Center Stage Opera survives on a wing and a song

Director Dylan F. Thomas sat slouched in the theater seat, murmuring instructions to those around him. But his hushed tones were overpowered by the bellowing voice of tenor Liam McLachlan as the dress rehearsal began for an updated take on Charles Gounod’s classic opera “Faust”-- which transports 16th century Germany into the black-and-white world of TV’s “The Twilight Zone” and opens Saturday. At times, Thomas pulled his headset off and scurried up to the stage, adorned with props he built himself, to offer more direction.

It’s a labor of love.

At a time when major professional opera companies are singing their swan song -- trimming seasons or closing altogether -- Center Stage Opera, a small company based in the San Fernando Valley, soldiers on, presenting quality productions.

“We’re kind of like the slightly plump lady in a sea of fat ladies singing,” Thomas said. “But at least we’re singing.”

Like nearly all arts organizations amid the faltering economy, even the grandest opera houses have struggled to keep their curtains open. Los Angeles Opera reduced its 2010-11 season to 42 performances of six productions; at its peak in 2006 and 2007, the company offered 75 performances of 10 productions. Orange County’s Opera Pacific went silent in 2008 after 22 seasons.

Center Stage is operating on a far smaller scale, but the financial pressures are just as intense. “It’s definitely a scary time,” said Dylan’s wife, Shira Renee Thomas, 31, lead soprano and director of artists’ services for Center Stage Opera. “We came into it not knowing how hard it would be. Every dollar is stretched as far as it could possibly go . . . and then a little farther.”

Tickets are inexpensive -- topping at $36 -- and the 440-seat Madrid Theatre in Canoga Park provides an intimacy to the performances, which are sung in the original language, with translation projected above the stage.

With an average of two fully staged productions and one orchestra concert a season and a budget that totals roughly $40,000 a season, the company is not exactly on par with the L.A. Opera.

“There are delineations of houses,” said Dylan Thomas, 36. “Like, L.A. Opera is an A house. Opera Pacific was a B house. Long Beach Opera is a C house. Our goal for this company right now is to be a C. Really, the only difference between us and a C house? Money. Our productions are just as good.”

They’re part of a club of small houses -- including Lyric Opera of Los Angeles and Opera Pasadena, among others -- that scatter around L.A. County.

Thomas founded the company -- with the help of his wife and Brian Onderdonk, 29, the company’s music director -- in 2005 and the first performances were at the social hall of Temple Ahavat Shalom in Northridge. They eventually settled into the Madrid.

“It may sound cheesy, but at the end of the day, it’s all about the art,” Onderdonk said. “It’s the notion that we’re creating something; we’re doing something unique that a lot of people don’t get the chance to do. How many times do you get the opportunity to build an opera company from the ground up?”

Creative expression aside, they’re not ignorant of the importance of financial security in keeping that expression going. The performers and staff work for free -- moonlighting as construction workers and private tutors in their off-time. Though they receive some small donations, the majority of their budget is supplied through ticket sales.

“It is production to production,” Onderdonk said. “Hopefully we do well and sell out these two shows and hopefully we break even. That is the very scary part. It’s hard to plan ahead.”

Onderdonk and the Thomases hope to continue the development of the company into one of the premiere regional opera houses in the Los Angeles area.

“What really gives a community a soul is art,” said Dylan Thomas. “We want that for the San Fernando Valley.”

yvonne.villarreal@latimes.com