Some of you have been nursing a secret desire to be on stage. The make-up, the costumes, the lights, the audience…all this holds a certain romantic appeal to you. Well, here’s your chance to scratch that itch in a big way: be a supernumerary for the Portland Opera! A super is essentially a non-singing operatic performer. Opera frequently requires a fairly large number of peasants, soldiers, or what have you, to be on stage for the narrative arc to make sense. You could volunteer to be one of those peasants. Free parking and passes to dress rehersals! Apply here.

Here’s a great deal for the stage-shy, cash-strapped pdx opera fan: rush ticketing. Get any available seat for just $10 one hour before curtain at Keller Auditorium. Now showing: La Boheme (very romantic).

For those of you who think you disdain the opera: forget fat ladies with horns. Opera can blow your mind! I randomly got a chance to mingle with some of the behind-the-scenes opera folks at a recent community outreach gathering staged by Portland Opera. There I was, biking home along the Eastbank Esplanade on a Friday afternoon, thinking “I could really go for a beer right now,” when a Portland Opera staff member jumped out of the bushes outside Keller Auditorium and hailed me, exclaiming “Free beer!” I ended up mingling outside Keller into the evening, nearly missing my dinner plans. Cool people, those opera folk. I follow Bob Opera’s blog now. Thanks to Widmer Brothers for donating the beer.