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10
friday
“It doesn’t really matter where you are,” muses Jackie Dempsey of Squonk Opera. “It’s the people that make the community interesting.” Dempsey and her collaborators in the Pittsburgh-based performance troupe are about to put that theory to the ultimate test by exploring the ins and outs of College Park, Md. It’s part of an ongoing project they’ve informally dubbed [Put Your Hometown’s Name Here]: The Opera, and Dempsey promises a community affair, including a series of videotaped interviews with neighborhood residents discussing terrapins and Terrapins, as well as a multimedia presentation generated with the input of fifth graders from Hollywood Elementary. Expect the company to continue straddling the tenuous line between art and trash with vaudevillian non sequitors, funky props, and original musical accompaniment—all in the service of a town that’s perpetually on the hunt for redemption. The performance begins at 8 p.m. at the University of Maryland Smith Performing Arts Center’s Kay Theatre, University Boulevard & Adelphi Road, College Park. $30. (301) 405-2787. (Nick Green)