[ Golden Gater Online - December 4, 1997 ]
Jesse Garnier
Staff writer
Although she doesn't remember it herself, Valentina Simi said her mother tells her how she used to crawl on the stage at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco as a toddler.
Now, about 30 years later, the San Francisco native still seems right at home amid the opulence and grandeur of the newly-refurbished opera house on Van Ness Avenue. But instead of belting out opera onstage, the SF State drama education alumnus works behind the scenes. As coordinator of artists services, she arranges living quarters, travel, and other details for visiting opera performers.
Her job seems a natural step for the 34-year-old Simi. Her mother, Lola Simi, was a member of the SF Opera Chorus for 24 years, and Simi practically grew up backstage, doing homework at rehearsals.
When she graduated from SF State in 1987, she knew she wanted to act, but never opted for the audition-after-audition lifestyle of an unemployed actor.
"When you graduate from the theater department, you don't know what you're going to do," Simi recalled. "But I knew I was interested in a job with a check every month."
At the urging of her mother, she applied for a seasonal position with the rehearsal department of the San Francisco Opera.
"I call the rehearsal department the central nervous system," Simi said. "They're hands on with all the artists. They keep their schedules going, through rehearsals, costume fitting, coaching. Everything goes through that office."
Simi worked with rehearsals for four seasons, and then moved to her current position in 1990. Her job starts with the basics of shelter and immigration red tape, and often feeds the whims and special needs of the sometimes-finicky operatic talent.
"Some of it are things like, 'Where can I buy my dog a leash?' or 'I need a converter for my hair dryer,' " Simi said. "These people are here to work, and are on tight schedules and might not have time to take care of things."
Simi recalled one performer who required a special bed, with measurements precise to the centimeter. "A lot of performers are tall, and large," she said.
But the job isn't all dog leashes and hair dryers. "I'm always called upon to translate when there's an Italian artist who doesn't speak English. You go to rehearsal, you go the costume fitting, then of course you become the person's friend, then go out to dinner. The social thing sort of happens automatically."
The perception of opera singers as being difficult to work with is not all true, but not all false either. "They're very human, very real people," Simi said. "As far as divas go, you can find that anywhere. Obviously there are people who require a lot more attention than others. You're apt to get frustrated sometimes, but when you see them on stage, you say, 'Well, I'll forgive them this time.'"
Simi's fourth floor cubicle and modern office seem far removed from thundering tenors or silky sopranos. To keep in touch with the onstage side of the business, she appears occasionally as a "super," or opera extra. Her last appearance was as a slave in "Electra." She received the standard fee of $6 for supers.
Although she wouldn't disclose her exact salary, Simi said positions at the opera typically start in the low 20s, and someone with eight years experience with the opera may earn "between $30,000 and $40,000 a year."
Simi still enjoys singing and acting. She is a member of her mother's Simi Cantori singing group, and appeared in the 1992 San Francisco production of "Tony and Tina's Wedding" as Donna Marsala. "I still perform, and always have been, all along. It's not like I was an acting major and now don't do it anymore. I do it whenever I can fit it in."
Her primary responsibilities now lie off-stage, not on. But she relishes the energy of being involved with live theater. "There's a certain sense of urgency," she said. "You had better get things right."
[ Golden Gater - December 4, 1997 ]