A few very young people have been making their stage debuts here in recent weeks, although audiences can't see them.

That's because they haven't been born yet.

	David Bachman Sari Gruber's pregnancy has been included in her role of Despina in Pittsburgh Opera's production of Mozart's "Cosi fan tutte." Click photo for larger image.

The Pittsburgh Opera production of Mozart's "Cosi fan tutti" has an expectant mother among its principal cast. Sari Gruber, who plays the role of the maid Despina, is eight months pregnant. And two Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre company members are continuing to perform while pregnant. Erin Halloran and Kaori Ogasawara recently danced featured roles -- Ogasawara as Effie and Halloran as Anna -- in the Ballet's April production of "La Sylphide."

Gruber is closest to giving birth, and, fittingly, after the curtain falls on this week's Mother's Day performance, it will be her last until after the baby is born.

"It's a nice little send-off," she says of the coincidence.

Gruber, 35, who has performed with New York City Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis and Boston Lyric Opera, trained at The Juilliard School, where she earned a master's degree in voice.

Ric Evans Last December, Erin Halloran and Alan Obuzor performed in the "Nutcracker" for Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. Click photo for larger image.

She has played Despina in "Cosi fan tutte" several times before. "Having done the role, I know what it demands," she said before rehearsals got under way last month. "Obviously it's going to demand more of me than under normal circumstances. If this were a new role, I would not be doing it."

The Opera decided to work Gruber's pregnancy into her role as Despina, the chambermaid for the two female lead characters. They even added some padding to make her look bigger than she is.

Despina plays a pivotal character in this comedy of switched identities, and, ironically, this 1700s single mom-to-be counsels other characters on relationships and virtue.

"I don't want to sit there and point out the fact that I'm eight months pregnant [in the performance]. However, it adds a very interesting element," Gruber says.

During rehearsals, Gruber said, she would feel the baby moving around. "I think she likes Mozart."

After "Cosi" ends its run, Gruber will take a leave until August, when she has a concert in the Berkshires near her Massachusetts home -- her husband, William Powers, is executive director of the Berkshire Opera Company. In September, she'll be back on the road, with baby in tow.

	Ric Evans A pregnant Kaori Ogasawara & Christopher Rendall-Jackson perform in Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre's "La Sylphide." Click photo for larger image.

"She will have a very wonderful and unusual life," Gruber says. "She'll get to travel at a young age. She'll also see that Mommy really loves what she does and that it not only brings in money but makes her a better person, hopefully.

"My mother worked for much of my childhood. I remember admiring her for that. The work took her away from me sometimes, which was hard. I also knew she was taking care of her family, and she was doing some things for herself as well as for me. There was something about that that was very powerful."

Moms and dads

Just as there are two expectant mothers in PBT, there are two expectant fathers in the company: Halloran is married to ballet master Steven Annegarn, and they have a 5-year-old son, Aiden. Ogasawara is married to PBT soloist Christopher Rendall-Jackson. This will be their first child.

Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre Kaori Ogasawara Click photo for larger image.

Ogasawara was born in Japan and came to PBT in 1999 from Boston Ballet. Her featured roles have included the Sugar Plum Fairy and Marie in "The Nutcracker," Myrtha in "Giselle," Svetlana in "Dracula" and several contemporary works.

Halloran is a Pittsburgh native who joined the company after training at the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School. She was promoted to soloist in 1998. Recent roles include Kitri in "Don Quixote" and Odette/Odile in "Swan Lake."

Dancers can continue to work into their second trimester, depending on the individual and also on the kinds of roles they play. For example, technically intensive roles with leaps and jumps are ruled out. Halloran danced a character role in "Sylphide," which didn't require as much athletic movement.

	Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre Erin Halloran Click photo for larger image.

PBT leaves the decision on when a dancer should stop working and when she can return to the stage to the performer and the attending physician. PBT company members can take up to four months off without losing seniority.

Ogasawara is going into her fifth month. "When I dance, I'm happy. My doctor says, if Mom is happy, your baby must be happy, too."

The April performance was her last until after the baby is born, but she'll continue to take classes and train, planning to continue into her eighth month. Her baby is due in October. Six weeks after, she can return to classes, and she hopes to be back full time in January.

Lisa Kohler Sari Gruber Click photo for larger image.

Working moms

Any working mother or mother-to-be knows how challenging it can be to balance family and work. But women in the performing arts face unique challenges during pregnancy -- and after.

While an opera singer doesn't have the ballet dancer's leaps and jumps to deal with, performing is still a physical challenge.

"Singing while pregnant, particularly this late, is technically a more demanding process," Gruber says. "Breathing is a little different. Support is very different." The lower abdominal muscles play a key role, and now they're sharing space with a baby.

But in some ways, the discipline of being an opera singer made it easier for Gruber to continue working.

"I'm physically in really good shape. Not only do I work out, but what I do for a living is physical and aerobic exercise. I have stronger abs than most people."

Fifteen extra pounds has made a big difference for Ogasawara.

"I don't have the stamina. Usually I practice until I feel confident. Now, I can't practice more than two hours a day. I have to listen to my body."

The added weight also throws off her sense of balance, forcing her to recalibrate every movement. "It's totally different. When I turn, it's a totally different weight shift.

"But everybody wants to dance until they can't. This is what we love. At the same time, this is my dream: I wanted to have a baby and come back to be a dancer again."

The training for pregnant dancers is a modified program, with no leaping and jumping, and more gentle, yoga-like kinds of exercise.

Halloran has been down this road before. She's expecting her second child three months. from now. She had difficulties in her first pregnancy, and the baby was born six weeks early. Because of that, her doctors are monitoring her closely this time. Like Ogasawara, she's doing Pilates and other fitness regimes to keep in shape.

Halloran plans to return six to eight weeks after the baby is born, depending on how things go. "I'm sure I'll want to get back on stage as soon as I can, but I won't want to get back on stage before I'm in good shape."

For all working mothers, taking a leave from the workplace -- whether it's the office or the stage -- is a big change. For women in the performing arts, who invest years in preparing and training for careers that require extreme focus and dedication, "it's a really hard decision," Halloran says.

"You have mixed emotions about stopping what you love to do -- especially for a dancer, because you're body is a tool, and it's not the same for a while. Taking time off in a career that's relatively short -- it's a hard choice."

At the same time, she says, getting the chance to play a new role in real life -- that of a mom -- can enhance one's art. "Having another aspect of your life gives you life experience to draw from in your performance, and of course the pleasure of being a parent."

Attitudes toward parent performers have changed over time, so it's no longer a cut and dried choice between having a family and a performing career, Halloran says. "I think it's becoming easier in the arts, and especially for ballet dancers, to have children. It wasn't so easy in the past. It's becoming more accepted. We're lucky at PBT. They're really supportive of the people with families."

Gruber, too, says impending motherhood has given her a new perspective on both art and life, and she sees these months as a rehearsal for motherhood.

"There's something much more important going on. I've learned to be very forgiving of myself this year, which for me, being very much the Type A personality, has been good. Since my pregnancy, I have learned that if it's not perfect, that if I still give it my all, that's as good as it's going be that day. Previously, I would lose sleep over that.

Impending motherhood has re-ordered her priorities, Gruber said.

"It has already given me so much perspective, and she hasn't arrived yet."

"Cosi fan tutte" continues 8 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Sunday at Benedum Center, Downtown. Tickets: $16.50 to $125.50; 412-456-6666.