Act Too Studio Opera Workshop

Teen-powered opera

Melinda Beasi

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Student Stories: Isabelle

One of the things we’ll be doing today is sharing words from the teens who have made this workshop what it is, and the first this morning comes from new member Isabelle, who will be participating in the summer opera for the first time this year. Here’s what she has to say:

“My name is Isabelle, I am fourteen years old, and this is my first year in the Opera Workshop. However, my love for classical music goes way back. Both my parents love it, and I have grown up listening to and appreciating it. It always played a role in my life.

But as I got older, other genres pushed aside classical. Teenagers just don’t listen to classical, let alone sing it, right? Wrong. At Act Too Studio, not only is it ‘cool’, it proves that teenagers can, and do, love opera. I go in every week and watch teens my age singing from the heart in powerful, well-trained voices. They show what young people are capable of, and I feel so honored to be able to sing alongside them. They push me to work hard and believe in myself. We are a team, and we cheer each other on and support each other. Melinda works endlessly to teach us what we need to know to fully appreciate and be able to sing such beautiful music. We are so lucky to have such a dedicated and passionate teacher. Act Too Studio has created a safe haven for those who perhaps don’t quite fit in with the stereotypically ‘cool’ kids. Opera Workshop is a place where we can be vulnerable, and expressive, and learn and grow. Other kids ask us how we got our voices to be so good, and to their shock, we answer, “opera.” Teens who have maybe ridiculed opera in the past begin to see how wonderful it really is. We open young people’s eyes to this beautiful art form, and they — we — become stronger and kinder and more creative because of it. I think *that’s* cool.”

Please consider Isabelle and all our teens today during ValleyGives! DONATE NOW!

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Support teen opera during Valley Gives

Those of you in the Pioneer Valley will know that Tuesday, May 2nd is Valley Gives day, an annual day of giving sponsored by the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts, in which people of our community support local causes they care about. If you’ve participated in Valley Gives in the past, you may know that there are quite a number of prizes offered for various achievements during the day, as well as a number of random prizes awarded for donations at various times, etc. Here, we’d like to mention a few of those, at what the best strategies are for helping some of those prizes come our way.

Strategic Giving During Valley Gives 2017
Many of the prizes offered require feats of fundraising that are really beyond our reach, so here we’ll focus on a few to which we can reasonably aspire.

Time-based prizes:
These prizes include “Power Hours” and “Golden Tickets,” which are drawn randomly based on donations made during particular time periods. The more donations made for Act Too Studio Opera Workshop during these hours, the more chances we have of winning one of these prizes. Here is a list of the times of day when your donation might make the most impact! All times are Eastern Standard Time.

Power Hour ($1000): 10:00-10:59AM; 10:00-10:59PM
Golden Tickets ($500): 7:00-7:59AM; 9:00-9:59AM; 12:00-12:59PM; 1:00-1:59PM; 3:00-3:59PM; 4:00-4:59PM; 7:00-7:59PM; 8:00-8:59PM

Donations made during these time periods will automatically enter us into a drawing for the two prizes awarded each time, so if you’re able to make a donation, no matter how small, during these hours, it could end up being a much larger gift!

Demographic and volume-based prizes:
A few other prizes we think we might have a reasonable shot at include “Most unique donors,” which awards prizes to organizations who attract the highest number of individual donors, regardless of the donation size, “Most donors under 40,” and “Most new donors to your organization,” which pretty much speak for themselves, and “Donors by decade,” which enters an organization in a pool for a prize if it has received donations from donors in at least four of the decade categorizations on the donor form (with the caveat that two must be in the 30-39, 20-29, or 19 and under categories).

The value of these prizes is that they favor organizations that receive a large volume of small donations, which means that even the smallest amount has the potential to reap much greater rewards. If you are able to donate even the smallest amount ($10 is the Valley Gives minimum), and/or encourage your friends to do so, you could help us have a more successful day than you might imagine.

Thank you for your help! We are grateful for any help you can give us during Valley Gives day this year, and we’ll be posting updates throughout the day on our Facebook Page, including new videos and stories from our teens. We hope you’ll join us!

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Congrats to ATS Opera Workshop seniors!

April is the month in which our high school seniors are consumed with the often overwhelming task of deciding which college offer to take. So as they tie themselves in knots over degree programs and financial realities before the looming May 1st deadline, we’d like to take a moment to celebrate their college acceptances!

