Take six cups of opera singers, mix with three tablespoons each of recitative, aria, and chorus. Season with audience suggestions as desired. Allow to marinate for twelve weeks. Bake for seventy minutes and serve hot. Feeds forty.

Op*erratic is a fully unscripted operatic improv spectacle, where the plot, music, and mayhem are created in real time. Armed with classical voices and a flair for the absurd, our cast transforms audience suggestions into spontaneous stories full of soaring arias, tragic misunderstandings, and unexpected finales.

It’s one part opera, one part improv, and all parts hilarious. No script, no safety net — just high notes and higher stakes. And, of course, there is no place better to cultivate this innovative new operatic event than Chicago, the home of improv theater.

Formated like an improv class, lead by Chicago Fringe Opera's Producing Artistic Director George Cederquist, 12-16 singers are trained in the skills of improv while also incorporating Cederquist's unique formula for doing the seemingly impossible - creating an opera on the fly. Multiple performances are scheduled at Borelli’s Pizzeria, which we are able to keep open to the public with only a donation collection.

In addition to our performances at Borelli's, we will be featured at Chicago Live! on Navy Pier on September 21st in a free performance for the public. We hope to continue to develop Op*erratic as a teachable improv program for opera singers, helping young artists develop their stage craft and flexibility on stage in addition to the seemingly magical ability to improvise an opera in the moment on stage.

Opera is AWESOME. Improv is AWESOME. Improv Opera in Chicago is SUPER DUPER AWESOME!

The Awesome Foundation grant will cover the fee for our pianist, Brian Rasmussen. There are very few pianists in the world, let alone Chicago, who are AWESOME enough to improvise accompaniment for our singers in the style of Mozart. Securing the commitment of Mr. Rasmussen is hugely important to the success of Op*erratic.