Painted Sky Opera connects the LGBTQ+ community to arts

by Robin Dorner
Editor in Chief

Painted Sky Opera believes strongly that an arts organization should form strong connections within the community it serves. 

“In order truly to serve a community, you need to understand the people who make up that community and what those people want,” said Painted Sky Artistic Director, Rob Glaubitz. “Certainly, one of the groups with whom we plan on initiating these conversations in 2019-20 is the LGBTQ+ community.”

Glaubitz said, “Quite simply, you need to ask them what they want out of an arts organization instead of assuming we know what they want.”

One of their goals for the 2019-20 season is to strengthen bonds with OKC by connecting with several of the larger groups in the community and asking them how we can serve them more effectively. 

“We plan on connecting with stakeholders in the community by initiating conversations with those stakeholders and continuing checking in with those stakeholders over time,” he said. “By building these connections to the various communities that make up OKC, we hope to understand how we can serve them more effectively through our programming and our educational activities.”

If you have a group interested in being a part of Painted Sky Opera’s community conversations, contact them (dropdown box “about us”) through their website at www.paintedskyopera.org.

For the 2019-2020 season performances, Painted Sky Opera will bring us four operas about the essential qualities that make us human and how these things haven’t changed over history. 

“Our 2019-2020 season features both new and old operas,” Glaubitz said. “All of them highlight important aspects of being human – the importance of love, the necessity of dealing with loss, the question of faith.”

Painted Sky Opera will have the traditional operas – The Barber of Seville (September) and La Serva Padrona (May), which are both comedic and focused on the intricacies of romantic relationships. 

And there is the classic Christmas opera – Amahl and the Night Visitors (Dec) which touches on issues of morality and humanity that are essential no matter what our station in life.

And the new operas – Glory Denied (Jan/Feb) which tells the story of the longest-held American POW and Service Provider (May) which is comedic and explains how cell phones can drive a wedge between us in our relationships. 

The season: Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) By Gioachino Rossini will be September 20, 22, and 27, 2019 in the Freede Little Theater, Civic Center Music Hall.

Amahl and the Night Visitors by Gian-Carlo Menotti will be December 13 and 14, 2019 at the First Baptist Church of Oklahoma City.

Glory Denied by Tom Cipullo January 31, February 2, & February 7, 2020, in the Freede Little Theatre, Civic Center Music Hall.

La Serva Padrona and Service Provider will be May 14 through 17, 2020 in the CitySpace Theatre, Civic Center Music Hall.

Season subscriptions start at only $85. Single tickets are also available. For tickets, visit www.paintedskyopera.org or call the Civic Center box office at (405) 594-8300. 

Copyright The Gayly. 8/20/2019 @ 10:35 a.m. CST.