Tickets available again after a major box office outage; students react to the new online emergency preparedness training; looking ahead at this weekend’s winter storms. Catch up on what you missed on WTOP-10 Nightly News by watching here.
-
Oswego Opera Theatre performs “The Mikado”
By Micah Pasinski
OSWEGO, N.Y.– The Oswego Opera Theatre presented a special performance of the Gilbert and Sullivan comedic opera, “The Mikado” on November 11th and 12th. The Mikado was the ninth of fourteen operatic collaborations written between the famous musical duo, Arthur Sullivan and W.S Gilbert. It has remained incredibly popular to this day since it’s 1885 opening in London with many professional theatre companies still performing it.
Gilbert and Sullivan’s comedic opera is a British piece set in Japan. This was done because the creators thought Japan was a far enough place away from their homeland of Britain to give them the freedom to satirize Victorian British politics and institutions of the time, by disguising them as Japanese.
The Oswego Opera Theatre took inspiration from the play’s original satirical nature and used the production as a way in which to poke fun at a lot of what has been dominating our political news lately. They even went so far as to having jokes pertaining to the Trump-Russia Scandal and a character in the show who was strikingly similar in appearance to 2016 Democratic Party Presidential Nominee, Hillary Clinton.
SUNY Oswego Orchestral and Artistic Director, and Conductor of “The Mikado” Dr. Juan Francisco La Manna said that the political aspect is all a part of what makes the show still relevant and enjoyable for audiences to see today.
“The great thing is that it can translate into today’s politics and world very well, so we took probably ninety percent of the substance of the script and adapted it so it would become really relevant,” said La Manna.
“The Mikado” is known as one of the most played musical theatre pieces in history. It was even estimated that before the end of 1885, its premiere year, 150 companies were already producing the opera.
-
SUNY Oswego leaders send call to action to Congress
Some leaders of the SUNY Oswego community are urging congress to pass legislation in response to President Trump’s decision to end the Delayed Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
SUNY Oswego president, Deborah F. Stanley, Faculty Assembly Chair, Lisa Glidden and Student Association President, Dalton Bisson composed a call to action to send to the NYS Congressional Delegation on Thursday.
According to US Citizenship and Immigration services, the DACA program was announced by the Secretary of Homeland Security on June 15, 2012. It stated that “certain people who came to the United States as children and meet several guidelines may request consideration of deferred action for a period of two years”. Under DACA they could could also renew this deferred action and it also made them eligible for work authorization.
Ending the DACA program would impact “nearly 80,000 individuals in our nation [who] now face devastating alteration to their lives and aspirations and do not deserve the fate unfairly placed upon them” Stanley, Glidden, and Bisson wrote in the call to action. The call to action was emailed to SUNY Oswego staff and students Thursday morning.
The email illustrated how much Stanley, Glidden, and Bisson value members of the DACA program, called “Dreamers”, at SUNY Oswego and across the country. “We, as Americans, must be willing to shoulder the responsibility to assure that our nation’s laws reflect highly moral and deeply ethical positions. To refuse to do so in this instance would seriously debase our heritage as a nation of immigrants and hope” Stanley, Glidden, and Bisson wrote.
For more information on the DACA program and to read the full announcement please visit https://www.uscis.gov/archive/consideration-deferred-action-childhood-arrivals-daca#previousdacaupdates -
Russell Westbrook posts triple-double; Thunder drop Knicks
By Sammer Kumar, WTOP10-TV
Russell Westbrook dropped 27 points, grabbed 18 rebounds, and dished out 14 assists to help Oklahoma City (11-8) snap New York’s (8-9) six-game winning streak at home. The former UCLA guard is now averaging a triple-double this season with averages of 30.9 PPG, 11.3 APG, and 10.3 RPG.
The only player to average a triple-double for an entire season is Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson, who did it for the Cincinnati Royals in the 1961-62 season.
Enes Kanter (27 points and 10 rebounds) and Steven Adams (14 points and 10 boards) both had double-doubles for the Thunder.
Derrick Rose had a game-high 30 points for New York on 10-20 shooting from the field. That was the former MVP’s first 30+ point game as a member of the Knicks. Kristaps Porzingis and Carmelo Anthony added 21 and 18 points, respectively.
The Knicks will head to Minnesota on Wednesday to take on the Timberwolves at 8 P.M.
