This upcoming Halloweekend, TCU Opera is embracing the spooky season with a double feature of Maurice Ravel’s “L’Enfant Et Les Sortilèges” and Gian Carlo Menotti’s “The Medium.” TCU360 got an exclusive look at the cast of “The Medium” and their preparation for this weekend.

Corey Trahan, TCU Opera’s director, described the Ravel opera as similar to “Beauty and the Beast.”

“Furniture comes to life, and furniture starts singing arias and duets, and it’s told from a child’s perspective,” he said. “All of these animals and furniture come to teach life-long lessons about how to respect others’ property and just be a good person.”

The second show by Menotti is much more sinister.

“‘The Medium’ has these seances and spirits and dishonesty and, as you saw in our rehearsal tonight, murder,” Trahan said.

These two shows embrace the supernatural completely, perfect to cap off the Halloween season.

Mayson Clarke, a sophomore vocal performance major, is cast in the second show. Unlike many of the roles he’s been in, this role offers a unique challenge.

“I play the role of Toby. It’s a very interesting role, because I am a mute character, so as far as operas go, it’s a pretty rare occurrence that I don’t actually sing at all,” Clarke said.

Clarke’s work revolves around telling this supernatural story solely through his relationship with the other characters, his perspective and his body language.

“I have no lines, no lyrics, no nothing,” he said. “I just sit on the stage, but I am acting almost the entire time. It’s quite difficult.”

Preparation for both shows started before students arrived on campus. Rigorous musical preparation is something expected from every student at TCU Opera.

“We cast the show July 1st while everyone is away at summer,” Trahan said. “And what that does is that gives them a chance to prepare their music so that whenever we arrive on the first day of school, we can start rehearsals.”

Trahan expanded on the fact that memorization and knowledge of your role on the first day of any opera rehearsal is an industry standard; thus, this process, though demanding, is setting up any student at TCU Opera for success beyond the classroom.

Why should people see this show?

“I think number one, they’re short,” Trahan said.

Many operas also have a language barrier, commonly being in Italian, French and Russian.

“They’re in English this weekend, which makes another barrier gone,” he said.

But those are not the only reasons the director gave. He also referenced the small space at the black box theatre located in TCU’s Secrest-Wible building.

“You’re just a few feet away from the actors on stage, and you’re getting to see them breathe, and you’re getting to feel like you’re part of the story,” Trahan said.

Tickets are sold out for the November 1st show, and tickets are running low for the matinee, November 2nd, at 2:30 p.m.