The ACU Opera will perform two one-act operas during its performance of the “Soap Opera Opera” on April 5 and 7.

The show will consist of “Gallantry” by Douglas Moore and “The Old Maid and the Thief” by Gian Carlo Menotti.

“Total, it’s a full two hour production between two operas so it’s as good a value for your ticket as anything, especially with how cheap ticket prices are,” said Sam Snyder, sophomore vocal performance major from Houston and actor in “Gallantry.”

“Gallantry” will be the first performance in the “Soap Opera Opera” show.  Snyder said the opera was created to mimic a television soap opera like “General Hospital.”

“For Gallantry, our set is a TV sound stage,” Snyder said.  “And in addition to the players themselves, you’ll see all the behind the scenes work on the sound stage.  You’ll see the director and the camera man and the sound tech.”

Mirroring a real television show, “Gallantry” will even have commercials in between scenes said Jennifer Magill, sophomore vocal music education and vocal performance major from League City and actor in “Gallantry.”

The second performance will be “The Old Maid and the Thief.”  Rick Piersall, director of opera, said the play was originally a 1939 radio show.

“We’re setting it in a radio station, and so it looks very much like you would expect an old radio broadcast to look like,” Piersall said. “So we’ve got actors, we’ll have the piano on stage and also a foley artist who will be making all of the sounds.”

Julie Brinkman, sophomore vocal music education major from McKinney and foley artist for “Old Maid” said she will be using things like shoes and thunder sheets to produce noises for the show.

“I’ll have all these different objects that I’ll use to make different sounds so that the audience will see me making them, but if you were listening to the radio you would just hear all the sounds,” Brinkman said. “It’ll just make it come to life and help them understand a little bit more about what is going on in the plot.”

Brinkman described “The Old Maid and the Thief” as a show-within-a-show.

“The opera itself that we are singing that’s supposedly going over the radio is very dramatic in itself but all the actors in the story can relate to the characters that they are playing in the opera, so that even heightens the drama as they are interacting with each other throughout the show,” Brinkman said.

Tickets are $5 with a student ID and $10 for adults.

“It’s less than a movie. They’ll get to come in and see live theater,” Piersall said.  “It’s going to be a cheap, fun evening.”