College Light Opera Company
Encyclopedia
The College Light Opera Company (CLOC) is an educational summer stock
theatre company based in Falmouth, Massachusetts
on Cape Cod
. It produces and performs 9 shows during a 9 week season each summer, including two Gilbert & Sullivan comic opera
s, with performances taking place in the town's the historic Highfield Theatre.
Gilbert & Sullivan Players who had performed in Falmouth from 1953 to 1966 Haslun had been an Oberlin College student himself and went on to become Secretary of the College, a post which he held from 1978 to 2007. Although many Oberlin students still participate in College Light Opera Company each summer, it is no longer officially associated with Oberlin College nor is it solely a Gilbert and Sullivan troupe. The company's repertoire now also includes comic operas and operetta
s by other composers as well as contemporary and classic Broadway musicals
such as Evita, Jekyll & Hyde
, Brigadoon, and Carousel
.
CLOC is currently run by a Board of Trustees with Robert and Ursula Haslun as the producers
. Its aim is to provide aspiring young actors and musicians with the opportunity to perform with professional directors and conductors during an 11 week resident programme while providing cultural and musical entertainment to the people of Cape Cod. It is a non profit organization, with an extensive association of donors and patrons.
The business staff consists of the two producers - Robert A. and Ursula R. Haslun - a publicity director, an assistant business manager, and two box office treasurers. CLOC also employees a Chef de Cuisine, Director of Plant and property, and resident Costume, Set and Lighting Designer in addition to a technical director and stage manager. The creative staff consists of around 4-6 Stage Directors and Musical Directors, a choreographer, two Associate Conductors and two Accompanists. The Chef de Cuisine, Director of Plant and Property, Design Staff and Directorial staff are often professionals in the field, while the other positions are mostly filled by undergraduate/graduate students, or recent graduates.
The vocal company consists of 32 members. All members are taken on a chorus
contract, with casting for principals taking place immediately prior to the start of the season. CLOC is well-known for its choral training and for the high standards of its vocal performances. The 6 member stage crew includes a set designer, lighting designer
, prop master
and other technicians, while the 6 member costume crew is filled with stitchers and drapers.
The College Light Opera Chamber Orchestra consists of 17-20 musicians. Many are music majors, majoring in the instrument they have been contracted to play. In addition to performing in the CLOC theatre productions, the orchestra holds its own "Sunday Soiree", a chamber concert hosted by the College Light Opera Chamber Orchestra and the Cape Cod Conservatory. These concerts were started in the early 1990s by John and Avery Funkhouser and were initially held in the main hall of the West Falmouth Library until moving to the recital hall of the Cape Cod Conservatory in 2006. Summer 2008 marked the CLOC Chamber Orchestra's first symphonic concert with a performance of Schubert's Symphony No. 1 in D Major
.
Sondheim & Prince's // Sweeney Todd. July 5-9
Irving Berlin's // Call Me Madam. July 12-16
Cole Porter's // Kiss Me, Kate. July 19-23
Rudolf Friml's // The Vagabond King. July 26-30
Leonard Bernstein's // Wonderful Town. August 2-6
Cy Coleman with Comden & Green's // On the 20th Century. August 9-13
Rodgers & Hammerstein's // Oklahoma! August 16-20
Wasserman's // Man of La Mancha. August 23-27
All productions are performed Tuesday-Saturday at 8 pm at the Highfield Theatre with a Thursday matinee at 2 pm.
Summer Stock
For the article about the theatre genre, see Summer stock theatre.Summer Stock is a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical made in 1950. The film was directed by Charles Walters and stars Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Eddie Bracken, Gloria DeHaven, Marjorie Main, and Phil Silvers...
theatre company based in Falmouth, Massachusetts
Falmouth, Massachusetts
Falmouth is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States; Barnstable County is coextensive with Cape Cod. The population was 31,531 at the 2010 census....
on Cape Cod
Cape Cod
Cape Cod, often referred to locally as simply the Cape, is a cape in the easternmost portion of the state of Massachusetts, in the Northeastern United States...
. It produces and performs 9 shows during a 9 week season each summer, including two Gilbert & Sullivan comic opera
Comic opera
Comic opera denotes a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending.Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a new operatic genre, opera buffa, emerged as an alternative to opera seria...
s, with performances taking place in the town's the historic Highfield Theatre.
History
The College Light Opera Company was founded by D. Thomas Tull and Robert Haslun in 1969 immediately following the demise of the Oberlin CollegeOberlin College
Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio, noteworthy for having been the first American institution of higher learning to regularly admit female and black students. Connected to the college is the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the oldest continuously operating...
