Vancouver Opera's production of Lucia di Lammermoor debuts on Saturday. (Tim Matheson/Vancouver Opera)

A Vancouver production of Lucia di Lammermoor opening Saturday in Vancouver marks the Vancouver Opera directing debut for local playwright and director Amiel Gladstone.

The opera, with a score by Gaetano Donizetti, is to be sung by Cuban-American soprano Eglise Gutierrez, one of the top Lucias in the world, and fast-rising American tenor Michael Fabiano.

The tragic opera, set in the hills of Scotland, is about a young woman and her lover caught in a family feud that leads to madness and murder.

Gladstone is a theatre veteran, having worked as an artistic associate at Belfry Theatre, and directed productions such as Tape at the 2009 Vancouver International Fringe Festival, and Morris Panych's The Ends of the Earth at Belfry.

American tenor Michael Fabiano as Edgardo and Cuban soprano Eglise Gutierrez as Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor. (Tim Matheson/Vancouver Opera)

He's also juggling casting for his next show, 100% Vancouver, where 100 non-actors will bring real stories of the city to the stage for Vancouver's 125th anniversary celebrations.

"The idea is to take 100 Vancouverites and try and represent the city demographically. We're casting people based on age, marital status, mother tongue, neighbourhood," Gladstone said in an interview with CBC Radio's Q cultural affairs show on Friday.

"We're going to throw them on stage and none of them actors and we're going to start throwing questions at them and get an idea of the city right now based on how they will answer."

Vancouver Opera first brought Gladstone in to assist with shows in a two-year program for emerging directorial talent. That eventually led to a chance to direct the 2009 production of Jack Pine, for Vancouver Opera in the Schools.

He also headed to Oper Frankfurt in 2008 to observe rehearsals of Lucia di Lammermoor and fell in love with the music.

"One of the great things is in rehearsal you get to hear the beautiful music over and over again. It's an amazing thing," Gladstone said, a day ahead of his big opening.

After directing theatre, often independent productions, across Canada, Gladstone is also amazed at the scale of the Vancouver Opera production.

"The opera's a whole other scale of massive theatrical work," he said.

The set comes from the San Francisco Opera, which staged Lucia di Lammermoor in 2008. The Vancouver Opera Orchestra, directed by Jonathan Darlington, and the opera chorus, will accompany the singers.

Lucia di Lammermoor debuts Saturday at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Vancouver, followed by performances Dec. 7, Dec. 9 and Dec. 11.

100% Vancouver will be presented as part of the Push Festival Jan. 21 and 22.