On Feb. 17 and 18, ETSU Opera presented “City Workers in Love” — a modern take on heartbreak, feminism, family and love.
The production was put together from a class that has been working on the show for two semesters. The cast met Monday, Wednesday and Friday for class, and for the past two weeks they have met every night as their tech week.
The show was directed and conducted by Karen Smith, director of ETSU Opera; it was written by Michael Cavanagh and composed by Neil Weisensel.
Abraham Hooks, who played Billy both nights, said he enjoyed the production because of what it gave to him.
“Being around everyone is a lot of fun with being in costume, and being around everyone,” Hooks said.
Each night there was a different lead; Katelyn Gabbler played Mavis on Friday, Kiley Atkins played Mavis on Saturday.
Gabbler said she enjoyed being a different person on that stage.
“I never thought I would be singing with a weedwhacker,” Gabbler said, “I get to pretend my silly little life as a construction worker.”
The orchestra consisted of Jerilyn Paolini on piano, Joshua Kovac on cello and Kate Boundy on clarinet.
The stage was set as a construction zone with signs, trash cans, construction tape, lawnmowers, and shopping carts. They had props like the East Tennessean as a newspaper and Daylight Doughnuts to localize the production.
For more information on ETSU Opera and upcoming productions, email Karen Smith at smithe@etsu.edu.
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