Subscribe to Spirit Magazine









There is almost 30 minutes to showtime, and already a crowd has gathered in the Rudder Tower lobby. The area by the box office bustles with theatergoers who’ve braved the cold November evening, eager for a night of fun, excitement and head-bobbing rhythm thanks to the latest OPAS performance: the award-winning percussion group “STOMP.”

girl jumping on-stage

After receiving my ticket and a cheerful “Enjoy the show!” from the man at will call, I head toward the auditorium. A volunteer beckons me and gladly scans my ticket, offers a program and echoes the warm wishes from the box office before I enter the auditorium and find my seat.

The murmur of conversation gradually increases to an excited buzz as families, students and couples trickle in until the venue’s maroon seats are packed. Onstage, barrels, brooms and scaffolding covered with a jumble of trash can lids, road signs and various other city flotsam make it look like a portal to a New York City junkyard. For those familiar with the show, the cluttered collage hints at the musical magic that awaits.

At 7:30 p.m., a man dressed in tattered street clothes emerges with a broom. He could pass for a stagehand as he starts sweeping, but as the lights fade, the audience hushes to hear every slow, methodical swish. This is what they have been waiting for. The award-winning show that has consistently sold out theaters all over the world and captivated New York audiences 11,472 times for 29 years has arrived in Aggieland.

Soon, Rudder is reverberating with rhythm as the eight performers weave swishes, thumps, bangs, claps, clicks, rustles and stomps into music, using nothing but ordinary objects like brooms, matches, paper, trash cans, suitcases, shopping carts and even the kitchen sink. From the first moments, a smile spreads across my face as I’m caught up in the performance. The audience around me feels it, too, laughing, cheering and nodding to the beat as they get lost in the show.

But there was much more to the group’s College Station appearance than the 105-minute performance. The memorable night resulted from countless hours of preparation by the students, staff and volunteers of Texas A&M University’s OPAS. A unique partnership among students, the university and local community members, the organization has brought such talent to the area as the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Carol Burnett, Tony Bennett, Willie Nelson, “Rent,” “Les Misérables,” and numerous other top theater, music and dance programs.

Like the rhythms of “STOMP,” it takes a lot of skillful coordination to consistently bring captivating entertainment to Aggieland, but OPAS has been making it look effortless for 50 seasons.

Christopher Robin and Winnie the Pooh in a play
spotlight graphic

The
Curtain
Rises

Cast rocking out on-stage
begin quote

In those days, Texas A&M students were largely from rural Texas and had never seen a ballet, opera or play. Stark wanted to provide that.

Anne Black

The
Curtain
Rises

It was a year and a half before “STOMP” would take the stage, and OPAS Executive Director Anne Black was already preparing. The organization’s program advisory committee, composed of community members and Texas A&M students on OPAS’ board of directors, was discussing shows for its 2022-23 50th anniversary season, and Black was busy attending conferences and checking tour schedules for booking availability. “Every season begins with putting together a wish list,” Black said, “and it’s a balance between audience interests and touring logistics.”

The intricate planning at the start of each season harks back to OPAS’ beginnings. In 1970, the local community was growing, with Texas A&M attendance totaling 14,200 and Bryan-College Station boasting a combined population of 51,000. However, the area still lacked an organization dedicated to presenting professional fine arts programs. Memorial Student Center (MSC) Director J. Wayne Stark ’39 was determined to change that. “In those days, Texas A&M students were largely from rural Texas and had never seen a ballet, opera or play,” Black explained. “Stark wanted to provide that.”

In 1972, the planned opening of the new Rudder Theatre Complex provided the extra push needed to achieve Stark’s vision. He organized a small group of university and community leaders to form the Opera and Performing Arts Society as a committee within the MSC Town Hall student organization. The group soon expanded into its own MSC organization and a true town and gown affair, with 200 members from all walks of life with both university and community members serving on its board of directors.

