Residency Assesment Report

This post is from Open Dream Ensemble's General Manager, Rebecca Nussbaum.

It’s January in North Carolina so rather than snow, we are getting grey, drippy days. These are good days for thinking and reflecting as Open Dream Ensemble gears up for an eighth season. And, as if on cue this drippy day, the final report on our residency work arrived!

One new element to Season Seven was having an outside evaluator assess our residency work. Why? Because we wanted to better understand what happens over the course of a residency and some of the whys and hows of it. In order to improve, it becomes, at some point, necessary to see what is happening through neutral eyes trained to look at and understand the goings-on.

Open Dream Ensemble Residencies include integration that connects to the essential standards in science and the performing arts. Activities are created that incorporate arts and science concepts. Each day of the residency the Open Dream artists (teamed in pairs of two, mixed by gender and primary art form where possible) go into classrooms and work with elementary students on understanding science through active arts participation.

We undertook an evaluation that would look at three prongs of the residency. The first was looking at student learning and perceived knowledge as well as their attitudes about science and theater arts. The second was looking at classroom teacher reaction to the residency work. The third, was trying to understand the impact of working in a residency situation on the artist of Open Dream Ensemble.

Having a better understanding of all these elements allows for improved residency work on all three fronts. I m learning a great deal from the report and appreciate having more information as plans for teaching artist training and residency structure are considered for the upcoming season.

Included below are the preface and Executive Summary from the report. I do want to thank Debbie Randolph for her great, through, thoughtful and thought-provoking work on this assessment! I will be spending many of my quite January hours in reflection on how to improve the important work Open Dream Ensemble does in the schools of North Carolina.


PREFACE
This evaluation of the Open Dream Ensemble is an important contribution to our understanding of the roles of the arts in learning content in other disciplines. There are simply too few studies of arts integration efforts for us to know what works best and how. This evaluation shows the success of the program in achieving its goals for student learning and in having positive effects on both the artists and the teachers. It also does so for an art form that has not had systemic study as a form of arts integration. The fact that an ensemble art form generated these effects is a testimony to the promise of this approach to arts integration. It is also notable that Open Dream Ensemble built an evaluation into its efforts. Open Dream now knows more about its work but as importantly Open Dream Ensemble also has something to say more broadly because it sought a rigorous evaluation. Open Dream Ensemble has proven itself and challenges other arts integration efforts to do likewise. This challenge needs to be met. We can thank the UNC School for the Arts and the Open Dream Ensemble for issuing it.

George W. Noblit. Joseph R. Neikirk Distinguished Professor of Sociology of Education, School of Education, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Students: To reach students through the arts and enliven science learning. MET IN ALL SCHOOLS
Artists: To help professional artists build skills as teaching artists and impart an enthusiasm for the arts and learning on the schools where they work. MET IN ALL SCHOOLS
Teachers: To help teachers recognize that there are ways to integrate the arts into curriculum in order to make learning deeper and more active. MET IN MOST SCHOOLS


Students
1200 Students served by residencies
+35 Average point increase in 3rd grade science vocab quiz mean score
77% Teachers who agreed that students increased their interest in science because of the residency

Artists
Working across art forms increased knowledge, confidence and risk taking
Demanding pace, intellectual rigor prepared artists for careers
Collaboration provided opportunities to negotiate relationships

Teachers
92% Teachers who agreed the residencies were successful
Teachers learned strategies for integrating the arts and science
81% Teachers who plan to extend ideas generated through residencies into the classroom

Endless Possibilities

This post from the wonderful William vonReichbauer. William is pictured here during our reading of Big Shoes -- a new original show Open Dream Ensemble will present next season.


Season seven of the Open Dream Ensemble came to a close on Friday with an energetic and emotional performance of "Peril on the Red Planet" at Clemmons Middle School. Not only was Friday's performance the final performance of season seven, but as this is the last season that ODE is presenting this show, it was likely the final performance of "Peril."

This season has been an intense whirlwind of rehearsing, filming, performing, and teaching. It is hard to believe that three and a half months have passed by so quickly and that we managed to pack in so much. I feel so fortunate to have been a part of this amazing cast and to bring live theater and arts based education to so many students across the state. I was continuously inspired by my fellow cast members who never ceased to amaze me with the dedication and creativity they brought to their work both in the classroom and on the stage.

