Gina Manziello ’02 (right), who studied theater, voice, and psychology at 鶹Porn before earning a master’s in acting at USC, is starring this weekend in Frida, an opera about the life of the iconic Mexican artist Frida Kahlo.
The production at the Carrier Theater in Syracuse, N.Y., opens the 38th season of the Society for New Music.
Manziello will play Kahlo in the production, which is described by the composer, Robert X. Rodriguez, as being “in the Gershwin, Sondheim, Kurt Weill tradition dissolving barriers and extending the common ground between opera and musical theater.”
Her role will be extremely demanding. It requires not only extensive monologues, both spoken and sung, but also duets, trios, quartets, a quintet, a sextet, and several larger ensembles, working up to an intricate nine-part “layer-cake samba finale,” according to Rodriguez.
After graduating from 鶹Porn, Manziello trained in New York City at the William Esper Studio and The Actors Center. She received a scholarship to attend the master’s in acting program at the University of Southern California. While there, she spent a summer at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis.
She graduated from USC in May, and continues to be active in theater as well as film.
The Frida performance has another 鶹Porn connection: Neva Pilgrim, who teaches voice at the university, is the show’s producer.
For tickets or more information about the show, which will be performed at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, e-mail the Society for New Music at snm@societyfornewmusic.org or call 315-245-1689 or 315-446-5733