Directing Carmen
Multi-talented Karen Tiller has Hawaii Opera Theatre in good shape fiscally as its executive director, and as stage director her productions draw raves. Next up, Bizet’s Carmen, perhaps the world’s most popular opera, Feb. 27 and March 1 and 3
By Alice Keesing
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Serving As Both Business Manager And Stage Director, Karen Tiller Is A Big Reason Honolulu Has One Of The Top Opera Companies In The U.S.
There’s Karen Tiller: Pearls, swept-up hair, chic Michael Kors dress and 5-inch-plus heels. And she’s rabble rousing.
“Valerian, why don’t you be a little more than drunk?” she suggests.
“Vanessa, what do you think of that table dancing?”
“Ed, you need to be a little grabby.”
It’s 7:30 p.m. at the Hawaii Opera Theatre facilities in Kakaako, and rehearsals are in full swing for next weekend’s production of Carmen. Under Tiller’s guidance, the stark space of the rehearsal hall readily transforms into the seedy bar from the beginning of Act II. Glasses clink, feet stomp, laughter rings out ... and then Carmen (Leann Sandel-Pantaleo) unleashes her voice ... it’s opera magic.
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Tiller still has a good couple of hours to work this evening, and she’s been at it since 9 a.m. Even in the opera world, she’s a rare combination of talents. She doesn’t just direct operas for HOT, she manages the $4 million company, too. This day has been a mix of rehearsals, a staff meeting and a fancy reception for another production in the grand opera season. Yet she’s as cool as a cucumber - not to mention that flawless appearance and those heels. She waves away her attire as a result of the reception earlier in the day.
“Usually, it’s baseball hats.” MidWeek first met Tiller two years ago when she was one of our Newsmakers. We were impressed then by this petite Southern powerhouse, and she clearly hasn’t let up any. She still wears those two hats as executive director and stage director, and she’s still Hawaii’s contagious cheerleader of opera. On top of which, of course, she’s steering the company through an economic recession, which is never kind to nonprofits.
With Tiller at the helm, an enthusiastic full-time staff of 12 and a fully engaged board of 66, HOT is weathering the turbulence admirably.
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“We were already pretty lean and mean,” Tiller says. “In times like this, that helps us. We know how to stretch our resources, and we’re used to being creative with what we’ve got.”
Board treasurer Greg Ratté says Tiller’s enthusiasm is one reason why HOT continues to be reasonably successful.
“She just knows all aspects of the business of opera,” he says. “She’s multi-talented in other ways, too. Our finance person left within a year of when she started, and suddenly we had nobody to do the finance functions. She stepped right in and performed that function until we hired someone else - and we didn’t miss a beat.”
HOT people also are proud that Charity Navigator, which is the country’s top nonprofit evaluator, recently named it the No. 1 opera company in the country for fiscal responsibility.
“That’s a really big deal for us,” Tiller says. “It’s a frightening time financially, so it’s a big deal for us to be able to get the message out to the public that we are fiscally responsible.”
And while there has been some belt-tightening, HOT also is pushing onward and upward. On the wall of the company’s meeting room is a large architectural drawing that lays out HOT’s future.
“That’s our new premises,” Tiller says.
It’s been one of her dreams to move the company from its creaky, old facilities on Waimanu Street. In late May that will happen when the company moves into new offices on Beretania near Ward. The new space will give HOT a new vis-
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