Pickup Truck Opera at JD Rivers' Chilren's Garden

The creators of the Picnic Operetta bring you a fresh take on outdoor opera!

Mythic monsters, enchanting sirens, and a flesh-eating cyclops. All this epic action packed onto a pickup truck! This adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey, uses selections from Monteverdi’s 1639 opera, Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria (The Return of Ulysses to his Homeland), told with the spirit of a country carnival. Our production features a musical mix of baroque melodies and Dolly Parton tunes.

The Pickup Truck Opera is family-friendly fun for all ages. A suggested donation of $10 – 25 per person helps us keep gas in the tank. All are welcome at our performances

This performance is approximately 75 to 90 minutes and includes all THREE EPISODES of The Odyssey.

Episode 1: Penelope and the Carnival of Menace

Episode 2: The Voyage of Ulysses

Episode 3: Telemaco Fights Back.

PARKING and ACCESS INFO: The JD Rivers' Children's Garden is located on the eastern edge of Theodore Wirth Park, near the corning or Glenwood and North Washburn Avenue. Parking is available on the street or at Wirth Lake Beach. This performance is in a residential neighborhood. Please consider biking, bussing, or carpooling to this performance. There's ADA compliant port o'potty onsite.

Leashed dogs are WELCOME at this performance.

COVID PROTOCOLS: We will follow CDC guidelines for outdoor public events. Masks, social distancing, and a great attitude encouraged. (Vaccinations are great too). Our company is entirely vaccinated and we will be singing without masks.

ABOUT OUR TEAM: The production features Ulysses and his crew returning from 10 years of war. They encounter monsters, vengeful gods, sirens, and a cyclops in a mythic, carnival madhouse. His wife Penelope contends with intruders in her home while holding out hope for Ulysses’ return. Their son Telemaco faces the future: inheriting a world recovering from war, families coping with long separation, and hopeful reconciliation.

Mixed Precipitation welcomes soprano Momoko Tanno and baritone Rodolfo Neito in the roles of Penelope and Ulysses. The cast is anchored by a trio of versatile performers and instrumentalists - Joni Griffith and Jason Kornelis songwriter Sarina Partridge - on banjo, cello, fiddle, and pump organ. Youth performers Akane and Andrew Niemi join us in a variety of roles, dancing and making music for this multi-generational musical extravaganza.

Leading the creation of this project is music director and composer Gary Ruschman, Guiding the staging is is Mixed Precipitation found, Scotty Reynolds and Jåc Miller who has been the creative backbone for many Picnic Operetta productions, as well as outdoor puppetry pageants with Barebones Productions. Rhiannon Fiskradatz returns for her third Mixed Precipitation production, creating puppets and costumes, after many summer seasons with Circus Juventas. Duane Tougas is creating the sets and props for our mobile stage, after nearly 20 years with Heart of the Beast.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

JD Rivers' Children's Garden in Theodore Wirth Park, 2900 Glenwood Avenue North, Minneapolis, United States