To those who might wrongly consider opera an antiquated form of entertainment stuck in the past, a wake-up call arrives this week in the form of Time to Act, a decidedly modern production from Pittsburgh Opera that directly tackles current-day issues like school shootings and the mental-health fallout from being exposed to gun violence. Mt. Lebanon High School alumna Crystal Manich both directs the show and serves as its librettist, and she says the topical themes at play are what drew her to a work that she hopes will spark interest beyond opera’s typical fan base.
“I have felt for a long time that new opera should be a bit more reflective of what’s really happening the world,” said Manich, who graduated from Mt. Lebanon in 2000 and now lives in Puerto Rico. “A lot of opera, historically, was composed for just that reason … With Time to Act, it’s not just talking about gun violence and how that’s obviously having a negative impact on society, but it’s specifically about: Can we imagine a tragedy that would affect a group of young people and [ask] how are they grappling with that?”
As a result, almost the entire cast of Time to Act is made up of younger, 20-something singers, many from the Resident Artists Program at Pittsburgh Opera, who are playing high-school-aged teenagers. The show takes place in a classroom setting and focuses on a group of students preparing a production of Sophocles’ Antigone. Manich’s professional website carefully offers hints to the rest of the story: “A new student holds a dark secret that unifies the group and inspires a rewrite of the play, using their voices to address mental health and the impact of gun violence in American schools.”
The opera was inspired by the tragic 2018 Parkland, Florida, school shooting, although Manich says it’s ultimately an inspirational story, one that she hopes can resonate emotionally with audience members, especially those who are the same age as Time to Act’s characters.
“I would just love opera to give voice to those young people,” she added. “Because I also think that young people are often missing from our operatic audiences, and I believe it is because they don’t see themselves reflected on stage. Straight theater and plays do a great job of reflecting some of these younger people, but opera historically has not. I really wanted to give a voice to them.”
For Manich, Time to Act is a bit of a homecoming, as she’s back staging an opera here in Pittsburgh again after working on various projects all around the world. (She just recently got in from Austin, Texas, where she had been remounting Fiddler on the Roof.) Manich calls Time to Act the “great culmination of a relationship” with Pittsburgh Opera, which she’s collaborated with on and off for going on two decades now.
“I’ve just had such a great relationship with them for my whole career. They gave me my first big break, directing La Bohème on the Benedum stage, when I was 26. So I find that the mentorship I received at Pittsburgh Opera definitely set me up for success in everything that I’m doing now.”
If you go see Time to Act, you’ll catch a few nods to the region, including a Carnegie Mellon School of Drama mention and a shoutout to Mt. Lebanon’s own Uptown Coffee, which Manich used to frequent during her high school days. “I wanted to insert a little of bit of myself,” Manich said. “Those moments at Uptown Coffee were so meaningful to me, and I wanted to infuse that into one of the characters in the show.”
Time to Act’s run kicks off this Saturday, February 28, at Pittsburgh Opera’s home, the Bitz Opera Factory, and continues into March. An extra show has already been added, which Manich says is indicative of the good place opera and all live stage-based performances find themselves in right now. While some art forms are currently under attack from the rise of A.I., live theater’s flesh-and-blood performances could give it an edge with audiences looking for a more human experience.
“In the time that I have been working in opera and theater, which is 20 years, I have never seen that, where the art form that I’m doing has to have an added performance because of high demand,” Manich said, noting that her production of Fiddler in Austin also just tacked on an extra show. “I think that is a sign that people are craving these live experiences.”
And, if the live performing arts do find themselves on the upswing, Manich is hopeful that opera finds itself along for the ride, ready to wow existing fans as well as win over some new ones. “I think it’s really important that people understand that opera is not something to be feared or have pre-formulated opinions about,” she says. “Actually, it is a living, breathing art form that continues to develop because of new works, and it’s not all going to sound like something from 200 or 300 years ago, if you don’t want it to. There are different flavors of opera, just like there are different flavors of theater. There’s so much variety in opera.”
Tickets for Time to Act, which, in addition to Manich’s writing, features music from composer Laura Kaminsky, can be purchased now at pittsburghopera.org [1].