Wakefield Middle School students performed in an extraordinary opera of their own making on Friday, February 1st.

Over one hundred people attended the production, José the Bully’s Time Machine: An Original Opera, which was performed in two languages.

The opera tells the story of José, who travels in a time machine, creating trouble along the way. José travels from a school in San Fleming, Italy in the 1950’s to a middle school in southern Arizona in the 1970’s. When he arrives at Wakefield Middle School in 2008, José is bullied by students who want him to see the error of his ways. The opera ends happily when José finally reforms.

“It was cool,” said Esther Avechuco, 11, performer.

Esther’s parents do not speak English, but were able to understand the play because of the ESL (English as a Second Language) dialogue.


The three-act ESL opera was written and performed entirely by the students. For many children in the Southwest region, English is a secondary language and Spanish is the primary language spoken at home. Many schools have adopted English as a Second Language programs to help teach Hispanic children to read, write, and speak English.

“That was really cool because a lot of people outside of South Tucson forget that Spanish is a big part of life and culture here and all these kids are Spanish speakers,” said Brittany Hanna, 24.

For eight weeks, seventh and eight grade students stayed after school to write, choreograph, and design the opera.

With assistance from the Arizona Opera Company production team, the students were able to make their vision become reality.

Everything on stage was created by the students, who first made drawings of their sets and costumes.

The set depicted the Southern Arizona region, complete with desert hills and saguaro cacti. The time machine prop, central to the opera’s theme, was the most challenging to create as it was projected onto plywood, cut out, and then painted by students.

“We probably won’t get this opportunity again,” said Laura Baldasano, Director of Education, Arizona Opera Company. “We were happy to be here.”

Sponsors for the opera were the Arizona Commission on the Arts with funding from the State of Arizona and the National Endowment for the Arts, Arizona Diamondbacks Foundation, Arizona Republic Charities, and the Long Realty Cares Foundation.