LEXINGTON COUNTY, S.C. — Eighty students in Lexington-Richland School District Five created an original opera. What is impressive is that the students are 5th graders at Nursery Road Elementary School-Arts Magnet.
The students worked on the entire production, called “Lights Out! Lock In!” -- from start to finish -- on projects like set design, advertising, acting and costumes. The show teaches us to be kind to our friends and never spread rumors.
“I've learned when to cut on the lights whenever they come on stage,” says Jameson Lanier, who is one of the electricians lighting the show.
“Composer technically, that's my job. But I also work with the writers,” says Riven Stone, one of the composers.
“I got to direct the production to make sure everybody's doing their job. And they're doing the right thing,” says Brantley Peake, one of the directors during the show.
The 5th graders also set up their own production company, R.O.A.D Productions, to mount the show at the school.
“If somebody told me that there was a show made by just 5th graders, I would be shocked that it's even decent,” says Stone. “It's not like you hear constantly. 'Oh, yeah, my kid made an opera in fifth grade.' You don't hear that from every single parent.”
At the beginning of the school year, teachers facilitated the production, but on opening night, kids will be running the whole show. The students meet daily to work on their jobs.
Lisa Brooks, music teacher at NRES-AM, explained, “They do job applications, which are two parts. There's a written part and then they have to make something. Then they come to a job interview with the fifth grade teachers and the academic arts teachers. And then they're hired for the company. And then they sign a contract to be part of the company. And then we get to work.”
This is the second original opera created by this school.
“We brought it in because of our grant last year," Brooks says. "So we brought this to show that we're different and just do something different here in Nursey.”
But the production isn't just funded by a grant, the 5th grade public relations team gets to work on advertising and creating a logo.
“There’s 80 kids in fifth grade, and only eight are onstage and 70 to get them there. You can't have a show if you don't have PR to advertise it. You can't have a company if you don't have a logo. So you need a graphic designer. Everybody is important,” says Brooks.
“Kids wrote this. It's going to be cheesy. But I also wanted people to be like, 'these are actually good songs' that I could see people listening to. Children in the future listening to,” says Stone.
“Lights Out! Lock In!” will premiere Monday, March 25, with an in-school showing at 10 a.m., then public showings at 6 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, March 26, at 6706 Nursery Road in Columbia.
Tickets are $6 per person with all the proceeds go back to Nursery Road Elementary's arts program.
To purchase tickets, click here or scan the QR code below.