On Nov. 3, 1973, all the preparation paid off when classical guitarist Christopher Parkening took to the Rudder Theatre stage as OPAS’ first performer for an audience of 800. The first season was an instant success, and subsequent years filled the Rudder stage with opera, music and other classical performances. As the community continued to grow and audience interests evolved, OPAS expanded to additional variety performances and began adding Broadway shows to its repertoire in season 15. “Through the years, we’ve tried to meet the community’s requests and do more to serve a broader audience,” Black said.

spotlight graphic

Leading Lady

image of Anne Black
begin quote

Anne is one of my favorites in the business. She’s smart as a whip but also a bit of a risk-taker, and I have tremendous respect for her. She does the community a terrific service by bringing so many national and international acts to the area.

Stephen Gabriel

It was a year before “STOMP” would rock the Rudder stage, and Black was deep in the world of dates and calendars to translate their season 50 show selections into one cohesive performance schedule. “The calendar is the biggest challenge,” she said. “We have to work these puzzle pieces around football weekends, spring break, commencement, the holiday break and anything going on in the MSC or Rudder. And just when we have it all scheduled, an agent will call asking if I can move their show by a few days, and it’s all upended again.”

But if anyone can be trusted to work everything out, it’s Black. Warm and welcoming yet matter-of-fact, she’s a master at coordinating the chaos of negotiating with producers, communicating with university personnel and overseeing the details that make each season a success.

“Anne is one of my favorites in the business,” said theater producer Stephen Gabriel. The president and executive producer of Work Light Productions, Gabriel has collaborated with Black and OPAS as a booking agent and producer for more than 30 years and has helped Aggieland gain such shows as “Cirque Ingenieux,” the Bolshoi Ballet and the original tour of “STOMP.” “She’s smart as a whip but also a bit of a risk-taker, and I have tremendous respect for her. She does the community a terrific service by bringing so many national and international acts to the area.”

Black has been the organization’s leading lady since season 12 in 1984. For three years, she served as its program coordinator before stepping into her current role as executive director in 1987. In this position, she’s guided OPAS from a young organization to the respected veteran theater presenter it is today. But like a true backstage player, she’s slow to take any credit. “I don’t know if it’s about me,” she protested. “Responding to the community’s interests is what has grown OPAS.”

Others, though, are happy to applaud her. “Anne has been instrumental in making this program a success,” said Zou Cherry, a former OPAS board member and president of the board for season 46. “She has so many contacts in the theater community. Everybody in the industry respects her.”

spotlight graphic

Saving the Show

girls on a pink staircase on-stage
begin quote

We’ve been surprised at how quickly we bounced back. We thought we might have a couple of negative years because of COVID, but luckily, we haven’t.

Anne Black

Saving the Show

It was seven months before “STOMP” would wow Aggieland and only five months until OPAS’ 50th season began when Black’s phone rang. Bad news came from the other end: The tour of “Waitress” scheduled to come to College Station in March 2023 was canceled. But OPAS had already announced its season schedule and printed brochures advertising the Broadway musical as part of the lineup. With no time to lose, Black turned to her Broadway connections, asking if anyone had a show with open tour dates in the same timeframe. One responded with “Legally Blonde,” and just like that, things were back on track. “It’s all about having relationships so that when you send an email like that to somebody, they respond,” Black said.

Unexpected schedule snags are only one challenge OPAS has weathered through the years. In an industry so reliant on in-person attendance, anything from a downturn in the economy to a nearby hurricane can negatively affect ticket sales.

Most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic presented a massive shakeup, forcing OPAS to cancel its remaining season 47 shows in the middle of the year and completely skip over an official season 48. “We’ve been surprised at how quickly we bounced back,” Black said. “We thought we might have a couple of negative years because of COVID, but luckily, we haven’t. That’s partly due to the university. We kept our jobs, but many of my colleagues in private theater nonprofits didn’t.”

Perhaps the most disheartening downturn came in the late 1980s. When an increased oil supply drove the decade’s oil bust, it also dried up the funds OPAS received from the Texas Commission on the Arts that had helped supplement ticket sales. “When we didn’t have that money coming in to subsidize, we went through some really tough years,” Black recalled.

In OPAS’ moment of need, the community stepped in by creating a $100,000 endowment through the Texas A&M Foundation to permanently support the group. In 2002, additional donors grew the endowment to $1 million, ensuring OPAS could keep presenting top-quality programs even when sales were down. “Looking back, it’s amazing to think OPAS is funding itself because it wasn’t for a long time,” Black said. “Before, it was not uncommon to lose $200,000 in a season and try to make it up the next year.”

