done on a grander scale.

Ms. Winter said an annual opera night is a distinct possibility. "The kids are already talking about next year."