PELLA — Ever wonder what the Central College community looks like from the outside? Squonk Opera will perform Central College: The Opera Friday and Saturday, April 15-16. The show begins at 8 p.m. in Douwstra Auditorium and runs approximately two hours. The event is free and open to the public but tickets are required. Call 641-628-9000 to reserve tickets.
Central College: The Opera celebrates the rich worlds we build in our hometowns, combining punk-vaudeville roast, performances by Central related people, interviews with notorious characters and a view of ourselves we can all enjoy. The show is part of Squonk’s site-specific opera series that adapt to the host community, combining hometown documentation with Squonk’s aural and visual trickery. By discovering how each community sees itself, they talk about the broader issues of shared humanity and self-definition.
Squonk Opera visited campus Jan. 25-28 to learn about the college’s history by speaking to Central community members. By interviewing alumni, employees and students, they uncovered Central’s victories, scandals, icons and idiosyncrasies.
Squonk Opera was founded by Jackie Dempsey and Steve O’Hearn and received their first major commission is 1995. Since then, the opera has performed more than ten original productions in 250 venues across the United States and internationally.
The event is sponsored by Horizons of Opportunity: The Inaugural Year. The project is supported in part by a grant from the Iowa Arts Council, a division of the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs, and an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.
