Oregon Public Broadcasting

This weekend, transit riders in the Portland metro area should be on the lookout for random acts of culture.

The Bus Stop Opera project is coming to Portland. Its mission is to bring art to public places - when you least expect it.

If you’ve seen the online videos, you know how it works — unsuspecting bus and train passengers are minding their own business, when out of nowhere, music happens.

It begins with seemingly innocent street musicians playing for tips. Then, someone on the platform begins to sing. Director Dawn Weleski created the Bus Stop Opera project, including this one in Pittsburgh.

Dawn Weleski: "Basically I was interested in bringing high art to the every day public."

Weleski’s grabbing a few free moments at a coffeehouse, in sight of Portland bus and light rail lines as she explains how she got started in her home base, of Pittsburgh.

Dawn Weleski: "I was performing as 'Mario Caravadoski' and I was  singing from Tosca."

But Weleski didn’t get quite the reaction she intended. She says people were put off by the language, the unfamiliarity of the music.

Dawn Weleski: "So I said, well, if I really do want to engage this audience, what if I re-told them the stories of their own lives."

Weleski starts a project by riding around on buses, just talking to people. She then works with local actors, composers, and musicians to develop what people tell her into songs for Bus Stop Opera performances. This spring, she’s in Portland.

Dawn Weleski: "I’m really interested in people listening to the stories of others, or perhaps not listening and being annoyed by that – that’s a valid response as well. I’m just looking to illustrate the fabric of the city and let people know about the life of someone sitting next to them that they normally wouldn’t’ speak to."

She has also staged bus stop operas in her hometown, Pittsburgh, and New York.

Weleski’s  Portland project is part of a Portland State conference on Art & Social Practice. Social Practice refers to the forms we sometimes call performance art or guerilla street theater – basically anything staged in social spaces, that challenges audience members, by engaging them with - or without - their consent.Performances begin Friday night, and continue through Monday.  On the Web:Bus Stop Opera

Open Engagement, PSU’s conference on Art & Social Practice