The Wye Operetta Workshop (WOW!) will hold auditions for interested students from 8th grade through college for its 2010 summer performances of Gilbert & Sullivan’s Iolanthe. This popular fanciful operetta will be performed during Plein Air week at the Avalon Theater in Easton.  Auditions are by appointment.  They will take place at the Old Wye Parish Hall, 14114 Old Wye Mills Rd. in Wye Mills on Friday, April 23th from 6 to 8 p.m. and on Saturday, April 24th from 11 to 1 p.m. To schedule an appointment, cantact Linda Foss at 443.758.3157 or lindafs@atlanticbb.net.  For directions to the Old Wye Parish House go to www.wyeparish.org.

There are eleven principal roles and a chorus.  A free Workshop will be held nightly from June 28th to July 22nd from 6 to 9 pm, not including the July 4 weekend, at the Old Wye Parish Hall in Wye Mills.  Crew members are also needed.  The Workshop will culminate in three professionally coached and costumed performances of Iolanthe on July 23rd, 24th, and 25th  at the Avalon Theater in Easton.

The Director of the Workshop is Bonnie Forgacs.  Ms. Forgacs is a mezzo soprano who has performed in Carnegie Hall and has been heard on both radio and television.  She has performed in many Gilbert & Sullivan operettas.  A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, she has recorded with the Pro Arte Singers on the Musical Heritage Label.  Ms. Forgacs loves Gilbert and Sullivan and greatly enjoys sharing their works with young people.

This is the Wye Operetta Workshop’s third year.  After debuting in 2008 with standing-room-only performances of An Evening with Gilbert and Sullivan, WOW! returned last summer, playing again to standing room only audiences for  The Mikado.  Ms. Forgacs regards the great success of those performances as an indication of both the quality of young local talent and the interest in the mid-Shore in this kind of theatre.  A traveling troupe from the Workshop will also present outreach performances to senior citizen groups.  Partially funded by a grant from the Talbot County Arts Council, the Workshop is under the auspices of Music at Wye in Wye Mills.