Skylight opera theatre
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The Skylight Opera Theatre is a professional light opera company located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Founded in 1959, Skylight performs in the 358-seat Cabot Theatre in Milwaukee's Third Ward District. Offering a broad spectrum of works including musicals, light opera, musical revues, small-scale operas and operettas, this company is well-known in Milwaukee for its all-English repertoire. The founder of Skylight was Clair Richardson.
One of Skylight's specialities is the production of Gilbert and Sullivan operas. Every other season, Skylight puts on a Gilbert and Sullivan show, and every four years they perform The Mikado. However, the company has also established a reputation for an adventuresome repertoire, encompassing baroque opera, operetta, musicals, contemporary chamber operas and original musical revues. The mission of the company is "to bring the full spectrum of musical theatre works to a wide and diverse audience in celebration of the musical and theatrical arts and their reflection of the human condition."
Skylight's Managing Director is Christopher Libby, its Artistic Director is Bill Theisen, and its Principal Conductor is Richard Carsey. The company gives over 80 performances each season. The 2006-07 season includes five new productions, including Humperdink's Hansel and Gretel, Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific. The contemporary American comic opera Tartuffe, Smokey Joe's Cafe, and Gilbert and Sullivan's Patience.
The Skylight staged its first world premiere, Richard Wargo's Ballymore in 1999. The premiere attracted national attention. The success of that project led to the company receiving a large grant to finance a two-year residency at the Skylight for Wargo. Another world premiere was The Little Prince, an opera by Rachel Portman.
Skylight Opera Theatre is a non-profit organization with a $2.7 million budget and an endowment. In addition to ticket sales, it raises funds throught the rental of sets, costumes, theatres and public spaces in its theatre center, which it owns and operates. It also receives contributions from the United Performing Arts Fund, the National Endowment for the Arts, Wisconsin Arts Board, CAMPAC, Theatre Communications Group, The Pew Charitable Trusts, and various foundations, corporations, and individuals.
