Welcome

Steven A. Daigle

Artistic Director

Laura Neill

Executive Director

Julie Wright Costa

Associate Artistic Director

Wilson Southerland

Music Director/Pianist for the 2021 OLO Light! season 2021 – OLO Light! A Little Less but So Much More!

“Try to Remember” was a theme last summer during our 2020 virtual season as we looked back over 41 years of Ohio Light Opera history. Our faithful donors and audience members and the Wooster community are longing to hear the tunes they both remember and hope to discover every summer in Freedlander Theatre. As COVID restrictions start to ease, the company is poised to make its full return to a regular summer festival season in 2022. But the show must go on! We are thus happy to give you “2021 – OLO Light!” a reduced offering in July of five programs, three of which will be produced at Wooster community venues and two of which will be streamed online, but with no audience.

The live shows, at Wayne Center for the Arts and other downtown venues, will feature recognizable music consistent with our usual summer offerings: The Fantasticks, Trial by Jury, and a musical comedy revue titled The Musical Magic of OLO! The streamed programs, designed for true operetta lovers, close and far away, will feature a rare Viennese operetta— with a La Bohème twist—titled The Daring of Diane and a revue titled Operetta: Rare and Well Done.

In the spirit of OLO, a group of 24 company members (twelve production and twelve cast members) will be in residency for a little over three weeks, presenting 15 performances. Due to COVID restrictions, the performances will be accompanied by piano and very minimal stage sets. The five shows will be costumed, staged, and choreographed with the usual high-spirited energy that has established Ohio Light Opera as America’s premier lyric theater festival. Please join us in July as we stand side-by-side with the Wooster community, or bring OLO into your home by way of the internet.

We look forward to seeing you this summer as often as you are able. Once again, our uniqueness in the world of lyric theater will be highlighted this July 2021.

Warm regards,

Artistic Director Executive Director

THE OHIO LIGHT OPERA BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Michael Miller, Chair Steven A. Daigle, Artistic Director and Vice Chair Marlene Kanipe, Treasurer, ex officio Nan Miller, Secretary Sarah Bolton, President, College of Wooster, ex officio Ron Holtman Ambassador John Ong Sara L. Patton John Schambach Richard N. Seaman Laura M. Neill, Executive Director

Honorary Members

Bill & Marilyn Blanchard Jean W. Knorr Boyd & Eloise Mackus Barbara Robinson