Just as Diana, Tristan, Demeter, and Dr. Ember begin the next chapter of their lives on a now-habitable Mars, so do we, the cast, begin the next chapters of our lives. Some of us will no doubt work with one another again and a few of us will probably return for another season with the Open Dream Ensemble, but many of us will go our separate ways and pursue our own goals and dreams. "Peril on the Red Planet" ends with Tristan's line, "Now the future holds endless possibilities." Let's hope so.

The Adventure Continues

This post is from Martian Cop, Adrian Knowels. A graduate of UNCSA School of Drama, Adrian is slated for a move to the chilly North which we hope will give him lots of warmth, roles, and wonder. Thanks, Adrian, for your work with Open Dream this season and keep in touch!


Well Open Dream has come to a close. Two days ago, we rocked our final show, loaded the set back into storage, and had a sweet lunch party provided for us by the Kenan Institute. Gosh, now what? I have quite a bit of money saved up (thanks to our hefty paychecks) which I'll live on for a month or two when I move to Chicago in January. Then it's life, I guess. I'll probably have to get a job in a restaurant or working as an usher in a theatre. Man, I'd love to continue working as an actor, but survival comes first. I truly loved Open Dream because I got work in the field I studied. I got to live as a professional actor. I'm still a professional actor, albeit an unemployed one. But that's ok. I'm going home for the holidays to spend time with family before I make the biggest move of my life. I've never lived in a city before. I've never even visited Chicago. But WOOO-HOO!! Time to grow up and figure out what this whole adult thing is all about. Thank you Open Dream for the being the springboard to my career! Stay strong.

Occupy Open Dream

This post from Andrew Jernigan was written before the Open Dream season ended. Andrew is now back enjoying Thanksgiving with his family in Texas. Thanks for being a part of our Open Dream family these past months -- and be sure to come back and visit!

At our last residency at STARS, I was profoundly moved when a student began to break down because our last day had come to end (we shall call him James). Actually, many students cry and need hugs when we leave, and I find myself in this limbo combination of flattery and uncomfortability, so I squeeze out before it becomes a popular movement. Occupy Open Dream... However, this one particular student was not outwardly seeking condolences from anybody.
James had a big role in our informance, shooting lava out of a volcano erected from a red fabric material, and he took stage direction like a champion. I hadn't necessarily thought he wanted to be a performer because he chose to be around the "too cool for school" boys that messed around during class. But something inside him changed when we finished singing the goodbye song one last time. He simply lowered his head into his hands and left me to wonder how the last two weeks had affected him.
The Open Dream Ensemble provides many children with the first theatrical experience of their lives. In fact, some of our students continued to call the play a "movie". Like many of them, I too grew up watching mainly television and film, but there was always something untouchable - or unattainable - about movies. And children, with their mind blowing imaginations, need to be able to explore their own stories because their creativity will change our culture's future. Fortunately, theater is an attainable facet for harboring an explosion of imagination combined with high levels of focus. Peter Brook, a renowned theater and film director, writes in his book, The Empty Space:

I can take an empty space and call it a bare stage. A man walks across this empty space whilst someone else is watching him, and this is all that is needed for an act of theatre to be engaged.

Respectively, prior to entering the classrooms, we insist that the teachers have all the chairs and desks pushed to the walls so that there is an empty space in the middle of the room. Thus, a bare stage has been created where the teacher artists and students can tangibly create performances inhibited only by vast imagination. Finally there is a controlled environment in which the students can play and learn simultaneously. Many children separate the two into opposing categories; play is for fun, learning is boring. When the Open Dream enters the room, there is chance for both at the same time.
Students who write off their education because it lacks entertainment are not likely to develop critical thinking skills necessary for our present school system. I believe James fell into a circle of friends who were victims of that scenario, but maybe he was cognizant of the consequences. Within the two weeks of our residency, he pulled a 180 and excelled at something he could finally throw himself into - learning on his feet. Why should he sit down and learn about weathering and erosion when he can jump up and down and mirror the effects of these occurrences? Now the knowledge is not a fleeting thought passing through his brain, but is actually rooted in his body and memory. Now there is an excitement for education and a desire to learn more. Now there is a chance for growth.
The Open Dream Ensemble provides a gift for students who struggle with motivation. By playing silly games and staging simple skits, we activate their curiosity. Learning is best accomplished when it is sought, and we present a service that students yearn for; even as we say goodbye.

