Dating back to 1950 and the first Inspiration Point Fine Arts Colony located on picturesque property overlooking the White River Valley, the training camp for aspiring performers maintains its motto: “The students are the stars.” No lead singers from professional ranks perform the principle roles. The non-profit educational organization, which is supported by Federated Music Clubs in several states, as well as other gifts, legacies, and donations, boasts an internationally recognized artistic director, experienced scenery, lighting, and costume designers, and a professional orchestra to accompany the operas.

On May 15, 2007, my husband, Lee Smith, and I joined Workampers Larry and Ann Wood and Larry and Sue O’Hara to prepare the facilities in less than two weeks for the arrival of a staff and 45 singers. A full hook-up site awaited us. For the first weeks, we worked alongside the general director, Jim Swiggert, and his wife, Janice, to sweep away cobwebs and dirt that had accumulated during ten months of non-occupancy in staff housing, the costume shop, dormitories, dining hall, auditorium, and dressing rooms. As a team, we filled dumpsters with trash, vacuumed the practice cabins and staff housing, and scrubbed the bathrooms. In both the girls’ and boys’ dorms, we vacuumed mattresses and under bunk beds.

Once the singers and staff arrived, I assumed more regular duties, setting out the continental breakfast and keeping kegs of water and lemonade filled. I emptied trash after meals, helped with morning dishwashing, swept—and sometimes—mopped the dining hall. I also vacuumed the kitchen several times a week and helped the cooks, Larry and Sue O’Hara, with the salad bar.

Both Lee and Larry Wood, whom we called Woody, kept unpredictable hours when emergencies, such as a washer that failed to drain in the boys’ dorm or a toilet that would not flush in a piano coach’s cabin, kept them working after dark. All day, Woody’s whistling mixed with Italian lyrics vocalized in the practice cabins as he emptied trash and sorted through piles of discarded sets for salvageable material. Ann, with her accounting background, worked in the office, taking reservations for the opera performances. When performances began, she also helped in the ticket booth. Lee prepared a long list of needed repairs on buildings that had suffered years of neglect. He replaced window panes in an old barn, one of the first buildings on the property that had once served as dormitories. Today, the weathered, red structure houses hundreds of costumes for dozens of operas that have been staged in the past 57 years. Lee installed 18 shop lights in the old two-story building to provide proper lighting for the costumers to hang the opera wardrobes on long racks, and then to pull costumes for the next season’s operas.

Our ten-week contract called for six hours of work daily with four compensated hours. Benefits included site and utilities, three daily meals, seating at all operas, and passes to local attractions. Laundry facilities were available in the kitchen, which adjoins a dining hall and two large classrooms. As a bonus, our employers arranged for all six Workampers to attend a gala fundraiser dinner at the historic Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs. Opera artists presented a musical program.

However, Opera in the Ozarks goes beyond a job where hours are tabulated and duties are clear cut. As a support staff, each of us committed to create an environment in which young people could develop and showcase their talents for loyal audiences. The job required physical stamina. We put in long hours, taking up the slack when someone had a day off or an emergency calling them away for several days. In addition to their administration duties, the Swiggerts pitched in to help in all situations from preparing meals on the cooks’ day off to hoisting five gallon bags of milk into the dispenser to scrubbing pots and pans, cabins, and dormitories.

During the summer, Lee contributed his handyman skills to the improvement of the camp. He repaired and constructed stands for electronic pianos in the practice cabins. In the dormitories, he replaced leaky faucets, hot water heaters or elements, and batteries in emergency lights and smoke detectors. Together, he and Woody changed window air-conditioners in staff units, worked on clogged toilets, and mopped a large practice area in the boys’ dormitory basement. While Woody ran the weed eater around the grounds, Lee did trouble shooting on electrical circuits. He also installed new blinds in the dining room/student center, and common rooms in the boys’ dormitory.

As the opera sets went up, Lee installed permanent door knobs for entrances on a hinged screen used as a backdrop for The Marriage of Figaro. He ran five electrical lines for stage lighting.

