Melissa Misener (Stage Director)
Melissa Misener, resident stage director at Opera
Tampa stage directed the world premieres of
Anton Coppola’s Lady Swanwhite and Tim Wilt’s
Children’s Opera Falling Skies. Melissa also
directed Opera Tampa’s Productions of A Night in
Spain, An Evening of Gilbert & Sullivan featuring
Trial by Jury and many other Opera Tampa
Singer’s performances including StrazLIVE! In the
Park and The Witching Hour. Melissa has directed
St. Petersburg Opera Company’s productions of
Verdi’s La Traviata, Donizetti’s Elixir of Love,
Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci and Mozart’s Abduction
from the Seraglio. Among Melissa’s performance
credits, she’s played the roles of Maude Dunlop in
The Music Man, Narrator in Sondheim’s Into the
Woods, Mrs. McLean in Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah,
Madame Flora in Menotti’s The Medium, Zita in
Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, Giovanna in Verdi’s
Rigoletto and Mrs. Anderssen in A Little Night
Music by Sondheim with SPO. Melissa has also
had the great pleasure of premiering three roles
of Tom Sivak’s new operas: Sunshine City, Dr.
Gilligaf’s Baboon and Love vs. Death.
Alix Faulhaber (Assistant Director)
Alix Faulhaber hails from St. Petersburg with a
voice “like dark chocolate.” She has been Melissa
Misener’s artistic collaborator since 2015. Alix
was Director and WAM artist for St. Petersburg
Opera’s Pinocchio for the rst three years of their
Childrens’ Opera program. At Opera Tampa, Alix
has performed as Drei Knabe in The Magic Flute,
Manuelita in Carmen and Cio-Cio San’s Mother in
Madame Butte y. Alix also wrote and directed
the Opera Tampa Singers Witching Hour in 2019
and performs as Ursula the Sea Witch. For Pirates
of Penzance, Alix serves as acting coach and hosts
acting workshops throughout the rehearsal process.
Joseph Oshry (Lighting Designer)
Joseph is glad to return to Opera Tampa at the
Straz Center to light The Pirates of Penzance.
Since 1986, he has designed lighting for more
than ve hundred and ninety productions with
such organizations as Asolo Rep, Palm Beach
Dramaworks, Maltz-Jupiter Theatre, Orlando
Shakespeare Theatre, Palm Beach Opera, New
Orleans Opera, Sarasota International Dance
Festival, Ballet Eddy Toussaint USA and the
Interlochen Dance Ensemble in Michigan. Joseph
has received two Individual Artist Fellowships
from the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs and is
a four-time recipient of the Theatre Tampa Bay
award for outstanding lighting design. He is also
a member of United Scenic Artists Local 829 New
York and of IATSE Local 412 Sarasota.
Casey Hicks (Choreographer)
A Tampa native, Hicks is returning to Opera Tampa
after choreographing Die Fledermaus and Lady
Swanwhite last season. Recent choreographic
credits include: Shrek the Musical and Cirque
Dreams Holidazes as assistant choreographer
and tour installer. Currently Director at Tampa
Bay Dance Academy, co-owner and operator of
RoCa Productions and traveling the country with
specialty act Tell-A-Vision.
Dawn Rivard (Hair and Makeup Designer)
Rivard has designed for productions in Germany,
Austria and Switzerland, and won an Emmy® Award
for Feast of All Saints. She has built wigs for
Stockard Channing, Queen Latifah, Elizabeth Moss,
Jessica Biel, Sir Peter Ustinov, Jonathan Rhys
Meyers and Lily Collins (The Mortal Instruments:
City of Bones) which garnered her a Canadian
Academy Award. Rivard has done wig and makeup
work at Teatro alla Scala, Seville’s Teatro de la
Maestranza, Turin’s Teatro Regio and the Dutch
National Opera. Broadway productions includes
Ragtime, Sunset Boulevard and Showboat, and
she has designed hair and makeup for The Dallas
Opera as well as the world premieres of Sister
Carrie and two-time Grammy® Award-winning
Elmer Gantry.
Cat Carter (Stage Manager)
Carter started her professional career as a stage
manager at PCPA Theaterfest in California, after
which she worked with California Theater Center,
San Diego Repertory Theatre and in the La Jolla
Playhouse box of ce. Since relocating to Florida,
she’s stage managed for Tampa Rep, St. Pete
Opera and Opera Tampa. Carter also has served as
a logistics coordinator for FirstNight St. Pete and
as tech support for Tampa Fringe.
Gilbert & Sullivan (Lyricyst and Composer)
Playwright/lyricist William S. Gilbert (1836-1911)
and composer Arthur S. Sullivan (1842-1900)
de ned operetta in Victorian England with a series
of their internationally successful and timeless
works. Their rst major hit, HMS Pinafore (1878),
satirized the Royal Navy and the British obsession
with social status. The Pirates of Penzance (1879),
written in a t of pique at American copyright
pirates, also poked fun at romantic melodrama,
sense of duty, family obligation and the relevance
of a liberal education. Gilbert’s plots remain
perfect examples of “topsy-turvydom,” in which
pirates reconcile with majors general and his
lyrics employ double (and triple) rhyming and
punning. Sullivan, a classically trained musician
who devoted much of his career to religious hymns
and grand opera, contributed catchy melodies
which also were emotionally moving. Credit:
8notes.com.
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