Even before the pandemic put the kibosh on in-person performances, the leadership team at Inland Northwest Opera was aware the organization needed to find new ways of reaching audiences.
It wasn't necessarily a matter of dwindling demand. Ever since the organization launched in 2000 as a grassroots outfit called Opera Plus!, it has steadily evolved into a more ambitious and professionalized initiative — first in 2009 as Opera Coeur d'Alene, which saw its annual performances expand into full operatic seasons, then again in 2018 as Inland Northwest Opera, which reflected a shift in scope that included both sides of the Washington-Idaho state line. Clearly, the region is home to enough opera lovers to make that growth possible.
The larger issue, according to Melody Chang, has more to do with exposure.
"From my point of view, the only challenge we have is to get people in the door. Because we know that once they're in the door, they're going to absolutely love what we have on stage," she says.
Chang was hired this past January as INO's director of marketing. Soon, thanks to a mix of grant funding from the Coeur d'Alene Arts Commission, Greenstone and Super 1 Foods, she was handed a powerful tool that could not only open doors to new audiences but can eliminate those barriers altogether: a white Ford E-350 Econoline.
Fittingly dubbed the Opera Truck and envisioned as an outdoor performance space on wheels, the Econoline was part of a project that had been in the works for at least a year, spearheaded by general and artistic director Dawn Wolski.
"It's a 16-foot box truck, and it had a new engine put in recently," Chang says. "So the body is from 2002, but the engine purrs like a kitten. It's amazing. My fiancé and I happen to be very, very into cars. Like, way too into cars. So, when I was hired on and Dawn said, 'Hey, there's this Opera Truck thing,' we were like, 'Oh, we could get behind this.'"
Currently, the Opera Truck is a collaborative work in rapid progress. Wolski's husband, Mateusz, is the first chair violinist for the Spokane Symphony and a renowned car enthusiast. He's tasked with the overall design of the converted truck and coordinating outside assistance from body shops. Justin Schmidt, INO's technical director, is handling the various parts of the truck's built-in stage system. Chang's fiancé, Arthur Heaton, is an avionics technician and automotive buff who's overseeing the general maintenance and repair as well as construction of the complex winch system that will allow the stage to unfold. And Chang herself is responsible for the truck's exterior wrap and keeping it in good shape.
Once it's finally overhauled, the Opera Truck will be able to take live operatic performances anywhere its tires can roll. That might include anything from a neighborhood park to a school parking lot.
"Opera is for everyone, and we are opening doors wide for everyone. We are literally cutting a hole in the side of a truck and creating doors," says Wolski, laughing.
"The idea is to get the people where they are. All of our Opera Truck performances will be free to the public. They will incorporate both aria favorites and a mix of different pieces from the standard repertoire and the best-loved repertoire. But the Opera Truck is also going to be our delivery vehicle, our mobile venue for our kids outreach opera. So the truck is going to have a couple roles."
The INO Opera Truck's debut is planned for Aug. 6, when it will pull onto the lawn of the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture, deploy its stage, and internationally acclaimed singers will perform well-known selections from opera and musical theater. It's a come one, come all picnic-style gathering with no admission fee.
Wolski wouldn't mind seeing the Opera Truck become as popular and as ubiquitous as the ice cream truck once was, maybe even awakening artistic career ambitions in younger generations. Unlike your average ice cream truck, however, she says that "elegance" will set it apart from similar mobile and pop-up performance spaces.
"The most critical thing for me is that you feel like we're bringing a wonderful concert hall to you. You've got a black truck with beautiful chrome accents and our logo on the side. You open up two five-foot doors from the side, and immediately the stage comes down on winches. My husband says it's like the opening of a flower. We have wood floors, lights, sound, curtains, the feeling of a proscenium that you have in a real theater."
For all the anticipated fanfare around the Opera Truck, it's only one part of INO's strategy to get opera in front of more people. During the COVID-19 lockdown, Wolski fought to continue the organization's Opera Gram service, which allows customers to book established INO artists for private micro-performances of arias like "Sempre Libera" from La Traviata or "Music of the Night" from Phantom of the Opera. The organization's educational program, Opera-tunities, is taking free-of-charge performances of Seymour Barab's Little Red Riding Hood to outdoor spaces across the region this summer. And in October, the INO will return to the indoor stage with a full production of Gluck's Orpheus and Eurydice at the Fox Theater.
And the more that INO goes out to audiences, the more it finds that audiences are coming to it. Among operagoers, word has spread that INO is showcasing a mix of international talent alongside emerging local singers at ticket prices that are far more accessible than in large metropolitan areas.
"We've started having people fly in from Seattle, from Calgary, from California, from Montana. I mean, our top ticket is a hundred bucks, and yet you're seeing the artists that you'd pay $300 for that type of seat in Seattle," Wolski says.
"It's really not that common for a region of our size to have a company that's bringing in artists from New York and Sweden and Switzerland. But it's a testament to the Inland Northwest. The community here loves their arts and is willing to nurture new ideas and think outside of the box a bit."
That reputation makes Chang's job a little easier, she readily admits.
"I'm pretty happy as a marketing director because there's no comparison to anything else we have here. We are the only company in this area providing this product at a world-class level," she says. One heavily modded Econoline later, INO is also one of the few opera companies to be bringing that level of entertainment directly to any space that offers a welcome and a parking spot. ♦
A Night at the MAC with the Inland Northwest Opera • Fri, Aug. 6 at 7 pm • Free (donations accepted) • Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture • 2316 W. 1st Ave • inlandnwopera.com • 800-418-1485
