History Chapter 5

Families are one of Opera-Lytes staples! Opera-Lytes is a family of its own with a community of people from all walks of life, but some members share an even greater bond as relatives--spouses, siblings, parents and children--share the stage. Multiple generations of performers show us how the company keeps operetta alive!

Going back to the origins of Opera-Lytes: the Creechs, Atwoods, Stewarts, Collinses, Szczudliks, and Borers were initially prominent in the group. The Churchills and Schlimgens were involved then, and still are now today. 

Gayle Nason-Churchill met founding member, Mel Churchill when she joined Opera-Lytes in 1996. It’s easy to see the love they have for each other as well as for the company. Married in July of 2001, they have collaborated on every performance together, archived history, enjoyed annual trips to the International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival in England where they celebrated G&S and gathered inspiration, and opened their home to the community of Opera-Lytes.

Dave and Sharon Szczudlik are founding members alongside Mel. Though they never thought that they would be in an opera group, they found a special place within Opera-Lytes and enjoyed their time. “It was just so much fun once you started doing it,” said Sharon. Dave and Sharon designed and built many of the company’s stage sets and scenery. They also performed with their daughter and granddaughter in Carousel and Sharon sang principal and chorus roles for many years. Although they don’t perform or create sets as they once did, they still attend Opera-Lytes’ shows! 

Today, Ken Schlimgen and his son, twelve-year-old Luke, follow the late Shirley Schlimgen’s footsteps into the theatre. Ken’s mother acted, sang, and produced many splendid costumes for the company. Ken has been with Opera-Lytes since 1997 and Luke is now a third-generation Opera-Lytes member. Luke has already memorized almost all the Gilbert and Sullivan operas; he is happy to have a theater-oriented family and enjoys sharing the stage with his father. Being involved with a community theater gives young actors a great outlet for their talents, and also introduces them to concepts like teamwork, and being responsibility for their own contributions, as well as the intellectual and artistic world of musical theater and operetta. 

The Kruegers are another parent-child family in Opera-Lytes. Lisa and Ciaran first met in an Opera-Lytes production, and they have been regularly involved with performances ever since, including playing opposite one another in the leading roles in Brigadoon and The Yeomen of the Guard. Most recently, Lisa played the role of Constance Partlet in The Sorcerer in spring 2024, a show for which Ciaran was music director. Their then thirteen-year-old daughter Caiomhe joined the chorus of Ruddigore in 2023, and later appeared in The Sorcerer and HMS Pinafore. Caiomhe’s favorite part of Opera-Lytes is the family-feel of the company and all the inside jokes!  

Wendy Swihart joined Opera-Lytes performances with a little help from (and for) Gayle Nason-Churchill. Wendy had been a part of concerts presented by Opera-Lytes and the Amherst Community Church choir since her family joined the church in 1999/2000. Then in 2008, Gayle asked Wendy if her daughters could be in Brigadoon. Wendy’s daughters were four and eight years old at the time, so Wendy joined the chorus of Opera-Lytes that year “just for fun.” She wound up playing a small part, Jane Ashton, when she fell in love with the company. Later her daughters were in a couple of other shows including The Sorcerer (2012) and The Music Man (2014) and Wendy continues performing with roles in 2024-2025's HMS Pinafore and The Merry Widow.

Siblings Lisa and Paul Berglund have shared a love of operetta and classic Broadway since they were in junior high, when they spent hours recording complete versions of the Gilbert & Sullivan shows by making cassette tapes of the songs from their record collection interspersed with their own recitations of the dialog. Now, the pair are working together in real performances; he most recently played Sir Marmaduke in The Sorcerer and was in the chorus of HMS Pinafore, both of which shows she directed. 

Recently, Opera-Lytes added two more family members to their repertoire, Michael Warner and his daughter-in-law Lisa Warner. In 2019 Michael sang at his son and Lisa’s wedding. They also embrace song and theater in their family.

Michael said, “I auditioned, I got in, and Lisa was aware of it. She apparently got the bug again too.” I asked Michael if being on stage with his daughter-in-law felt any different than with other performers, he said, “For me when I’m on stage with Lisa, I consider her a colleague… and it’s kind of an added bonus that she’s my daughter-in-law.”

“It’s a dream come true to be back in theatre,” said Lisa Warner. I asked her how it was performing with her father-in-law, she said, “It’s cool, because you have a common life with your family.” She added, “I love The Pirates of Penzance, because the Pirate King says, ‘But this is quite unaccountable. A keener hand at scuttling a Cunarder...’ and Cunarder is the cruise line that my dad actually worked for, so I’ve always kind of felt especially akin to Gilbert & Sullivan because my dad was English. It seemed like a part of my heritage in a sense.”

Michelle Carr, a member since 2019, has not shared the stage with family members but there is another way her family became involved with Opera-Lytes. She said her five-year-old daughter was first introduced to opera when Michelle was in the chorus of The Mikado in 2019 and she loved every moment of the show. In 2023, she attended 4 out of 5 performances of Ruddigore, in which Michelle played the professional bridesmaid Ruth. Especially exciting was when, in 2024, Michelle and her daughter got to share their love for Opera-Lytes with two of her daughter’s friends for the first time ever! They utilized the free student ticket program Opera-Lytes offered for The Sorcerer. HMS Pinafore also was free to kids, thanks to a grant from the Opera Foundation of Buffalo, and Opera-Lytes will be continuing the program for future G&S shows. 

Opening the world of opera beyond their own families is the goal of each member of Opera-Lytes. They share a great deal with each other working toward the common goal of producing a comical and entertaining show that they can share with you, and yours.

Would you like  to join Opera-Lytes? Opera-Lytes holds auditions each spring for solo roles in the upcoming year's season, and invites any interested singer aged 16 or older to join the chorus. Depending on the show, children may also be included as long as a responsible adult is also in the show or working on the production. Contact info@operalytes.com for more information.