Gemma DeCetra

A second-year Ryan Opera Center member and the second person to hold the Stage Manager position in the Ensemble, DeCetra will work at Lyric this season on Cavalleria rusticana/Pagliacci, Così fan tutte, and Madama Butterfly. She spent the past summer on the stage management team for the Trentino Music Festival in Italy, following an engagement with Chicago Opera Theater for She Who Dared. Previously at Lyric, she worked on The Listeners, The Marriage of Figaro, and Fidelio. An alumna of Northwestern University’s theater program, where she received a 2023 Prague Quadrennial Grant for costume construction, DeCetra was the stage manager for Jason and the Argonauts for Lyric Unlimited’s 2023 Opera in the Neighborhoods. Other recent projects include L’incoronazione di Poppea (Chicago College of Performing Arts Opera, 2024), The Nose (Chicago Opera Theater, Wardrobe, 2023), and Indecent (Wirtz Center, 2023). She was also on the production staff at the 2023 Grant Park Music Festival. DeCetra is originally from Madison, Wisconsin, where she worked with students at Children’s Theater of Madison and Shorewood Drama.

Gemma DeCetra is sponsored by Roberta L. Washlow & Robert J. Washlow.

Last updated: September 3, 2025