This summer will be Opera in the Ozarks' second season in the new Inspiration Point Center for the Arts, a stunning new theater situated in Carroll County. Later this month, the ballet "The Sacred Veil" will be on stage there. First, let's go inside the theater.
“This theater was placed and created with the idea in mind that it would fit into its surroundings and we would preserve it.”
Alice Martinson is board chair of the trustees for Inspiration Point Center for the Arts in Eureka Springs. Last month, she stood in the lobby of the theater, which was officially opened last May 31, and pointed to the Carroll County landscape visible from the lobby's floor-to-ceiling windows.
“But that’s the view.”
You can see Beaver Lake and Beaver Dam. Those views existed before this theater, of course, but audiences and performers didn't have climate control before this theater. It's home for Opera in the Ozarks, a company founded in 1950. For decades, Opera in the Ozarks has been a summer training ground for talented young opera artists, and for those decades, performers and audiences alike mingled with Ozark heat and mosquitoes — all of it on a stage just yards from Highway 62.
"Complete with all of the sounds that go along with that. And you would have had the orchestra draped along the left side of the house instead of in an honest-to-God pit like we now have."
The new theater incorporates the surrounding beauty, of course, but with acoustic enrichments. During her tour last month, Martinson was eager to push a button in the theater, triggering a slow drop of soundproofing and sun-proofing shades.
"Because of the windows, they have to block out. So when we have the blinds up all the time, and then when the orchestra starts to tune or whatever, we just come back and hit the button and drop them, and you can hear the audience go, 'Oh,' and that is so neat."
For summer after summer, there was great opera and an immense pride in the performances created in Ozark conditions. But beginning with last season, artists and patrons could experience stagings with amenities like bigger wing space and a deeper backstage, no restricted views for audience members, more lighting options, a rehearsal hall that isn't doubling as the cafeteria and has its own Steinway, plus small practice rooms and better ways to prepare to be on stage.
"The dressing rooms used to be underneath the stage, and so folks would have to run down these stairs and change. And when you've got a chorus full of women in ball gowns coming up the steps and no place to put them, it was a sight. This is my favorite room in the building. It's an honest-to-God green room that they've never had. And the view is totally spectacular."
The route from those dressing rooms to the stage is a backstage beeline.
"All they have to do is come out this door, turn right and walk about 15 feet to enter the stage."
Getting to the stage is much easier for costuming now, too. An elevator quickly connects the costume shop and storage to the stage. Martinson says just having costumes in the same structure as the rehearsals and performances is a welcome modification.
"That's huge, because the costumes were being stored in the barn with the bats and the other animals that live up there."
And on that stage, two significant additions to the Opera in the Ozarks production lineup: a door in the middle of the stage floor, and a curtain.
"We have a trap now. It does not have the hydraulics in it yet, but when it does, we'll be able to take Don Giovanni down to hell the way he should go."
Perhaps not as dramatic, but every bit as important to the magnitude of Opera: a curtain. Martinson says a simple curtain is a gateway to what an evening in a theater can be.
“It is a way to separate the audience from the make-believe that's on stage. That was one of the things with the old theater — there was no curtain. It wasn't very high. And so during an intermission, everything was open to the world. And you could watch the scenery get changed. And that takes some magic out."
Below the stage, the pit for musicians provides more of the same improvements. They can leave their instruments. They're not stacked along the aisles in front of the stage.
And all of this can be reflected in the operas selected for a summer at Inspiration Point in 2026, an Opera in the Ozarks first: 'Candide.'
“And we've never tried to do 'Candide' before because it's such a big show. You couldn't do it. Last year we did 'Into the Woods,' which is another big show. We've done that before, but not anywhere near like it should have been done. And last year they did it great."
Still more on the horizon. Martinson says there is a strong desire to eventually improve the living spaces for performers. Faculty upgrades have already taken place since the old faculty housing had to be demolished to make room for the new theater. But with a first season in the theater under their belt, Opera in the Ozarks is in a new era. After 75 seasons in the elements, this new era has been earned.
"Yes. And the loyalty of the audiences over the years, and the loyalty of the supporters and donors over the years, is what kept it alive. And with this facility now and what we can develop here in the future, the loyalty is going to be paid back. And that's a great feeling."
The new Opera in the Ozarks season begins in late June and will include performances of "Candide," "The Marriage of Figaro" and a double bill of "Suor Angelica" and "Gianni Schicchi." More about the season can be found at operaintheozarks.com. But you don't have to wait until late June to see a performance at the theater. The ballet "The Sacred Veil" will be on stage Saturday, April 11, and Sunday, April 12.
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a rush deadline and edited for length and clarity. Copy editors utilize AI tools to review work. KUAF does not publish content created by AI. Please reach out to kuafinfo@uark.edu to report an issue. The audio version is the authoritative record of KUAF programming.
