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Arts Program Partners with Schools to Expose 2,500 to Live Theater

May 28, 2013

Some lucky students experienced a new kind of stage performance many of them are likely not familiar with this month: an opera.

Arts UC Merced Presents, Merced Opera in the Schools and the Merced County Office of Education worked together to bring the children’s 45-minute mini-opera “Ugh the Duck” to Merced County students from May 20 to 24.Cast of mini-opera “Ugh the Duck” with kids

“Ugh the Duck” is a spiffed up, retelling of the classic tale “The Ugly Duckling.” It celebrates differences, addresses bullying, rejoices in community and emphasizes that it is not so much where we come from, but where we go from here.

UC Merced Professor Katherine Steele Brokaw directed the show and co-produced it with music theater lecturer and professional opera singer Jenni Samuelson and Arts UC Merced producing manager Gail Benedict.

The play was written by Nancy Steele Brokaw and includes music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Arthur Sullivan. UC Merced students Justin Choi and James McIntyre star in the play with Samuelson and professional opera singer Aimee Puentes. The music director is Patrice Stribling Nelson.

About 2,500 students from Merced County schools attended private showings of the opera in UC Merced’s Lakireddy Auditorium last week. The joint venture brought Merced County school children to campus and exposed them to the fine arts, as well as provided UC Merced students an opportunity to work with professional performers.

The hope is that the show’s message — that every child can someday spread his wings but still have a place to call home — will resonate with the children of Merced and inspire them to see themselves as UC students in the future.