My Love Story

This post is from Open Dream's talented intern, Dian Permana. Dian is currently a graduate student in UNCSA's Performing Arts Management program.


I can probably say I fell in love at the first sight when I saw last year’s production of Peril on the Red Planet at UNCSA. I right away felt that this was where I wanted to be and I was a little bit disappointed to find out that the organization only recruits alumni of the school. That’s why I was so excited when I was finally able to meet and talk with the amazing General Manager of the Open Dream Ensemble, Rebecca Nussbaum, and was finally able to have the internship this summer and continue the work this semester.



The longer I work, the deeper I am in love with the organization. Alas, it almost comes to an end. But I will forever treasure the valuable experience and knowledge I have received in these five months. I will never forget how I learned so much more about science within these five months than what I have learned during my entire school time; how much fun I had working with the directors and other professionals during the production despite the cramped rehearsal month (until I had the songs from web series stuck in my head for months); how students always turned around when Diana said, “Behind that door is Zartok 3” (just like I did when I watched it for the first time) and how their eyes always light up when the Teaching Artists entered their classroom; how I get connected to people and places I might never otherwise do; how the super talented and lovely cast members have been like my older siblings, and how I am always impressed with Rebecca's outstanding knowledge and skills from arts integration to fixing costumes and baking super yummy pineapple vegan cupcakes, as well as her smart solution to every problem.


Open Dream Ensemble, you always make my day! Thank you, it is such an honor to have this privilege. I will always cherish these moments you were taking me to “go somewhere extraordinary”!

A New World

This post by the lovely Danielle Rennalls was written on November 16. The Open Dream season is now complete and Danielle is on her path to more fun and more work. We wish her the best!


It's a rainy night here in Camp Lejeune, off of the North Carolina coast. We are in the last leg of touring "Peril..." in Eastern North Carolina, having performed in Clarkton and, previously, Southern Pines, NC. I can't help but marvel at the various ecosystems all contained in this seemingly small state; each place has it own energy and pulse, the townspeople friendlier and more helpful than the last. This is my final blog post for the season... Four months flew by mindblowingly fast. I will miss this group of people and all they have taught me through Open Dream Ensemble. I'm grateful to them for allowing me to glean insight into the "business" at large and what it's really like to be a "working artist." I've found joy in speaking or sharing ideas in an open, non-judgmental forum whether it was through Teaching Artist training or formulating lesson plans. Diana shall always be apart of my "toolbox," she's truly reminded me what it was like to be 13 again (give or take a few murderous terraforming machines ;) ). She reinforced the notion that it does take a critical thinking, perseverance, and sacrifice to make dreams come true and I can only cross my fingers in the hopes that I'll have the opportunity to portray someone like her again. She's allowed me to step in myself as an actress after two years of being a director. All in all, I can honestly state this experience has changed me for the better and opened up a whole new world geared towards positive change within our school systems, utilizing a groups multiple intelligences, and, at Open Dreams very core, the importance of teamwork. A very special thank you to the Kenan Institute, Rebecca Nussbaum, and the good folks of NoRules Theater Company for giving me the gift of being apart of this ensemble. Until next year!

Going Somewhere Extraordinary

This post from the sick Haydee -- we are hoping you feel better soon!!!


Staying healthy on the road isn't easy. Being around hundreds of children during the change of seasons on a fast food diet makes a perfect storm of illness. Julianne and I lay here in our hotel room which acts more like an infirmary with a myriad of tissue boxes, medicine bottles and immunity boosters, strewn about like a drugstore hurricane. She coughs I sneeze in time like an orchestrated duet, we have to laugh. At least we are sick together. There is nothing worse than living with a sick person when healthy or being sick around a healthy person for that matter.
The O.D.E. Season is wrapping up and I feel satisfied. We have definitely accomplished a mission. We set out on an incredible adventure and along the way met so many great people and made friends. Thank You to all the schools, teachers and students who welcomed us. Thank You to my fellow troupe mates for being so talented on stage and in the classroom. Thank You to Rebecca and The Open Dream Ensemble for letting us go "somewhere extraordinary "!


The photo is of Professor Poople from The Adventures of the Open Dream Ensemble.