With a current annual budget of $2.3 million, covering all the costs is no small feat. But thanks to ticket sales, playbill ads, sponsorships and donors’ consistent generosity, OPAS continues to present 25 events each year, including mainstage shows in the 2,500-seat Rudder Auditorium, Intimate Gathering shows in the smaller 750-seat Rudder Theatre, one-night Singular Sensations, and multiple programs for children and local schools.

spotlight graphic

Starring: Students

Students rocking out on-stage
begin quote

OPAS has been a very impactful chapter of my life. It helped me become a stronger, more confident person and opened new doors.

Edith Gonzalez Brizuela '22

It was 14 hours before “STOMP” would take the stage, and Rudder was a flurry of activity despite the early morning hours. The stage crew was busy loading the set into Rudder Auditorium and assembling the pieces into the hodgepodge of scaffolding that audiences would see a few hours later. While the show’s professional touring crew worked onstage, another critical team worked backstage: the Aggies in the MSC OPAS Student Committee. From providing the crew with coffee to setting up the performers' green room, the students skillfully played their part in preparing the cast and crew for success.

The 80 students in the organization are some of the stars of OPAS, tirelessly assisting with every aspect of the performance process, including promoting the show, providing hospitality and transportation to the cast and crew, serving as ushers and ticket-takers during shows, and helping make decisions as part of OPAS’ board of directors. “Our students are the arms, legs and heart of OPAS,” Black said. “They contribute the energy, youth and creative imagination that keep us going.”

Students have been part of the organization since the beginning, and their continued involvement makes the group one of the few student-led university performing arts organizations in the country. The student committee remains with the MSC while the rest of OPAS now lies under the Division of Academic & Strategic Collaborations, which was established in 2021 to support community and university-wide engagement and collaboration. “The students make OPAS unique,” said Edith Gonzalez Brizuela ’22, who participated in the OPAS student committee throughout her time in Aggieland and served as the 2021-22 committee chair when the group began planning for season 50. “Not everyone in the group wants to pursue theater for the rest of their lives, but we all have a common interest in sharing the arts.”

Their hard work has its benefits. Students gain lifelong friendships, and their hospitality role allows them to meet many of the visiting performers. The organization also provides networking opportunities with Brazos Valley citizens and former students, as well as newfound communication and leadership skills that can apply well beyond their time in Aggieland.

“OPAS has been a very impactful chapter in my life,” Gonzalez Brizuela said. “It helped me become a stronger, more confident person and opened new doors. When I started college, I was a physics major, but now, I plan to pursue an arts-related career.”

spotlight graphic

A Standing Ovation

Students clapping under the spotlight
begin quote

What Anne has built with OPAS has stood the test of time. I always want to support it because it’s so important to have organizations like this that serve as the backbone of touring theater in the country.

Stephen Gabriel

A Standing Ovation

It was an hour and a half since “STOMP” first swept onto the stage, and the show was nearing an end. Following a booming number with trash can lids, the performers began clapping out a rhythm, encouraging the audience to copy the beat. The claps were slow at first but intensified as the audience got the hang of it. Soon, the crowd had become an inextricable part of the performance, providing the underlying rhythm as one member accented it with his swishing broom.

By drawing the audience into the performance, the moment also encapsulated OPAS’ secret to success for all these years: community support. From donating and volunteering to buying tickets and telling friends, everyone who supports the organization has a hand in its impact on Aggieland. Since it began, OPAS has sold more than 1 million tickets, not only providing entertainment and enrichment to students and community members alike but also giving Texas A&M a name in the arts world.

“OPAS creates this center of art in what is typically considered a technical and agricultural-focused university,” observed theater producer Stephen Gabriel. “What Anne has built with OPAS has stood the test of time. I always want to support it because it’s so important to have organizations like this that serve as the backbone of touring theater in the country.”

“The arts are central to life and learning,” Black added. “They nurture, entertain, inspire and enlighten, and students and the community need that.”

