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Once upon a Saturday
Odyssey Opera Theatre entertains young readers
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photos by SARA K. TAYLOR
Janiya Strader, 6, left, Mary Gresock and Easton Spindle, 5, act out Hansel and Gretel during "Once Upon an Opera" at the P.D. Brown Memorial Library in Waldorf.
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Most likely, the kids who sat in the children's section of P.D. Brown Memorial Library Saturday morning weren't familiar with opera. But they knew a thing or two about a good story, especially how Hansel and Gretel could survive a night out in the woods after a berry-picking chore turned sour.
"If they're lost in the woods, what should they do?" asked Mary Gresock, artistic director of Odyssey Opera Theatre, who headed the "Once Upon an Opera" event at the Waldorf library.
"Go camping," piped up a small voice, quite reasonably.
"They don't have a tent," Gresock laughed. "And it's getting dark …"
"They should've brought a flashlight," another little voice grumbled.
Instead, because the event was one to introduce young children to opera and its form of storytelling, Gresock and baritone Thomas Zielinski — playing the witch and the children's father, respectively — engaged the kids in singing about Hansel and Gretel's predicament.
There was a sandman in the play who helped the brother and sister fall asleep and a dew fairy that helped them wake up in the morning. And there was that witch who stuffed poor Hansel in the oven (an oversized plastic bin) before Gretel stole the witch's magic wand (a feather duster) saving her brother's life by singing, "Hocus, pocus, elder berry!"
"This is an art form that many children have not experienced in everyday life or even in school," said Gresock after the show finished. "This is such a ‘pretend' age but they are also using their literacy skills. It expands on a story and brings in other arts."
Gresock, a singer and actress who took over Odyssey Opera Theatre in the early 1990s, said her troupe usually conducts such workshops in schools for audiences of 250 students who are bit older than those in Waldorf.
"[The program] is flexible, they're littler here," she said. "But we can adapt it to each age."
The kids, some like Kevin Dewitt, 6, who have had the event in their sights for a while and others who wandered over after hearing the commotion, got a lot out of it.
"Neato mosquito," was 5-year-old Easton Spindler's assessment of the event.
Parents thought it was fun as well.
"I thought it was interesting," said Deanna Russell, whose daughter, Kayla, 6, took the role of the sandman. "It's nice to expose this age group to opera … something else other than video games or even books."
