Jeannette Walls, author of The Glass Castle, a memoir of her childhood and her experiences with her homeless parents, will visit with students at Farmland Elementary School on Friday, May 6, from 9:30 a.m. until 11:30 a.m.

The visit coincides with the production of the school's tenth annual opera called “Can You Keep a Secret?” The theme of the student production is homelessness. Students are writing, designing, managing, and performing the original opera. They also are taking on the jobs of costume and set designers, carpenters, make-up artists, and public relations officers.

Performance dates for the opera are May 25 at 10:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. and May 26 at 7:30 p.m. For more information, contact music teacher Deb Scesa at 301-231-0766.

Farmland Elementary School was the first school in Montgomery County Public Schools to produce an opera in cooperation with a Metropolitan Opera Guild's Creating Original Opera Program to train classroom and music teachers. A partnership with The Washington National Opera, along with funding from the Maryland State Department of Education and the U. S. Department of Education, have allowed for the expansion of the program to nine schools.

Students at the following nine elementary schools throughout Montgomery County Public Schools are currently producing operas:

Beverly Farms
DREAM SCHEME
May 25, 1:30 p.m. & 7:30 p.m.
May 26, 7:30 p.m.

Burtonsville
THE FRIENDSHIP DESTROYER
May 3, 2:30 p.m.
May 4 & 5, 2:30 p.m. & 7:00 p.m.

Dr. Charles Drew
SABOTAGE AT CAMP EVERGREEN
May 11 &12, 7:00 p.m.

Farmland
CAN YOU KEEP A SECRET?
May 25, 10:30 a.m. & 7:30 p.m.
May 26, 7:30 p.m.

Greencastle
THE RED LETTERS
June 8, 9:30 a.m. & 2:00 p.m.
June 9, 9:30 a.m. & 7:30 p.m.

Fox Chapel
A QUEST FOR COLOR
June 1, 1:45 p.m. & 7:30 p.m.
June 2, 9:45 a.m. & 7:30 p.m.

Kensington-Parkwood
THE MIRROR
June 7, 8, & 9 at 7:00 p.m.

New Hampshire Estates
ENDANGERED LEGACY
May 11, 10:00 a.m. & 7:00 p.m.
May 12, 10:00 a.m. & 7:00 p.m.

Potomac
MOUPHANY AND ELOUSE
May 25, 10:00 a.m. & 7:00 p.m.
May 26, 10:00 a.m. & 7:00 p.m.