Georgia Southern University alumni are performing in the Moon River Opera in Statesboro on April 7th, 2025 at 7pm at Statesboro First United Methodist Church.
Moon River Opera is an opera company based in Savannah, Georgia. It has been operating for seven years under Brenna Dudley's artistic direction. Along with the other performers, Dudley graduated from Georgia Southern. She graduated with a degree in vocal performance.
Moon River's motto is "making opera fun again." To incorporate fun into opera, they have different-themed recitals.
The performers improve their opera, do site-specific opera, and even do drunk opera. At the drunk opera performances, with safety regulations, both the audience members and the performers can sing while enjoying a drink. At site-specific performances, the performers sing in different places around Savannah, including a spooky, historic mansion.
"Opera has this long history of being accessible and fun -- not the way modern audiences tend to think about opera,” said Dudley.
Dudley believes there is a stereotype around opera performances. Instead of having audience members think that they need to dress in their finest clothes and sit stiff as a board, the performances can be more appealing.
Georgia Southern and Statesboro is where most of the people involved in Moon River Opera met on-stage and off-stage. It is the place where they developed a musical community.
"In a very real way, there would be no Moon River Opera without our time there," Dudley said. "We treat our performers very, very, well, but something equally as important is we want to interact with the community."
In Statesboro, on Monday, April 7th, the performance will be at Statesboro First United Methodist Church on South Main Street. The show is free of charge, with donations happily accepted.
"Free for everyone," Dudley said. "Come and come as you are."