School Opera Hits Close to Home

High school students can readily identify with the themes of this opera.

“A Place to Call Home,” to be performed Monday by 45 Culver City High School students and four professional singers from the Los Angeles Music Center Opera, focuses on the experiences of four young immigrant students who come to Los Angeles and struggle to make sense of the new environment.

All last week the students rehearsed for their performance, which will take place at an assembly for their schoolmates and parents.

Edward Barnes, composer and lyricist of the 40-minute work, researched the story by visiting various Los Angeles refugee communities and asking people there about their transplant experiences. Typical were dealing with language barriers, getting lost in a school building, and having no one to lend support on the first day in a new and tense environment, he found.

One of the students in the play, Robert Benson, 16, said he could relate to those feelings. “These people are trying to find out who they are,” he said. “They’re searching to be included. We do that--we’re refugees within ourselves. We come into school wanting to fit in; meanwhile we are still searching for who we are.”

The four leading roles in the opera--those of the students, who come from Central America, the Middle East, Asia, and a Native American reservation--are played by professional singers Patricia Prunty, Michele Henderson, Greg Fedderly and Scott Watanabe. They and other members of the Music Center Opera group have been staging the opera at schools in Los Angeles County for three years.

Meanwhile, the students play supporting roles--those of students and immigrants. Eight of them play gang members, using the percussion instruments as their weapons, pounding out drumbeats to display aggression.

To make costumes, the students were urged to investigate their own ethnic heritage, or one they would be interested in portraying on stage. Students were given pieces of muslin that they could fashion into ponchos, scarves, belts, headdresses, facial masks or anything else that would typify the characters they chose. Costume designer Lorraine Genovese from the Music Center visited the school to help students with their designs.

The students in the performance all come from two English classes, one taught by Valerie Wilding, the other by Elizabeth Daymond. Wilding said she pushed for the project as a way of compensating for the budget cuts that have eliminated drama classes and many after-school drama activities at the school. Most students now get no exposure to the performing arts, she said.

The two teachers used nearly all their students in the performance, although some wanted no part of it.

“It’s good and everything, but I didn’t want to do it,” said freshman Tina Wrixon, 13. “I’m embarrassed.”

At rehearsal last week, Charles Edelen said, “I think I look stupid up there.” Some of his classmates stood nearby with arms crossed, looking uncomfortable.

But others beamed and rocked as they sang one lyric, “Home is not where you’re from but where you’ve made it to.”

Freshman Erica Swanlund, 14, said she was enjoying all of it. “I’ve never been in a play before. I look forward to it,” she said.