Fredonia talent cast for Chautauqua Opera

James Ivey	Tina Rausa
Tom Loughlin	Maria Fasciano

Cast members in an upcoming production of the Chautauqua Opera will include three faculty members and two students from SUNY Fredonia programs in music and theatre.

Taking the stage for speaking roles as part of a large cast of singers, dancers, and actors in "Street Scene" will be theatre faculty members James Ivey, Tom Loughlin, and Tina Rausa, along with sophomore acting major Michael Valvo of Kennedy, N.Y., and sophomore musical theatre major Kyle Blount of McKean, Pa.

"Street Scene" will be performed Friday, Aug. 15 and Monday, Aug. 18 at 7:30 p.m. in Norton Hall on the Chautauqua Institution grounds. Tickets can be purchased by calling 716-357-6250 or emailing tickets@chq.org

The joys and sorrows of tenement life in New York City during the Great Depression form the stark background for the story, which centers on the Maurrant family living in a run-down apartment. Trapped in a loveless marriage, Anna Maurrant seeks refuge in the arms of another man with tragic results. The story focuses on two plot lines: the romance between Rose Maurrant and her neighbor Sam Kaplan; and the marital affair of Rose's mother, Anna, which is eventually discovered by Rose's irritable father, Frank. The show portrays the ordinary romances, squabbles and gossips of the neighbors, as tensions mount.

A new production for the Chautauqua Opera, it is being staged by Artistic/General Director Jay Lesenger and co-produced by the Manhattan School of Music.

Ivey, in his third season with Chautauqua Opera, will play the part of Steve Sankey, the milkman who supposedly is a former lover of Anna's. Loughlin is acting as James Henry, the city marshal who visits the Maurrant apartment, and Valvo will play his assistant, Fred Cullen.

The story is deepened through interactions with other families who reside in the tenement, including the Kaplans and the Joneses. Rausa plays the schoolteacher/daughter of the Kaplan family, and Blount is taking the role of the brutish older son of the Jones family, who drives a cab.

"Street Scene" is an American opera by Kurt Weill (music), Langston Hughes (lyrics), and Elmer Rice (book), based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name by Rice. For his work on "Street Scene," Weill received the first Tony Award for Best Original Score.

Also performing for the Chautauqua Opera this summer is SUNY Fredonia music graduate Maria Fasciano (Class of 2005) of Rochester, N.Y., who was one of 26 young professionals to be chosen for the opera's competitive Young Artists Program.