Move over, Mozart

Heather Rawlyk

Friday, March 26, 2004 | 4:14 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION

March 27 - 28, 2004

What: "A Time to Learn," an original opera by students of Dean Allen Elementary School.

When: 10 a.m. Tuesday and 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. on Wednesday.

Where: Dean Allen Elementary School, 8680 W. Hammer Lane, near Durango Drive and Ann Road.

Cost: Free.

Information: 799-4580.

Students at Dean Allen Elementary School in Las Vegas are transforming their multipurpose room to a miniature version of the Metropolitan Opera Theater for their upcoming original opera, "A Time to Learn."

Since January, 39 fourth and fifth grade students, who formed a production company called the Allen Opera Association, have spent months after school writing and producing a 30-minute opera.

The company will perform the opera Tuesday and Wednesday inside the school's multipurpose room.

The elementary school got the opportunity to participate in the Creating Original Opera Program, through the Metropolitan Opera Guild Education Department, according to Sheila Fredi, a fifth grade teacher who helped launch the original opera.

Dean Allen Elementary School, 8680 W. Hammer Lane in northwest Las Vegas, is the only school in Nevada that has gotten involved in the Creating Original Opera Program, Fredi said.

A couple of years ago, Fredi was invited by the school's music teacher, Amy Cusack, to attend a summer program in Phoenix. The program, headed by the Metropolitan Opera Guild, trains teachers in how to teach their students to create an original opera.

"One day our music teacher got a postcard inviting her to attend this program in Arizona," Fredi said. "The program trains one music teacher and one teacher from each school, so Amy (Cusack) invited me."

Fredi and Cusack learned a variety of "opera-building" skills, including how to teach students to create lights, sets, scripts and songs, and skills such as how to apply stage makeup.

Thanks to their training, Fredi and Cusack taught their students to successfully put together their first original opera last year.

This year the elementary school decided to turn the opera into a 13-week after-school program, open to fourth and fifth grade students.

Fredi and Cusack also recruited humanities teacher Courtney Schwartze to help lead the opera.

Students auditioned for roles at the beginning of the year, according to Fredi.

They were selected to perform various positions, including costume designers, makeup artists, lighting technicians, set designers, carpenters, writers, composers, performers, stage managers, production managers and public relations representatives.

Six additional students were selected as performers, Fredi said.

"The opera has really taught the students that every job is as important as the next," she said. "At the beginning most of the students wanted to be performers. Now, they see that the opera wouldn't be possible without the costumes, set designers, writers and all the other jobs."

The students were taught to put the opera together themselves with as little help from teachers as possible, Fredi said.

"They do everything themselves," she said. "The writers wrote a 30-page script, they wrote original lyrics for their songs. The composers took the lyrics and added music to them, mainly through the piano.

"The set designers painted the sets and the carpenters built the wooden backdrops for the stage," she said. "The PR team made the fliers, the press releases and made phone calls to invite people to come."

Fifth graders Ashley Warburton, Makele Allen, Lawren Lewczyk and Megan Parry headed the public relations team, making calls to Clark County School District officials, Mayor Oscar Goodman and Gov. Kenny Guinn to invite them to the show.

"We called and invited everyone like the mayor and the governor," Lewczyk said. "We had it printed out and we all took turns calling and said that we were creating an original opera and would like them to come."

Fifth graders Kari Thompson and Miranda Cary, who are in charge of the costume department, said their job was to pick out costumes that would match the personality of each character.

"We have characters like a punk, an athlete and a snob," Thompson said. "We just looked to people to volunteer clothes we could use for costumes. We are finished collecting the costumes now and they match each character perfectly."

Fifth grader and set designer Catarina Zority said she worked hard drawing and painting the backdrops for the set.

"We first had to draw on little grids and then we painted those drawings on the big backdrop," she said. "We painted the background for a classroom and a library inside a school."

The scenes of this year's show, "A Time to Learn," take place inside a school, Fredi said.

The opera tells a story and teaches students a valuable lesson about cheating, Fredi said.

The opera features a group of children, one of whom is not doing his work, she said. The student finds another student's paper and considers using it.

"The best thing about the opera is that the students write it and it truly reflects what is going on in their world," she said. "It shows what they're going through and the pressure of school and grades.

"It also teaches a valuable lesson in the end," she said.

For information about the Creating Original Opera Program, or to get your school involved, visit the website at www.operaed.org.