Pacific Opera Project Presents Drive-in Production Of COVID FAN TUTTI

Tickets are now on sale for Pacific Opera Project's (POP) revolutionary new drive-in production of Mozart's Cosi fan tutte, COVID fan tutte on Saturday, November 14; Sunday, November 15; and Sunday, November 22 at 5:30pm at Camarillo United Methodist Church.

The new production is set in 2020 at a SoCal golf resort with a new English libretto by Artistic Director Josh Shaw. The updated plot follows two girls who are spending their quarantine at a SoCal golf resort and the local caddies have won their hearts. Don Alfonso, a rich, meddling member of the resort, is looking for some fun and instigates a bet with the boys to see if their girls are truly faithful. Despina, a waitress from the clubhouse is there to assist Don Alfonso in the charade. The boys are furloughed rather than sent off to war and return in disguise to tempt their girlfriends. Personal protective equipment, facemasks, and social distancing will play a large part in the update, perhaps finally making the disguises and plot of Cosi fan tutte (almost) believable.

To ensure maximum safety and compliance, the cast features three outstanding real-life couples - Jamie Chamberlin and Nathan Granner (Fiordiligi/Ferrando), Christina Pezzarossi and Colin Ramsey (Dorabella/Guglielmo), and Ariel Pisturino and E. Scott Levin (Despina and Don Alfonso) - who will quarantine together before the performances. Kyle Naig will conduct a socially distant orchestra from the harpsichord.

The drive-in format allows 90 vehicles per performance, with the number of people in each car limited only to the number of seat belts. The show is approximately two hours long and will be presented within COVID guidelines with live video projected above the stage with supertitles and sound broadcast into the cars via FM radio. POP has temporarily relocated to Ventura County for performances, until LA County restrictions allow live performance. The venue is a short one hour drive from most points in Los Angeles and weekend shows have been scheduled just after sundown so attendees may travel up during the daylight and return home by 9:00pm.

POP Founder Artistic Director Josh Shaw says, "We saw an opportunity to do live performance, to give our artists work, to give our fans a show, and to prove that, as always, POP will do whatever it takes to make accessible, affordable, and entertaining opera. People say they want opera that is relevant - that it can and should speak to current events. Here we are in the midst of the most life changing event any of us have ever experienced. Should we act like it isn't happening? I don't think so. Should we wait five or ten years until the pandemic is more of a memory and we have some 'distance'? Why? There was a time when opera was regularly written about current events. Granting organizations and patrons consistently state that they want opera that is about our time, our situations. Well, here's a chance to make some opera about what is happening right now. Yes, it might be extra painful, but I think it will also be extra uplifting, extra humorous, extra cathartic - and I know for myself and many others on both sides of the curtain, it is extra needed right now."

Future productions include a double bill featuring the US premiere stagings of two rare, one-act Gluck operas, the aptly named La Corona and Il Parnaso Confuso, on Friday, November 20 at 7:00pm and Saturday, November 21 at 5:30pm and the final iteration of La Boheme: AKA "The Hipsters" 2020 Edition on Thursday, December 10 at 7:00pm; Saturday, December 12 at 5:30pm; and Sunday, December 13 at 5:30pm.

COVID fan tutte
Camarillo United Methodist Church | 291 Anacapa Dr. | Camarillo, CA
Saturday, November 14, 2020 at 5:30pm
Sunday, November 15, 2020 at 5:30pm
Sunday, November 22, 2020 at 5:30pm
Tickets: $60 - $175 per car. Number of people in each car is limited to the number of seat belts.
More Information: www.pacificoperaproject.com/covidfantutte

Music by W. A. Mozart
Original libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte
English adaptation by Josh Shaw

Runtime: 2 hours and 10 minutes
Presented with orchestra, in English, with projected supertitles

Director/Designer: Josh Shaw
Conductor/Arranger: Kyle Naig
Costumer: Maggie Green
Assistant Director: Carson Gilmore
Stage Manager: Kourtni Dale-Noll

All tickets and programs will be virtual, for a contactless experience. There will be no intermission, but restrooms will be available. All state and county COVID guidelines will be strictly followed and enforced. Masks are required outside of cars. Concessions will not be offered, but picnicking in your car is encouraged.

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