No stranger to a kitchen, Larry, typically called L.J., grew up in his family’s restaurant. Retired from Eaton Corporation after 34 years, he and Sue started RVing in 2000. Sue worked for Morton Salt Company, and later started her own company, Cabinet Connections. Residents of Hutchinson, Kansas, they have cooked for the opera company for five years.

In addition to preparing lunch and dinner for 75 to 100 camp participants, they planned all menus and placed orders for the food supply. Twice daily, they set up a large salad bar, an accompaniment to vegetables and entrees, soups and sandwiches. For two years, Ann helped in the kitchen, but in the summer of 2007, she preferred to use the office skills she had acquired while working in car dealerships and hospitals. Ann and Woody, also residents of Hutchinson, Kansas, began RVing in 2001. “Woody retired as a Farmers Co-op Manager, and we wanted to travel,” Ann says. “We have dogs and an RV seemed the best way to go.”

Most winters, the two couples, travel to a resort on the Texas coast where Ann and Sue, who are twins, participate in their sewing and crafts hobbies. L.J. enjoys braiding rugs, which he sells at craft fairs. Jim Swiggert, an alumni of Opera in the Ozarks and a retired school band director, has been general director for Opera in the Ozarks at Inspiration Point for 20 years. Janice has worked with him for the past eleven years. They began actively recruiting Workampers in 2006. “We would like to hire at least one more couple to lessen the workload of the three couples that worked in 2007,” Janice says.

The Workamper positions offered the six of us an opportunity to meet and mingle with singers and musicians from across the United States. Seeing a stage production grow The Workamper positions offered the six of us an opportunity to meet and daily with rehearsals in the dining hall and practice rooms, costume fittings, and scenery rising from boards and planks was part of the payback for the work of cooking, cleaning, and creating a home-like ambiance for the young artists. Starting with dress rehearsals and carrying through opening nights and four weeks of rotating opera performances, we as a staff were part of moments that moved audiences.

For the last two weeks of our contract, Opera of the Ozarks hosted two children’s camps, one for piano and strings, and another for vocals. With only one day to transition from opera singers to high school and junior high students, the staff put in a long work day cleaning staff housing and dormitories. The younger campers came with a full roster of counselors and sponsors who took over some of the daily duties of managing breakfast and cleaning up after meals.

For more information about Opera in the Ozarks and their schedule, go to www.opera.org. For information about Workamping positions, contact Jim Swiggert, General Director: Phone: 479-253-8369, or look for the Opera’s ad in Workamper News.

 

About Eureka Springs, Arkansas

Eureka Springs is a quaint town built into a mountainside over a century ago. Shops, art galleries, antique stores, and restaurants offer hours of browsing in the downtown area. Trees form a canopy over the narrow streets lined with Victorian residences, bed and breakfasts, and historic hotels.

A grocery store, medical facilities, pet care, and other businesses provide services in the town often called “Little Switzerland.” For more serious shopping, Berryville, only 18 miles east from Opera in the Ozarks, offers many stores including a Wal-Mart Supercenter. Approximately 30 miles west of the Opera, major stores, malls, and restaurants are located in the the metroplex of Rogers, Springdale, and Fayetteville.

Within the area, numerous attractions abound for entertainment on days off from Opera in the Ozarks. Blue Springs Heritage Center with native gardens surrounding Northwest Arkansas’ largest spring is located only one and one-half miles from the entrance to the Opera. From the Opera’s campus, Beaver Dam is sighted across the layers of Ozark Mountains. Beaver Lake, a Corps of Engineers project, is accessible for swimming, boating, fishing, and picnicking. The White River flows through the valley below the campus, offering canoeing and fishing. War Eagle Mill, a working water-powered grist mill on the War Eagle River, is a scenic day trip. The Bean Restaurant on the premises serves breakfast and lunch.

Pea Ridge National Military Park, approximately 20 miles west of the Opera, commemorates and preserves the site of the pivotal March, 1862, Civil War battle. The park encompasses 4,300 acres and includes a museum and hiking trails.

The Great Passion Play, located in Eureka Springs, is America’s number one attended outdoor drama. On-site attractions include the New Holy Land Tour, the Christ of the Ozarks statue, the Parables of the Potter, the Sacred Arts Center, the Bible Museum, and the Museum of Earth History.