The Grays Harbor College Opera Workshop will stage its holiday show Dec. 1 and 2, performing excerpts from “Babes in Toyland” followed by a condensed version of Engelbert Humperdinck’s “Hansel & Gretel.”

Back up a minute: Opera? In Aberdeen?

“It’s one of those things that just conceptually sounds like an insane thing to do here,” laughed Ian Dorsch, who co-directs the workshop with his wife, Joy. Both are members of GHC’s music faculty.

The program is offered as a GHC course, but it’s also open to local residents who pass an audition. It has 20 people in it now, ranging from high school to retirement age.

“It’s an educational program, so we really try to keep it as accessible as possible,” noted Ian.

Two years after launching the program, he speaks enthusiastically of the progress he’s seen in many of its members. One of those is McKenna Hansen, who’s been a private voice student of Joy’s for a few years. But when she auditioned last August for the Opera Workshop, “we knew pretty much right away that she needed to be Hansel,” said Ian.

She clearly relishes the role of Gretel’s big brother, combining her powerful voice with vivid, often comical facial expressions and body language.

It helps, too, that McKenna and Emma Dorsch — Ian and Joy’s daughter, an Aberdeen High School student, who plays Gretel — are longtime friends. “They already had a fun chemistry on stage,” said Ian.

The holiday performance also will include talent from Hoquiam’s 7th Street Kids, as well as Lori Oestreich’s Turning Pointe Classical School of Dance in Aberdeen.

Since the Bishop Center is about to undergo some major renovations, Ian said the December performance is taking place a couple of weeks earlier than usual.

“It’s been incredibly hectic trying to pull this together,” he said on Wednesday. “I think we have just enough time to get it polished to a decent sheen by the time we open.”

The curtain will rise at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 1 and 2 p.m. Dec. 2 at the Bishop Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets are $10 (free for children 12 and younger) and may be purchased in advance by contacting Grays Harbor College, or at the door prior to each performance.

Anyone interested in trying out for the spring production, an abridged “Pirates of Penzance,” should keep an eye on GHC Opera Workshop’s Facebook page or www.ghc.edu/bishop/opera for audition dates.

(Kat Bryant | Grays Harbor News Group) Angels, performed by students of the Turning Pointe Classical School of Dance, protect Hansel and Gretel as they sleep in the forest.