1. 24 | BREAKTHRU MEDIA | breakthrumediamagazine.com M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6
Getting to and from work is never a
problem for Dave Hurlbert. His place of
employment is just across the street from
where he lives.
In fact, he owns it! And he loves what
goes on in there.
As co-founder and executive director
of the Marigny Opera House at 725
St. Ferdinand Street in the Faubourg
Marigny, Dave has been doing some
amazing things for the performing arts
community in just the six short years
he has been living in New Orleans. On
a stage that sits where the altar of the
deconsecrated and re-purposed former
Holy Trinity Catholic Church used to
be, the Marigny Opera House has hosted
numerous cultural events. Among them
are jazz and classical concerts, stage
plays, musicals, puppet shows and –
especially – dance performances of both
classical and original contemporary
works.
It’s a venue that Dave and his cohorts
have taken to calling “The Church of the
Arts” and its popularity has mushroomed
in just the past couple of years. No
longer just a local, neighborhood
attraction, the MOH has begun drawing
arts aficionados from the North Shore
and even as far distant as Jackson and
the Mississippi Gulf Coast. And much
of its regular audience is, as Dave noted,
“younger than what you would normally
see at a classical music concert or an
opera.”
The church-turned-theatre even
made international news in November
2014 as the wedding site for singer
Solange Knowles – Beyonce’s younger
sister – and music video producer Alan
Ferguson. It was a widely publicized
celebrity-studded event, attracting over
Dave Hurlbert:
Cultural Minister
for
“The
Church
of the
Arts”
By Dean M. Shapiro

2. M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6 breakthrumediamagazine.com | BREAKTHRU MEDIA | 25
200 people, including Beyonce, Jay Z,
Janelle Monae and other VIPs.
As the MOH wraps us its fourth
season with a dance performance over
the weekend of May 12-14 and prepares
for a contemporary dance festival in mid-
June, Dave is already looking proudly
and optimistically at the coming 2016-17
season.
An affable visionary with an impressive
track record for making arts events and
programs come to life, Dave has ambitious
plans to add small opera productions to
his venue’s repertoire of offerings, starting
in 2017. And he has the background to
make it happen. A classically trained
pianist who served as principal pianist for
San Francisco Ballet, he started a small
performing company in that city called
Goat Hall Productions and it’s still in
business today.
“We did a lot of Sondheim musicals and
(Gian Carlo) Menotti operas and that was
great,” Dave said. “I was music director,
co-founder, rehearsal pianist, orchestra
arranger, janitor . . . sort of the same things
I’m doing now,” he laughed.
Not being one who was afraid to get his
hands dirty, Dave put a lot of sweat equity
into the restoration of the 163-year-old
former church that sat vacant for 14
years before him and his business partner,
Scott King, purchased it in 2011. A huge
amount of work was needed to put the
facility back into commerce, especially on
the interior.
Badly peeling paint has now been
stripped off and the walls have been
painstakingly repainted. Comfortable,
stadium-style seating where everyone has
a good sight line to the stage has replaced
the old wooden pews that were all on the
same level. Off to the side of the stage
is a convenient, refurbished alcove that
can comfortably accommodate a small,
chamber-style musical ensemble. In all,
the house can seat about 150-200 people.
And the acoustics, as one might expect
from an old, 19th century church of stone
construction, are ideal for musical and
vocal performances.
On tap for next season at the Marigny
Opera House are three full-scale original
dance performances by their resident
company, Marigny Opera Ballet. “Giselle
Deslondes” will premiere in November,
“The Art of Jazz” in February and a repeat
of “Orfeo” in April. “Orfeo,” created and
choreographed by Maya Taylor, premiered
to sellout houses in September 2015.
Following the dance season, Dave plans
to launch, in May, the company’s first
opera. He cited a specific production he
would like to kick it off with – a Mozart
opera – but he didn’t want to name it
publicly until contracts are signed.
In October of this year MOH will be
the site of an Opera Creole production of
the seldom-performed, early 20th century
French-language opera, “La Flamenca.”
MOH also plans to stage a number of
jazz performances; at least one a month as
they did this past season.
In preparation for a busy upcoming
season, Marigny Opera Ballet is holding
open auditions for new dancers on
Saturday, May 14, 2016. Two male
dancers are being sought, along with a
male and a female apprentice.
A graduate of the University of North
Carolina School of the Arts who moved
to New Orleans in 2010 after 20 years in
San Francisco, Dave jumped feet first into
the local cultural scene almost from the
day of his arrival. In addition to buying the
church a year later, he and his staff began
setting it up as a performance venue a
year after that.
In 2012 and 2013 MOH began staging
what they termed the Marigny Opera
House New Dance Festival. The festival
went dormant for the next two years but
Dave and his staff decided to revive it this
year.
At this year’s festival four New Orleans-
based choreographers have been selected
to premiere a total of three new works.
They are Will Byram, Maritza Mercado-
Narcisse and the team of Angelle Hebert
and Shannon Stewart, and their creations
will be presented at the MOH during the
weekend of June 10-12.
Aftertakingthemonthof July off, MOH
will reopen in August with a full month of
“Ragtime: The Musical,” presented by the
Cripple Creek Theatre Company.
In his free time (“what little there is,”
he laughs), Dave said he likes to go for
walks through the Marigny and Bywater
neighborhoods near his home or to the
nearby French Quarter. He especially
enjoys strolling along the river through
nearby Crescent Park. “Those moments
really give me time to relax and unwind,”
he said.
Dining out at Atchafalaya in the Irish
Channel is a “special, once-a-month
treat” for Dave, as is another of his favorite
bistros, Oxalis in the Bywater. Late at
night he sometimes relaxes by playing
Bach pieces on his home piano.
Expounding on his mission and his
vision for the future, Dave said, “My basic
hope has always been to help make New
Orleans a better place. And what I have
to offer is a lifetime in the arts. What I
feel passionate about and really want
is for the young artists in this town to
have a place to perform and be decently
paid. We’re beginning to do that now,” he
emphasized, adding that the artists with
whom they contract are compensated for
both performances and regular rehearsals.
And, best of all, by owning the venue,
Dave can sleep well at night knowing that
it won’t be snatched out from under him
on very short notice, as happened recently
with two other small theatres in New
Orleans whose owners refused to renew
their leases.
“That’s not going to happen to us,”
Dave proudly declared. “We’re making
a long-range investment in the cultural
community here. We’re here to stay.” 
PHOTOGRAPHY BY: BIONCA FLOT SYKES