What’s 50 Years When It’s Opera?
Instructor Cynthia Stokes (left) with two performers in the San Diego Opera project. Photo: Nancee E. Lewis – San Diego Union-Tribune/Zuma Press.
Ten months ago, Anne Whitlock, 69, and Sonia Franco, 18, were strangers, and it would seem that they were destined to remain that way.
But today, the retiree and recent high school graduate have formed a friendship – one of many that came out of a unique program created by The San Diego Opera in partnership with San Diego High School’s arts academy and San Diego OASIS. OASIS is an organization for people 50 and older that pairs youths with older adults to create original musical theater.
Guided by professionals, the high school teens along with the 50-plus adults collectively wrote and performed an opera based on their life experiences and perceptions of each other. Their work, The Singing Mirror, debuted in March in front of 350 people. Encouraged by the enthusiastic response, San Diego Opera is putting together a new group to write and produce another opera.
The first go-round took a leap of faith. Some of the seniors and students didn’t know how to read music, sing, or dance. There were stereotypes and fears on both sides. What could teenagers have in common with people 50 years their senior who grew up in another era?
“I was a little afraid because I thought the attitude toward us would not be very receptive,” Whitlock recalls thinking. But in her partner, she found somebody whose life has parallels to her own. Both of their childhoods were tragically altered by car accidents: Whitlock’s father died when she was four, and Franco, at age 7, survived grave injuries that disfigured her face. In their teens, both left their families. Whitlock entered a convent. Franco left Mexico for medical treatment in America.
Franco’s spirit won Whitlock’s admiration. Whitlock in turn won Franco’s respect with her knowledge and wisdom. “I don’t want to look at her as a grandmother. She’s a friend,” Franco says.
About the Author
Helen Gao is a staff writer at the San Diego Union-Tribune.
This article originally appeared in NRTA Live & Learn, Summer 2006.
