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2026-2027 Season Opener
The Mad Mind of Shakespeare
October 16th at 7:30pm
October 17th at 3:00pm
Charleston Heights Arts Center
$30 tickets | $20 Senior/Veterans
Madness has never sounded so good.
Vegas City Opera joins forces with the Nevada Shakespeare Festival for The Mad Mind of Shakespeare, a thrilling evening of song and speech drawn from the Bard’s most unhinged imaginations. From Hamlet to Othello to the Scottish play we dare not name, obsession, ambition, love, and lunacy collide in a haunting theatrical concert guided by a mysterious spirit. Expect passion, poetry, and just enough darkness to keep you deliciously on edge.
MEET THE CAST & PlAYERS
Manipulative Mezzo & Narrator, Dina Emerson
Dina Emerson (Mezzo Soprano) first came to Las Vegas in 2000 for a temporary contract to replace the lead singer at O by Cirque du Soleil, and to her surprise, is still here 22 years later. She migrated over to Mystère by Cirque du Soleil where she sang more than 5000 shows and earned the nickname “The Iron Lung” from the lighting crew. Before settling in Las Vegas, Dina lived in NYC for over a decade and was known for her versatility and commitment to new and unusual works (The Village Voice called her a “vocal chameleon”). Most notably, she spent 15 years touring the world as a member of MacArthur Genius award winner Meredith Monk Vocal Ensemble. Dina is also co-curator of VCO's new music series SOIREE ECLECTIC (last Sunday of the month at Core Contemporary Art Gallery). Currently she is back at O as the alternate lead singer and is thrilled to be a part of this production.
Killer Soprano, Marcie Ley
Soprano Marcie Ley has received critical acclaim for her performances across the United States and Europe. Notable roles performed include Violetta (La Traviata), Contessa (Le Nozze di Figaro), Fiordiligi (Così fan Tutte), Antonia (Les Contes d’Hoffmann), Mimi (La Bohème), Liú (Turandot), Marguérite (Faust) and Nedda (i Pagliacci), with numerous regional opera companies in the USA, and also in Europe at The Arena di Verona in Italy, Opéra National de Montpellier in France, and in Germany with Theater Dortmund, Oper Leipzig, and the Musiktheater im Revier.
This is Marcie's 10th season with Vegas City Opera, where she currently serves as President of the Board and Director of Education & Outreach and has been lauded in roles such as her “memorable and thrilling” Magda Sorel in The Consul, and her “brilliant and complex” Elle (The Human Voice).
She has been a competition finalist for the Metropolitan Opera National Council, the Loren Zachary Foundation, the Licia Albanese Puccini Foundation, Palm Beach Opera Vocal Competition, and the MacAllister Foundation. Other professional credits have included Sarasota Opera’s Helen Dellera Jepson Award, and the Shoshana Foundation’s Richard F. Gold Career Grant.
Terrifying Soprano, Rebecca Morris
Rebecca Morris made her debut on the professional opera stage in Phoenix, AZ with Arizona Opera and Phoenix Opera. She is a graduate of Northern Arizona University, and received certificates from The American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria, The Bay Area Summer Opera Theater Institute and The Opera Academy of California in San Francisco, CA, The Crittenden Opera Theater Institute in Washington DC, The Flagstaff in Fidenza program in Fidenza, Italy, and The FIO ITALIA program in Urbania, Italy. She performed as a Mezzo-Soprano for most of her career, and only recently made the switch to Soprano, singing the roles of The Woman in Erwartung, Senta in The Flying Dutchman, and Brunnhilde in Vegas City Opera’s, The Ring Vegas, and Die Walkure!
Badass Bass-Baritone , Eugene Richards III
Bass baritone Eugene Richards made his professional opera debut in Opera Las Vegas’ production of Rossini’s Barber of Seville as The Sergeant. He has gone on to work with the company in their 2015 production of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly as The Bonze, their 2016 production of Carmenas Morales, and their 2017 production of Rigoletto as Monterone.
Additionally, Eugene has spent the last 4 summers as part of Dolora Zajick’s Institute for Young Dramatic Voices in the American Wagner Project division where he is studying the helden baritone repertoire. In 2017 this study of Wagner lead to his being selected as 1 of 16 finalists in the Lauritz Melchior International Vocal Competition which took place in Aalborg, Denmark. This summer Eugene participated in The Miami Music Festival in their Wagner program where he covered Alan Held as Wotan in Die Walküre & sang King Heinrich in Lohengrin.
Born in South Carolina, Eugene was raised in southern California as the son of a San Diego Padres outfielder. An athlete himself, Eugene attended the University of Hawaii and played for the school’s baseball team. Working as a fashion model in Las Vegas & Los Angeles, he was only recently introduced to the world of opera in 2013 and began studying with Luana Devol & Dolora Zajick.
Mad Soprano, Kayla Wilkens
Kayla Wilkens is delighted to return to Vegas City Opera for this collaboration with the Las Vegas Sinfonietta. Most recently, she’s appeared as Millie O’Brien in the US Tour of We’ll Meet Again: A New American Musical,Cinderella in R&H’s Cinderella with Vegas City Opera and Super Summer Theatre, Littler Zegler in Proving Up and Again & Again & Again with Opera Las Vegas, Polly Peachum in The Threepenny Opera and a portrayal of the many Queens of Try Me, Good King with Vegas City Opera in King & Queens, and in the Final Fantasy XIV Eorzean Symphony concert. Kayla is honored to have worked with Libby Larsen in concert for Try Me Good King during the 2011 Festival for the Twentieth Anniversary of the Founding of the Linfield Chamber Orchestra, and as the soprano soloist for the world premiere of Libby Larsen’s vocal orchestral work The Moabit Sonnets. www.kaylawilkens.com
Tenor Executioner, Karsten Pudwill
Karsten Pudwill is a Vegas-based tenor from North Dakota. Written as possessing a "warm lyric quality," (Callback News) he has recently been an entertainer on SilverSea Cruises. His past credits include Paul in A Secret Sanctuary with Blue Gate Musicals, the Witch in Hansel and Gretel with Opera Las Vegas,Tamino in The Princess and the Magic Flute, and Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance, all with Vegas City Opera. He also performed with Majestic Repertory Theatre in the new musical comedy, Bigfoot and sang the role of Jay Newman in the world premiere of the new opera, No Guarantees with UNLV Opera Theatre.
Surreal Soprano, Genevieve Fulks
Fulbright scholar finalist, Leona Mitchell Masterclass winner, Sankt Goar International Opera Festival artist, and lead soprano of Dublin’s Irish Tenors and Celtic Ladies, soprano Genevieve Fulks is a lover of opera, musical theatre, jazz, and new classical works. Read her full biography at www.genevievefulks.com and listen to her classical album with the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra,“Passages,” on Spotify.