Graduate student and Miss Indiana performs lead role in opera 'Manon'

Betsy Uschkrat, Jacobs School of Music graduate student and reigning Miss Indiana, will lead the school's production of Jules Massenet's classic opera "Manon" Friday, playing the character bearing the opera's name.\n"I love the role," said Uschkrat. "I feel like I'm playing two characters."\nManon, she explained, begins the opera as a simple, provincial 16-year-old girl who is forced into mature womanhood by the cruel realities of life.\nSince Uschkrat had to compete in the Miss Indiana pageant this past June, she rushed to learn her part before the competition began.\n"Over the summer, we worked really hard to have the arias learned before Miss Indiana," she said. "Of course, as soon as Miss Indiana was over, there were rehearsals for 'Manon,' and after that there are preparations for Miss America."\nThe Miss America Pageant will take place in Las Vegas in January 2007. At the pageant, Uschkrat will be performing "Musetta's Waltz" from Puccini's "La Bohème," which she also performed at Miss Indiana. \nHer voice teacher, School of Music professor Costanza Cuccaro, played a key role in helping her to prepare, Uschkrat said.\n"She has really helped me a lot with maintaining good posture," she said, "as well as establishing a good rapport with the audience. She also makes sure I stay in good vocal health with all the public speaking engagements, making sure I have the stamina."\nIn addition to fulfilling roles as a music student and Miss America hopeful, Uschkrat maintains a busy schedule of duties as Miss Indiana. \n"There's been a lot of traveling, performing, speaking and community service," she said. "I'm going to do a speaking tour to 20 middle schools about making right decisions."\nIn addition to her public appearances, Uschkrat uses her Miss Indiana status to fight hunger. According to the Miss Indiana organization, she is the founder of Heart and Soul Indiana, an organization that allows performers to use their talents to raise money for local and national food banks. Her efforts have raised nearly $80,000 for food banks in both Indiana and Texas, where she lived prior to studying at IU.\nUschkrat is also a regional spokesperson for Feeding Indiana's Hungry, which, according to its Web site, seeks to meet the needs of the nearly 600,000 Hoosiers who go hungry each day.\nBalancing this kind of work schedule isn't easy, but Uschkrat says she is working it out.\n"Everything's been very flexible," she said. "The Miss Indiana organization is happy to have me in the opera, and the music school is happy to have me in the pageant."\n"Manon" opens 8 p.m. Friday n the Musical Arts Center. Additional performances are 8 p.m. Friday Oct. 27 and Saturday Oct. 28. Tickets are $10 to $20 for students and $15 to $35 for the general public. Two casts of performers will alternate between the four shows.