MSC OPAS has a deal for you! For the first time in it's 38-year history, Aggieland's foremost performing arts society is launching a community-wide volunteer service program.
The group is looking for adults who would like to get up close and personal with the business of show business -- face-to-face with the footlights.
"We want to enlist many volunteers to work alongside our already established student volunteer program," said OPAS Executive Director Anne Black. "We will need ushers, ticket takers, program distributors, doorman greeters, backstage hospitality and transportation for artists, among other jobs."
The OPAS student committee has been and remains the life-blood of OPAS volunteerism but, over the years, its growth has not kept pace with the demands of staging some 13 performances -- as OPAS will this season -- including seven major main-stage productions starting in September.
"Our student committee will continue to play as vital a role as ever," Black said. "However, due to the growing number of performances OPAS presents, specifically the multi-night engagements, we are looking for additional volunteers to serve with the student committee."
Black says it's the perfect volunteer opportunity for an active retiree, much like those who help at the Bush Library and Museum.
"Certainly, there will be no requirement that they be retired, but we have looked at programs around the country, including Bass Hall in Fort Worth, and it seems their volunteer corps is made up primarily of retirees and a very large percentage of them are retired teachers."
OPAS lists a few traits for the perfect volunteer: a special interest in and enthusiasm for the performing arts; the knowledge of and ability to enforce appropriate performance protocol; a willingness to serve all patrons of the Rudder Theatre complex with care and respect; a high level of congeniality in greeting and seating performance guests; and a professional demeanor while volunteering.
In other words, if you can bring the same professionalism to the volunteer position that the actors and crew bring to the stage, you're who they want.
So this is serious volunteerism that demands a considerable measure of commitment. Potential volunteers will be asked to submit an application indicating areas of interest, skills and availability. From there, volunteers selected will be invited to attend a training and orientation.
Several no-commitment information sessions are being scheduled before the training workshops start. Once enough people are ready to move forward, training sessions will begin.
"Our hope, of course, is that we will have a good group of well-trained volunteers by the time we get into the multiple-night runs," Black said. "We will have a scheduling system set up so that they can sign up for the programs they want to work and will be able to do that by phone or Internet. We will also have sign-up sheets at performances for future programs so they can sign up for a future program while they are working."
Want to learn more? Call 845-1661 or e-mail Shanna Wright at swright@msc. tamu.edu. You can also go to www.mscopas.org and click "More OPAS," then "Become an OPAS volunteer" to submit an application.
Gold medal pianist
The next production of the University Summer Performance Series is Monday night and features Haochen Zhang, the 13th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition gold medalist.
Zhang won the Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Gold Medal in Fort Worth last June despite being the youngest participant in the competition at age 19.
When he was 17, he won the 2007 China International Piano Competition. But even by then he was considered a veteran as he had his debut recital at the Shanghai Music Hall at the age of 5, performing all of Bach's two-part inventions, as well as sonatas by Haydn and Mozart.
The Cliburn International competition is held every four years and its winner is generally recognized as the best young pianist in the world.
Zhang's performance starts at 7:30 p.m. Monday at the Annenberg Presidential Conference Center at the George Bush Library. Tickets are $25 for adults and $7 for students, and are available at the MSC box office. Call 845-1234.
'Digital Paintbrush'
The Arts Council of Brazos Valley's newest gallery show opened Thursday and runs through July. Larry May's "Digital Paintbrush -- Painting with Light" is featured at the Spirit of Texas Gallery at the Arts Center, at 2275 Dartmouth St. in College Station.
The show spotlights May's 40 years of experience with a technique he calls "photographic painting."
"I am fortunate to be able to travel extensively and capture photographs that lend themselves to this process," May said.
The final result is achieved, he said, by adding and refining filter effects and color palettes until he reaches an image that shows the scene that originally appealed to him and then moves that image to a "painting-like" final product.
May's work focuses on nature scenes in the western United States, but also includes some unexpected surprises for the viewer.
All of May's images are available for purchase, with a portion of the proceeds going to benefit the Brazos Valley Art League.
For more information, visit www.acbv.org or call 696-ARTS.
Save the date
* Sunday, Friday and Saturday: Brazos Valley TROUPE presents Beauty and the Beast, 3 p.m. Sunday and Saturday, 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday (846-4903, bvtroupe.com)
* Monday: University Summer Performance Series presents Haochen Zhang, Van Cliburne gold medalist, 7:30 p.m., Annenberg Conference Center (845-1234, http:// boxoffice.tamu.edu)
* Tuesday-Aug. 11: Brazos Valley Museum of Natural History presents "Lee and Grant" (776-2195, www.brazos valleymuseum.org)
* Thursday-July 18: Navasota Theatre Alliance presents All Aboard for Broadway (navasotatheatre.com, 936-825-3195)
* Thursday-July 30: Brazos Valley Art League and Arts Council present "Digital Paintbrush: Painting with Light by Larry May," Spirit of Texas Bank Gallery (696-2787, acbv.org)
* July 19: University Summer Performance Series presents The Killdares, 7:30 p.m., Annenberg Conference Center (boxoffice.tamu.edu, 845-1234)
* July 30-Aug. 1: Navasota Theatre Alliance presents Annie Jr. (936-825-3195, www. navasotatheatre.com)
* Aug. 2-30: Spirit of Texas Bank Gallery, Brazos Valley Arts Council and Arts League present "Oil Paintings by Kiki Curry" (696-2787, acbv.org)
* Aug. 5-21: StageCenter presents The Bad Seed (823-4297, stagecenter.net)
* Aug. 6-15: The Theatre Company presents Into the Woods (theatrecompany.com, 696-2787)
* Aug. 13-14: Navasota Blues Fest (936-825-6600, navasotabluesfest.org)
* All month: Children's Museum of the Brazos Valley offers various programs, including Monday Madness, from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. (779-5437, www.mymuseum.org)
* All month: Until August, the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum presents "The Culture of Wine," unraveling the mystery, magic and making of wine. (bushlibrary.tamu.edu, 691-4000)
* Tom Turbiville is The Eagle's arts columnist. He's also sports director for WTAW-1620AM Radio. E-mail him at tom.turbiville@ theeagle.com.
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