Arts Alive San Antonio

By JASMINA WELLINGHOFF, Editor —

First, we are curious, what does the E in your name stand for?
The members of my immediate family go by their middle names, not first names, so, that’s why I go by Loren. My first name is Elizabeth. It was back in college that I decided that I liked the idea of a first initial, and have been using it ever since graduation. My family always called me Loren or Lorie.

How has the COVID-19 crisis affected OSA, financially and psychologically?
Tremendously, heartbreakingly so! That means an immediate loss in revenue due to the cancellation of our production of “Rigoletto” (scheduled for May), and also of our biggest fundraiser which is the Labbat Golf Tournament. We also lost city funding like many other arts organizations. What we can present now through digital content and community outreach in order to stay connected is completely new.

Tell us what OSA is doing now?
We are doing three major things, with more on the horizon. Our email newsletter has now become a weekly. We present a series of interviews with artists, called “Beyond the Production,” we include performance videos with singers and a pianist, and we include information about things that you can watch online, performances streamed by various companies around the world. And we will soon include some digital educational programming that can be streamed as well. The “Beyond the Production” segments happen every Friday live on Facebook, which means the community can join us and ask questions. The segments often include a performance of some sort, or, like in the case of a lighting designer, an exhibit of the artist’s work. They are all available on our YouTube channels, too.

Have people been responding and sending donations?
Yes, we have the Artists Relief Fund, a fundraising campaign for artists whose contracts were canceled when we were forced to cancel our production of “Rigoletto.” And that will go on until May 9 when our performances would have ended. Also, we are quickly approaching the end of the fiscal year, so, we are developing ways to participate in opportunities liking Giving Tuesday, a telethon, and other formats, to continue to generate support during this time of intense uncertainty.

Sounds like you are busy!
You know, it’s busy in ways I could not have anticipated. My brain was geared up for the rehearsal process, and that is incredibly exciting and challenging and busy. But I am so surprised by how exciting and scary and busy this period feels. COVID-19 has really made us think about opera and the company in a whole new light, keeping us going morning, noon and night.

What keeps your spirits up?
Finding creative outlets! For example, tomorrow I have a Zoom conference with young artists from the Houston Opera to develop ideas for a new approach to “La Bohème.” It’s an opportunity for my creative juices to approach the material in a new way. And it’s a fantastic learning experience for them. That’s satisfying to the artist in me. My other favorite thing to do is either Zoom lunches with my closest friends and colleagues, or Zoom sessions with my family, who are all in Boston.

Are you saying that no one at OSA is being paid right now?
No, the five of us on staff are being paid, and that’s due, in no small part, to the extraordinary effort we made to receive the SBA PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) loan. We are now working diligently to organize our finances in order to maintain payment to staff for the foreseeable future.

Will “Rigoletto” be rescheduled?
I hope so. We would like to reschedule it for our 2021-22 season. I am now working with agents on availability of the artists, so, hopefully, we’ll be able to put that in place.

How did you develop your love of opera?
By accident. It happened after I completed a directing internship with the Milwaukee Repertory Theater. I headed home to Boston. I had no work at the time and, so, when a colleague said “We need a stage manager for our production of “Lady in the Dark,” at the Boston Academy of Music, I took the job. It was an extraordinary right-place-right-time kind of experience. I had degrees in directing and choreography; I was certified in stage combat, I had done straight plays and had experience working with dialogue, reading a score. But when I walked into a rehearsal (for “Lady in the Dark,”) I thought, “How, in the world, did I not know about this!?” And I have loved opera ever since.

Can you sing?
Can I? Yes. Does anybody want to hear it anymore? (Laughs) I did study voice in college with Claudia Catania at Boston University but I quickly realized that my talents are better suited for directing and choreography.