Though as an organization, our focus is not on creating a new generation of opera singers, we’d be lying if we didn’t admit to being pretty thrilled when any of them do choose that path. So we’re beyond proud to congratulate our small group of aspiring vocal performance majors for their acceptances into schools including (but not limited to) the likes of New England Conservatory, Manhattan School of Music, Mannes School of Music, Crane School of Music (at SUNY Potsdam), Schulich School of Music (at McGill University), Carnegie Mellon School of Music, Ithaca College School of Music, and Lawrence Conservatory.

Meanwhile, our musical theater and theater-bound students are fielding acceptances from conservatory programs at such schools as Syracuse University, Boston University, Oklahoma City University, The Hartt School (at University of Hartford), Point Park College, and more.

All that said, the focus of our program has never been to raise up young performing artists so much as it is to create love of opera in our particularly multi-discipline mold (and all the human understanding it conveys) that stays with this generation as they scatter into all walks of life to become the next driving force in our society. So we’re also incredibly proud of our pending alumni who are weighing offers from liberal arts colleges such as Connecticut College, St. Olaf College, Ohio Wesleyan University, University of North Carolina, Brandeis University, Goucher College, Bennington College, Belmont University and more.

Congratulations, college-bound seniors! We are so proud of you!

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Coming Summer 2017: Cosi fan tutti!

Yes, you read that right, our adaptation of W.A. Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte is so drastic, we’ve had to change the title! Once a humorous treatise on the fickleness of women (the title can roughly be translated to “All women are like that”), our modern take seeks to explore just how screwed up we all are when it comes to love, and how our preconceived notions about relationships, gender roles, and the nature of devotion lead us to disastrous (and in this case, hilarious) consequences.

Our extreme adaptation of Mozart’s popular opera features (among other things) time travel, gender-switching, fantasy tabletop role-playing, a Marriage of Figaro crossover, chocolate beverages, a twin-operated cafe, snorkeling gear, and some of the most beautiful music ever written.

Cast:
Don Alfonso: Brandon Dallmann
Ferrando: McKenna Troy
Guglielmo: Eliza Carson
Fiordiligi: Calandra Damouras
Dorabella: Ayla Connor-Kirshbaum
Barbarina: Julia Jemsek
Carina: Carina Gravante-Gunnells
Milena: Milena Gravante-Gunnells

Ensemble: Sarah Fischer, Isabelle Bouvier, Greyson Lynch, Craig Judicki, Parker Black, Brayden Stallmann, Liam Shannon

Music by W.A. Mozart, edited by James David Jacobs
Libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, adapted by James David Jacobs
Directed by Melinda Beasi
Musical Direction by Lemuel Gurtowsky
Stage Manager: Abigail Morris
Assistant Stage Manager: Angela Oldham Barca

Artwork by KaiJu

August, 2017, Gateway City Arts

Stay tuned for more information, including performance dates and times!

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Vote for Act Too Studio Opera Workshop!

Those of you who follow us on social media will already know that the Workshop is currently in the running to receive a small business grant from FedEx, including the top amount of $25,000, and the first step is for us to make it to the top 100 businesses. To do that, we need your vote! Please CLICK HERE to cast your vote. You can vote again every 24 hours between now and April 5th!

A grant like this would really take the strain off of our next summer opera production—an ambitious re-imagining of Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte for a modern audience, with new chamber orchestrations and a new English adaptation—including production costs (costumes, props, creative staff, musicians, rehearsal and performance space), and provide much-needed support for future programming, as well as making our growing catalogue of opera adaptations available for production by other like-minded programs for young singers. We are also beginning to seek our own space, which would be greatly helped by a financial boost like this! Please consider casting a vote now!

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ALSCT Community Theater Arts Award: Our Gratitude

This past weekend, amidst a whirlwind of emotion on the national stage, our studio spent an evening watching a number of our students on the local stage at Amherst Leisure Services Community Theater’s production of Shrek: The Musical, where we were also presented with ALSCT’s “Community Theater Arts Award” for 2017. It was a tremendous honor for our studio, made even more special by the fact that it was presented to us by Susan Raker and Wendy Plummer, mothers of former students Meagan Raker and Anna Plummer who helped make our name in this community as the stars of our first formal production (and my local directorial debut), Goblin Market. As we took the stage, greeted by Susan and Wendy’s friendly faces, to the sound of our students screaming joyously for us from the wings, it was difficult to maintain composure.

