Jennifer Anne Cooper in full diva regalia at the Florida Grand Opera.
Eastern Mennonite University will host a repeat performance of The Profession, Inc. (TPI) theater company’s song-filled, multi-media, celebration of life, “Go-DIVA! – of song, silence, & the abuse of chocolate,” starring Jennifer Anne Cooper.
The show will be presented 7 p.m. Sat., Feb. 9, in Lehman Auditorium at EMU.
“We’re bringing this autobiographical cabaret of music and mirth back (to EMU) because so many have asked for an opportunity to see Cooper’s unforgettable performance and inspiring story,” said writer-director LB Hamilton.
In the play, Cooper, currently a Harrisonburg resident and voice instructor at EMU, once lived a far more glamorous life.
Blessed at birth with an amazing vocal instrument, a strong work ethic, and a Type A personality, she spent her youth as a rising star, pleasing audiences and impressing critics, and was shamelessly thrilled to do so.
By age 28, Cooper was poised on the threshold of international Diva-dom, celebrating hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of contracts and preparing to sing 12 lead roles with top opera companies in Europe and North America.
Then – in a wink of fate’s eye – the gift that seemed divinely given was gone, and the proverbial party was over.
Pianist Michael Santana, director of the Chesapeake (MD) Choral Arts Society, is Cooper’s long-suffering musical muse as the feisty chanteuse shares a life filled with irony, ambition, tears, hubris, a serious chocolate addiction and a stubborn refusal to believe that nothing is forever.
“Perhaps along the way, we, like our hapless Diva, will discover that what is really important is never completely lost, just temporarily misplaced,” Hamilton said of the production.
The artistic team for “Go-DIVA!” met when Hamilton guest-directed EMU’s production of “Music Man,” for which Cooper was music director.
Cooper later played the featured role of Olga in Hamilton’s “Wild About Harry,” a musical mystery dinner theater produced by Blue Ridge Theatre Fest.
The summer of 2006, Cooper was named TPI’s associate artistic director. She then served as vocal coach and supervising musical director on Hamilton’s “a Nother Midsummer Night Dream (let’s revue)” for Rocking Coyote, TPI’s youth theater program.
The artistic team developed “Go-DIVA!” upon the request of La Plata’s (MD) Grace Lutheran Church as a fund raiser for Southern Maryland’s Compassion House. The show premiered as a dinner theater in October 2006 to standing ovations. Cooper is originally from Charles County, Md.
Following the performance, the audience is invited to stay for a talkback session with the artistic team responsible for this original work.
The play is intended for general audiences. Tickets prices vary from $5 to $12 and can be purchased in advance either online or by phone. Tickets will also be on sale at the door.
At the request of TPI, a portion of the proceeds will go to the EMU music department student scholarship fund and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County scholarship funds.