Which are your favorite operas?
“La Bohème” will always hold a special place in my heart. It was one of the first shows I professionally directed and also one of the first that I got to do a new production of… And the other piece that really resonates with me right now is Janaček’s “The Cunning Little Vixen.” It’s beautiful. Janaček is underrated, I think, in the American opera world. Maybe because he’s a lesser known composer, and he is Czech. Czech and Russian operas tend not to get as much attention, here in the United States. But I find his composition to be stunning. “Vixen” deals with the intricate relationship between humans and nature and that interests me as an artist right now.

If you could be anywhere in the world at this time, where would you like to be?
I have to say, here, in San Antonio!

What are you grateful for in your life, and specifically now, during this crisis?
I think the answer to both of those questions would be: my family. I am very lucky to have wonderful parents and a brother with whom I am extremely close. Since we were very young, we could always talk to each other and guide each other through big problems or little problems, and everything in between. My parents are both in the theatrical arts. I can go to them with life problems, I can go to them with artistic problems. I can go to them to just laugh and cry. They are an absolutely phenomenal support system.

If you consult with a wise man or woman from the past, whom would you choose?
What a wonderful question! (Pause) Right now it might be interesting to go back and have a conversation with someone like Winston Churchill. The reason I am mentioning him is because he weathered a storm that was unprecedented. He certainly did not do it alone, and I am not saying that all his choices were great, but he was able to guide his country through a time in history that was, as I said, unprecedented. To have an opportunity to glean information and hope from someone like him would probably be something I could apply to my life personally, to my work with Opera San Antonio, and to our understanding of the future.

If you were to win the lottery, how would you spend the money?
I would like to save some of it because the rainy-day fund is a bit low at the moment. (We both laugh). But, honestly, I would like to put as much as I could into the arts. My heart is now invested here in San Antonio and I would try to help as many organizations and people as I could.

Do you have a favorite TV program?
I do, but my answers are terrible! (Laughs) I tend to watch programs that I can use as background noise while I am doing other things. So, I get addicted to things like NCIS because it has a predictable format and layout, and I can follow the characters but I don’t have to watch too attentively. And then I have a wish list of shows that I think an educated adult should watch but I need to find the time to enjoy them.

What are you most proud of?
Without, hopefully, sounding egotistical, I am proud to be a single, career-driven woman who has had success, both personally and professionally, that has allowed me to sustain a healthy, vibrant life on my own.

What do you consider your best trait, and what would you like to change about yourself?
Oddly, it may be the same thing. When I am doing my best work, I am listening, I am facilitating and I am leading. And I am creating an environment in which my colleagues can do their best work. And then, when I off my mark, when I am tired, it becomes my weakness. I am constantly trying to self-evaluate and be the best possible version of me.

What traits do you appreciate in your friends and colleagues?
OSA’s Artistic Administrator, Veronica Lopez, is as fast and as dedicated as I am, and she challenges me. And I love that. Madeline (Elizondo, OSA’s Education Coordinator) is creative and she thinks outside the box and she brings new ideas to the table all the time. That is vital to our success right now.

What is your pet peeve?
Lack of communication. I challenge myself to communicate better, I challenge my colleagues to do the same. It’s difficult right now when our lives are changing daily. I try to stay on top of my communication so that people feel acknowledged, and in the loop, so that we can work as effectively and collegially as possible.

Should you find yourself stranded on the proverbial desert island, who would you like to be stranded with?
My brother. I am not sure I would have said that five years ago, even though we have always been close. But I have become so fascinated by his knowledge and his ability to adapt, that I think we would enjoy ourselves on that island and we would figure out how to survive.

Is there something you have always wanted to try but never got around to it?
When I was in high school, trying to decide what I wanted to study in college, I was fascinated with the idea of becoming a marine biologist, specifically to save the manatee. I would like to have an opportunity to study with or have an adventure with marine biologists, and get to know that world.

Do you have a message for San Antonio?
Have hope! Share your art, your soul and your humanity with as many people as you can. We will get through this storm.

For more info on new initiatives, go to www.operasa.org