FATHER FIGURE—Chuck Lewis painted this portrait of “El Canguro,” the opera’s problematic father character. Cynthia Ferrell, the opera’s author, is Lewis’ daughter. Playwright and librettist Cynthia Lewis Ferrell of Oak Park will soon see her latest work come to life.

On Sat., Sept. 10, the California International Theatre Festival will premiere Ferrell’s opera “El Canguro” at the KUSC AT&T Center Theater in downtown Los Angeles.

“ It’s a project that we’ve been working on so long, and seeing it come to this point is delightful,” she said.

“El Canguro (The Kangaroo)” is presented with the support of KUSC radio and Pepperdine University. The show portrays the haunted tale of a poverty stricken 20-year-old Guatemalan girl living in the rain forest of Tikal. It’s a jungle meditation on the mental and societal cost of child trafficking, told from the point of view of a mixed-race woman.

Cynthia Ferrell Ferrell, a recipient of the Jerome Lawrence Fellowship, and German composer Peter Michael von der Nahmer, who won the Berlin Opera Prize, have woven together the musical story performed by young adult opera singers from across the region.

The premiere also involves Ferrell’s daughter Tess as stage manager and assistant producer; her husband Bill Ferrell as set designer; father Chuck Lewis, who did the artwork; and brother Jeff Lewis, a sound engineer.

Ferrell, who has lived in Oak Park for 19 years, said the inspiration for the opera came in 2007 when she and her father visited a family friend in Guatemala.

“It was the end of rainy season and a beautiful time. The tourists had left, and I went with my father to the old capital city of Antigua to do some Spanish immersion.”

While in Central America, Ferrell heard about an incident concerning a raid at a home filled with infants slated for foreign adoptions.

“There were 14 children being held in the house,” she said.

The experience incited her to do further research. She and her father stayed at a hotel in Guatemala City, where she witnessed infants being shown to prospective adoptive parents.

Since the demand exceeds supply, the infant trade sparked a murky industry where babies were promised to different sets of parents, Ferrell said.

“One percent of babies were being exported. That really tears at the social fabric of the community, “ Ferrell said.

“El Canguro” tells the story of a young woman in a rural village that supports her father and brother by selling her babies.

In the opera, the woman has sold two infants into the adoption market and made good money, which allowed her family to build a new home. But the father goes into debt with gangs that control his village just as his daughter has a miscarriage.

Since her family was depending on the anticipated income from the miscarried child, the woman, portrayed by Alison Campagna, sets out to get another baby.

“It does certainly make for powerful opera because it includes fear, pain, exhaustion and threats,” Ferrell said.

“The music is also haunting because it includes a collision of cultures, modern and ancient, infused with jungle sounds. The cast of 14 is backed by a choir that creates the jungle sounds,” she said.

“El Canguro” has already won cross-cultural and international support in the theater arts community.

California International Theatre Festival director Joe Peracchio said Ferrell is a real woman of the theater because she’s not only a writer but also a musician and grant seeker.

“When I see artists wear multiple hats and create works that show off all those hats, I’m immediately inspired. The opportunity to include her opera was intriguing. The fact that’s it’s written by an American, composed by a German and about human trafficking in Guatemala made it a no-brainer in being involved in an international festival of ideas like ours,” Peracchio said.

Ferrell said she looks forward to reuniting with the composer of “El Canguro” for the L.A. debut this month.

She and von der Nahmer met at the Academy for New Musical Theatre in North Hollywood in 2007. The academy is a community of artists and producers who work together to create new musicals.

“The cast is enormously talented. It’s fascinating—they look like very normal people, but when they start singing they are not normal at all. They’re ferociously talented and take ownership of the songs,” Ferrell said.

According to Ferrell, “El Canguro” is an ideal show to introduce younger audiences to opera because it incorporates aspects of musical theater and professional artists between the ages of 25 and 30.

The show is performed in English with melodic themes heralding different characters.

“It’s very accessible. When you sit down and you listen you understand what’s happening and are swept up into music you love,” Ferrell said.

Ferrell is a graduate of the Master of Professional Writing Program at USC and has taught as an adjunct professor at Pepperdine University in Malibu. She is an author, playwright, librettist and musician whose works have been developed by venues such as Colony Theatre, 24th Street Theatre and Theatricum Botanicum in Los Angeles, and Stage Left Studio in New York.

To purchase tickets for “ El Canguro,” visit www.elcangurotheopera.com or call 888-712-CITF (2483).

The KUSC AT&T Center Theater is at 1150 S. Olive St.