This season, OPAS celebrated its history and the impact of art by looking back and looking forward. “STOMP,” which first graced the Rudder stage during its original U.S. tour in 1994, points to shows from seasons past, while “Anastasia,” a new Broadway show, promises good things to come. And OPAS has plenty to look forward to—most notably the planned construction of a new Performing Arts Center on campus that could host future shows. “I hope the new center becomes a destination for people across Central Texas,” Black shared. “I believe OPAS' future is bright.”

But more than a center, it’s the dedicated individuals in the organization that make OPAS shine like a spotlight on a dark stage. As audience members file out of Rudder Auditorium on that chilly November night after “STOMP,” buzzing about the show, a few volunteers remain, cleaning up and discussing anything that could make the next event even smoother. And in the dark theater, the standing ovation the show received still echoes, not only for the performers but also for the staff, students and community members who transformed a room full of strangers into a united group as they laughed, clapped and made music together.

Showstopping Moments

Explore these notable onstage and offstage moments from OPAS' history.

1973

1988

1989

1990

1994

1997

1999

2004

2016

2020

1973

Van Cliburn

Every seat in the newly opened Rudder Auditorium was packed full for the final show in OPAS’ first fall season featuring the pianist who had performed for heads of state around the world. But with an unexpected delay, Cliburn might not have made it to College Station in time if it hadn’t been for Board of Regents member Ford D. Albritton Jr. ’43, who stepped in to provide his private plane for the occasion.

1988

"Cats"

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s whimsical world of musical felines ushered in a new era for OPAS as part of the first season of Broadway shows. The musical ran for thre e nights in Rudder, and with an average attendance of 2,300 each night, the show left audiences caterwauling for more Broadway.

1989

Michael Tilson Thomas

The renowned conductor and pianist drove audiences batty when he performed during a bat infestation in Rudder. Unfazed by the bat circling his head during the performance, he returned after a standing ovation to play the Batman theme as an encore.

1990

Bolshoi Ballet Grigorovich Company

OPAS made the front page of the New York Times when artistic director Yuri Grigorovich was so impressed with Aggies’ hospitality that he chose Texas A&M as the site for his new ballet company’s world premiere. With only six weeks to prepare, the community rallied to pull it off, and the Russian troupe performed “The Nutcracker” for a two-week residency.

1994

"STOMP"

When OPAS Executive Director Anne Black booked the percussion group on their first U.S. tour, she took a risk on a unique act most people had never heard of. But when the show stomped into Rudder for three sold-out nights, it swept audiences off their feet.

1997

"Cirque Ingeniuex"

A new acrobatic show was born at Texas A&M when the university hosted its performers and creative team for three weeks in the summer. As the acrobats practiced in the Rec Center, the designers perfected the sets, costumes and sound in Rudder. The show premiered in Dallas that August before returning to College Station to share the finished product with Aggieland.

1999

"Les Miserables"

The famous musical on the French Revolution was a first for OPAS when it ran for eight performances as part of its 10th anniversary U.S. tour. Despite the extra days, every night was sold out as people came from around Texas and beyond to hear the people sing.

2004

Yo-Yo Ma and Emanuel Ax

The renowned cellist and pianist delighted the audience when they teamed up for a special performance. When Black went to call them onstage for a brief reception after the show, she found their dressing room empty. While she was frantically searching for them, the two were already onstage, talking and laughing with OPAS donors like old friends.

image of Tony Bennet next to a piano

2016

Tony Bennett

The venerated legend treated the audience to a night of such classics as “Steppin’ Out With My Baby” and “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” before ending the night by singing “Fly Me to the Moon” without a microphone while the crowd sat spellbound.

placeholder image

2020

"The Play That Goes Wrong"

During the Broadway show about a disastrous play, everything’s supposed to go wrong, from tripping actors to falling walls. But when the wall fell too early, it derailed the show for real as the actors scrambled to make the set safe to continue. To the audience, though, it was all part of the show.

Passionate about supporting the behind-the-scenes stars who bring top talent to Aggieland?

Learn more by contacting Heather Sauber '99, senior director of development, at the bottom of this page.

Give Online
Contact
  • Heather Sauber '99

  • Chief Development Officer
  • College of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts
  • Call: 979.845.0939

Make Your Impact