Gilbert & Sullivan Players who had performed in Falmouth from 1953 to 1966 Haslun had been an Oberlin College student himself and went on to become Secretary of the College, a post which he held from 1978 to 2007. Although many Oberlin students still participate in College Light Opera Company each summer, it is no longer officially associated with Oberlin College nor is it solely a Gilbert and Sullivan troupe. The company's repertoire now also includes comic operas and operetta
Operetta
Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...
s by other composers as well as contemporary and classic Broadway musicals
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
such as Evita, Jekyll & Hyde
Jekyll & Hyde (musical)
Jekyll & Hyde is a musical based on the novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. The original stage conception was by Steve Cuden and Frank Wildhorn. The music is by Wildhorn and the lyrics and book are by Leslie Bricusse.The musical ran on Broadway for 1,543...
, Brigadoon, and Carousel
Carousel (musical)
Carousel is the second stage musical by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II . The work premiered in 1945 and was adapted from Ferenc Molnár's 1909 play Liliom, transplanting its Budapest setting to the Maine coastline...
.
CLOC is currently run by a Board of Trustees with Robert and Ursula Haslun as the producers
Theatrical producer
A theatrical producer is the person ultimately responsible for overseeing all aspects of mounting a theatre production. The independent producer will usually be the originator and finder of the script and starts the whole process...
. Its aim is to provide aspiring young actors and musicians with the opportunity to perform with professional directors and conductors during an 11 week resident programme while providing cultural and musical entertainment to the people of Cape Cod. It is a non profit organization, with an extensive association of donors and patrons.
The company
The company consists of a staff between 25-30, a technical crew and costume crew of 6 members each, a 32-person vocal company and 17-20 person orchestra.The business staff consists of the two producers - Robert A. and Ursula R. Haslun - a publicity director, an assistant business manager, and two box office treasurers. CLOC also employees a Chef de Cuisine, Director of Plant and property, and resident Costume, Set and Lighting Designer in addition to a technical director and stage manager. The creative staff consists of around 4-6 Stage Directors and Musical Directors, a choreographer, two Associate Conductors and two Accompanists. The Chef de Cuisine, Director of Plant and Property, Design Staff and Directorial staff are often professionals in the field, while the other positions are mostly filled by undergraduate/graduate students, or recent graduates.
The vocal company consists of 32 members. All members are taken on a chorus
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
contract, with casting for principals taking place immediately prior to the start of the season. CLOC is well-known for its choral training and for the high standards of its vocal performances. The 6 member stage crew includes a set designer, lighting designer
Lighting designer
The role of the lighting designer within theatre is to work with the director, choreographer, set designer, costume designer, and sound designer to create an overall 'look' for the show in response to the text, while keeping in mind issues of visibility, safety and cost...
, prop master
Property master
The property master is an artistic and organizational employee in a film, television or theatrical production who is responsible for purchasing, acquiring and/or manufacturing any props needed for a production...
and other technicians, while the 6 member costume crew is filled with stitchers and drapers.
The College Light Opera Chamber Orchestra consists of 17-20 musicians. Many are music majors, majoring in the instrument they have been contracted to play. In addition to performing in the CLOC theatre productions, the orchestra holds its own "Sunday Soiree", a chamber concert hosted by the College Light Opera Chamber Orchestra and the Cape Cod Conservatory. These concerts were started in the early 1990s by John and Avery Funkhouser and were initially held in the main hall of the West Falmouth Library until moving to the recital hall of the Cape Cod Conservatory in 2006. Summer 2008 marked the CLOC Chamber Orchestra's first symphonic concert with a performance of Schubert's Symphony No. 1 in D Major
Symphony No. 1 (Schubert)
The Symphony No. 1 in D Major, D. 82, was composed by Franz Schubert in 1813, when he was just 16 years old. Despite his youth, No. 1 is an impressive piece of orchestral music for both its time and size. The first movement opens with a stately Adagio introduction, reminiscent of the Haydn's 104...
.
43rd Season June thru August 2011
Gilbert & Sullivan's // Trial by Jury and The Pirates of Penzance. June 28-July 2Sondheim & Prince's // Sweeney Todd. July 5-9
Irving Berlin's // Call Me Madam. July 12-16
Cole Porter's // Kiss Me, Kate. July 19-23
Rudolf Friml's // The Vagabond King. July 26-30
Leonard Bernstein's // Wonderful Town. August 2-6
Cy Coleman with Comden & Green's // On the 20th Century. August 9-13
Rodgers & Hammerstein's // Oklahoma! August 16-20
Wasserman's // Man of La Mancha. August 23-27
All productions are performed Tuesday-Saturday at 8 pm at the Highfield Theatre with a Thursday matinee at 2 pm.