Culture clubs

Young Chang

A handful of twenty- and thirtysomethings shared a long, hearty laugh

Tuesday at the Opera Pacific office.

The merriment was over a performance given last year at the Orange

County Performing Arts Center. At one of Nick Dauderman’s first opera

experiences, a soprano collapsed onstage while singing the line, “My

blood turns cold.”

“I didn’t know that that was not part of the performance,” said

Dauderman, 31.

“But the stand-in was excellent,” chimed in Jody Berger.

This is what members of Opera Pacific’s Culture Club and other young

professional groups attached to South Coast Repertory, the Center and the

Orange County Museum of Art do. They chat about shows they’ve seen, swap

opinions and sometimes laugh. They do this over drinks and snacks at

post-show events, during intermissions between acts and at group

meetings.

The Culture Club’s members are young professionals who attend and plan

events around the four operas staged by Opera Pacific each year. Berger

is an Opera Pacific staff member who is one of the liaisons for the club.

Mary-Christine Sungaila, a 33-year-old lawyer in Los Angeles, founded the

group last year.

Members enjoy such benefits as discounted tickets, VIP entrance to the

Opera Club, an intermission venue at the Orange County Performing Arts

Center, entry to post-show receptions and, ultimately, an education in

the arts.

They frequently become the future generation of arts supporters and

board members who are counted on for funds, Sungaila said.

“Young professionals are looking for a way to connect with the

community,” said Dauderman’s wife, Jennifer, 29, a product manager and

Culture Club member who is also involved with a group at the Orange

County Performing Arts Center called West Side Story. “Our age group is

such a transient group, and the beauty of the arts is that it unifies

us.”

Nick Dauderman added that young professionals groups are a good way to

teach people about different kinds of arts.

“A lot of people don’t know the difference between the Orange County

Performing Arts Center and South Coast Repertory,” he said. “And the

Orange County Museum of Art is so far removed.”

Through the Masquerade Ball, an annual event held last month that he

helped to start three years ago, young professionals groups from various

local art venues have come together. Attendance numbers have increased

each year, which confirms that more young people are developing an

interest in the arts, he said.

“The arts is sort of a magnet for young leaders,” he added.

Nick Dauderman, the manager of a start-up dot-com company, is also

involved with young professionals’ efforts at the museum. After Hour

events there include discussions on how to buy a first piece of art, a

docent talk about exhibits in the museum and mixers.

Because the museum houses mostly modern art, young visitors appreciate

any advice they can get.

The art “is often difficult for young professionals to grasp, because

it’s such forward thinking, the really contemporary works,” he said.

South Coast Repertory’s young professionals group, called the Ovation

Club, is similar to Opera Pacific’s and the museum’s.

“It’s a way to bounce ideas off of each other,” said Marc Di Domenico,

a 35-year-old member and co-founder of the Masquerade Ball.

Being a member also serves as a networking opportunity to meet the

“movers and shakers” in Newport Beach and Costa Mesa, he said.

Ovation holds pre-performance cocktail hours the second Thursday of

each production’s run, script readings and tours of the theater.

“If you went to a play and it was all blue-haired people, it shows the

audience had grown up with the theater but now are getting into their

senior years,” said Domenico, a financial planner. “We wanted to expose

what it could offer to younger people. That’s the only way to keep the

theater vibrant.”

FYI

WHAT: The Culture Club

CALL: (714) 546-6000, Ext. 340

WHAT: The Ovation Club

CALL: (714) 708-5555

WHAT: West Side Story

CALL: (949) 720-0490