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Sinfonicron Light Opera Company

Genre	Gilbert and Sullivan and other light operas and musicals

The Sinfonicron Light Opera Company is a student-run theatre company at the College of William & Mary that produces annual musicals and light operas. For over half a century, it has sought to produce "high quality theatre" for the William and Mary student body and the Williamsburg community.^[1] Students from the College of William and Mary produce everything including set design and construction, direction, costuming, and administration.

In October of 1965, the President of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia (The College of William & Mary's music fraternity) released a statement calling for the technicians and performers of the college to join him in his mission of creating a student-led light opera company to display the musical and technical talent of students. In order to finance the first show, shares of Sinfonicron were sold to members of Delta Omicron and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.^[2] PMA co-founded the organization with Delta Omicron (now Delta Tau Omicron). Sinfonicron's name was a portmanteau of its founding organizations' names: Sinfonia and Omicron. Students run every level of the production, including set design, costuming, management, and publicity. The company was originally founded under the name Sinfonicron Opera Company, but in 1983 changed its name to Sinfonicron Light Opera Company.^[2]

Today members are drawn entirely from William and Mary students, many of whom belong to one of the company's four parent organizations: Delta Tau Omicron, Phi Mu Alpha, and Nu Kappa Epsilon, and the Theater Students’ Association. While the production schedule has changed throughout the company's history, at present, Sinfonicron produces one show every January on a three year rotating schedule of two Gilbert and Sullivan shows and one non-Gilbert and Sullivan show. Students come back to William & Mary two weeks before the official start of the spring semester, giving up the second half of their winter break to rehearse all day to produce a musical in two weeks. This affords students too busy in the semester to take part in William and Mary theater. Sinfonicron prides itself not only on contributing to Williamsburg's vibrant arts scene, but also on providing its student participants with invaluable skills, experiences, and relationships that will stay with them for years to come.^[1]

The first article about Sinfonicron to be featured in The Flat Hat, William and Mary's student written newspaper began with a quote from Doug French, the first director of Sinfonicron:

"The Mikado will be the firstly-student production to be presented at William and Mary."

However, this statement is false, for a club known as The Backdrop club had been producing student-run theater since 1938. ^[3]

In 2015, the Virginia House of Delegates passed a resolution commending Sinfonicron for "producing theater that enchants audiences and enriches the community" in honor of the company's 50th anniversary, following its January 2015 production of Pirates of Penzance. ^[4]

The Backdrop club was founded in December 1937^[3] to put on the student run and student written "varsity shows."^[5] The first show, "Spring Cleaning,"^[6] took place on April 7th and 8th with over a hundred students involved in the production.^[7] The second show, "Set to Munich" took place on March 30 and 31, 1939.^[3] Despite the fact that the company was young and the production of the show was a bit rough, the show received favorable reviews.^[3] Eventually the club began to do some non-student-written, but still student-run shows such as "Gypsy" in 1966.^[8] The Backdrop club stopped doing productions in about 1984.^[9]

In 1986, The Backdrop club was disbanded and replaced by the Chameleon Group^[10] whose mission was to support all student-theater projects on campus.^[11] The first production of "Walpurgisnacht," written by Andrew Emery" took place February 23rd-27th, 1986.^[12]

Founded in 1997, Shakespeare in the Dark^[13] is the only other official theatre company at the College of William & Mary. Unlike the Sinfonicron Light Opera Company, Shakespeare in the Dark does not produce musical production and only focuses on original interpretations of Shakespearian plays and other classical theater productions. Shakespeare in the Dark is often featured in William and Mary's newspaper, The Flat Hat, and they are featured for their festivals and productions^[14]. Many students that participate in Sinfonicron are also members of Shakespeare in the Dark.

In the 1930s, the W&M Music Department produced a series of Gilbert and Sullivan Musicals in the Phi Beta Kappa auditorium. While there is no known evidence of a connection between these productions and the founding on Sinfonicron 25 years later, such a connection is possible.

There was no show in 1934 due to a staging of Humperdinck's "Hansel and Gretel."

At the time of Sinfonicron's founding, many students were passionate about performing Gilbert and Sullivan's light operas, which had just recently gone into the public domain in 1961. While the company still frequently performs Gilbert and Sullivan's shows, as some of the shows do not hold up well in the modern day, the company has expanded its repertoire to include more modern musicals.

For 54 years, Sinfonicron was based out of Phi Beta Kappa Memorial Hall. In 2018, the building closed for renovations, and Sinfonicron moved to Kimball Theatre.^[18]

The Sinfonicron Light Opera Company is featured on many local tourism websites and has been highlighted in many local news articles including The Virginian-Pilot, The Virginia Gazzette, the Daily Press (Virginia), and William and Mary's own newspaper The Flat Hat. Local tourism sites such as williamsburgvisitor.com^[19] and williamsburgfamilies.com^[20] will put down the productions of Sinfonicron as fun family and date night activities to do in Williamsburg during late January.

In 2021, Amy Poulter at The Virginian-Pilot covered Sinfonicron's production of "Thespis", an opera without music. ^[21] In this article Poulter highlighted the difficulties of producing a musical over an online platform and how the unlikely-to-be-used opera 'Thespis' became a perfect piece to put on.

In 2020, Jack Jacobs at The Virginia Gazette spotlighted Sinfonicron's production of Ruddigore, highlighting the "feminist twist" which the design and performance teams brought to the show.^[22]

In 2016, Heather Bridges from Daily Press (Virginia) highlighted Sinfonicron's production of Kiss Me, Kate, one of Sinfonicron's bigger productions.^[23] In this article Bridges describes the challenging musical that the company members tackle and the unending energy and high morale that the students exhibit despite many long rehearsal days. Bridges ends the article acknowledging that the members of Sinfonicron are more than just students at William and Mary, but their hard work and dedication makes them a family.

In 2017, the Daily Press included Sinfonicron among a list of other notable music and performance-based acts in and around the Hampton Roads region of Virginia.^[24]

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