For my part, as a relatively new addition to my parents’ teaching studio, I was stunned and thrilled to be included in the award, and moved by the fact that my inclusion was specifically attributed to my “innovation and vision,” particularly my creation of the Opera Workshop and its most recent production, Il sogno d’Arianna, an original English narrative adapted from the works of Claudio Monteverdi. I feel I must stress, however, that not only could this work never have been possible without its major collaborators, musical director Lemuel Gurtowsky, editor/early music expert James David Jacobs, and choreographers Connie Flachs and Anna Plummer, but that the entire existence of the Workshop and everything I’ve brought to the studio would not be possible without the incredible foundation of training and support provided by my business partners and parents, Bob and Jan Klump.

When I look at the students in my Workshop, it could not be more clear that it’s the solid, early vocal training they’ve received from my mother and the thorough, passionate acting work they have done with my father that has not only made them able to perform the material we tackle, but also opened their minds to the beauty and complexity of it all. My vision would be empty without that core training, and the ideas I’ve brought with me could not have flourished without their support and their belief that this work is worthwhile. My parents took a chance on my wild notions, and our students moved them forward with their brilliance and curiosity. Without each other, we have nothing.

Here’s the full text of the speech Wendy and Susan gave as they presented the award:

“Good evening. I’m Wendy Plummer, and this is my friend Susan Raker. We’re here representing the Board of Directors and to present the Amherst Leisure Services Community Theater Arts Award, which recognizes individuals or groups who have made outstanding contributions to the arts in our area.

This year’s award goes to a family-run voice and acting studio in South Hadley, Act Too Studio, and to its founders and teachers: Bob and Jan Klump and their daughter Melinda Beasi. Would you three please join us on the stage?

Bob Klump has devoted his nearly SIXTY year career to the arts and arts education. He has been a high school band/choral director, directed high school plays and musicals, directed and/or produced summer stock, house managed for and worked in the offices of Theatreworks/USA in New York City and in recent years, privately coached actors and singers in NYC, NJ, The Philadelphia area, and since 2006, at Act Too Studio in Western Massachusetts. Many of his former students have gone on to have professional careers in performance and related areas of the arts.

Jan Klump has also been a voice teacher for over 50 years in Michigan, New York City, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and now Western Massachusetts. Her voice students have won full scholarships to college, have appeared on Broadway, and run the gamut from people who say they “can’t carry a tune” to those working as professionals in musical theater. 

Both of the Klumps’ daughters have been successful as professional performers and continue to work in the arts. Melinda Beasi performed extensively in her own right as a vocalist and is also receiving this award in particular for her innovation and vision in creating quality collaborative performances through Act Too Studio and starting the Opera Workshop which inspires and educates teens in the performance and production of the classical art form of opera, including last year’s performance: an original opera commissioned and translated from the works of Monteverdi.

Beyond this modeling of commitment, creativity, and enjoyment of the performing arts, the Klump family regularly extend lesson times and open their home to students in their “off” hours, giving their instruction but also their friendship and personal support in a way that can be described as nothing less than way above and far beyond. They make a point of attending students’ performances whenever possible (sometimes several different shows in a single weekend) and staying in touch with students and acquaintances in the arts far and wide, some of whom are famous! Seventeen of tonight’s performers are or have been students at Act Too.

With our admiration and thanks, we present Jan and Bob and Melinda with this award which reads…

‘The Amherst Leisure Services Community Theater Arts Award for January 2017 is presented to (drumroll): Act Too Studio – Jan Klump, Bob Klump, and Melinda Beasi – for their passionate and profound commitment to musical and theatrical education through their many years as innovative educators and as directors of Act Too Studio.'”

It is now more important than ever that our Valley’s community of artists, students, passionate hobbyists, and enthusiastic patrons of the arts come together to ensure that these things we hold so dear—the arts and the truths and human understanding they make possible—survive to enrich future generations. Though we are recent arrivals to the Valley, we’ve cherished the warm welcome we received, and the opportunity to do this work that we love so much in this beautiful place. This award is icing on the cake.

Thank you, Amherst Leisure Services Community Theater, Wendy, Susan, and all the students and families who have allowed us to be part of their lives here in the Pioneer Valley. We are so grateful.