Learning, Teaching, Moving, Dreaming

This post is from magnificent Marie Madesclaire. She is pictured here working with children in a Union County classroom.

It's cold and bleary here in Seattle, with the ever present rain I can't help but miss North Carolina a little. Since Open Dream ended I've moved cross-country and started an exhausting job search. And yet I can't shake Open Dream. Just the other day I was reading a book to a 4 year old boy, as part of my nanny interview, and I found myself using the tools we'd learned during Teaching Artist Training. I asked him to find his nose, or ears, when the book talked about noses and ears. Automatically I would ask to see his happy, sad, or grouchy face when the main character was happy, sad, or grouchy. I think he had a blast, he started to do things without my asking him to, or pointing out things before I could. It was sweet and reminded me of those days spent in classes with Marissa asking the children to do the silliest things. Make your body a VOLCANOOO!!!!!! Boosh. 23 little volcano's in a room, building up pressure and erupting into the sky to the soundtrack of Carmen. All this to say, I learned a lot while a member of Open Dream. Some of it from Rebecca, and Mister William and the other Dreamers, but mostly from those adorable little pipsqueaks in the classrooms and auditoriums. Thanks kiddoes :)

Moving Mountains

This post is from Cameron MacManus. In addition to his many musical and stage gifts, Cameron possesses those rare gifts of perpetual positivity and a highly-functional immune system. He is pictured here in the role of Gordy.

Around every corner of the trail and every turn of the page lies the possiblity to move in new directions and explore new roles. The chance to work as a teaching artist with the Open Dream Ensemble came as quite a surprise last spring. Now after over three months of total immersion in Gordy’s world, I can look back at the season and marvel at all we accomplished together. We moved mountains. That most daunting upward projection of the earth’s crust - Mount Blacklock, along with pink trees, the roll drop, the improbably heavy floor, the table and bench, instruments, the (un)sound equipment, and a myriad of costumes and props traveled with us along the highways of North Carolina and Virginia and helped us to engage the imaginations of thousands of young people. While those set pieces now slumber in a dark storage unit, the living inhabitants of that wonderful world continue our lives in the arts. For many of us, that means taking up day jobs that allow us to pursue our creative endeavors. As I return to other employment, I find that I have not simply spent a quarter of the year in another world, but have broadened the world I live in. Not only have I benefited in my own artistic life from the inspiration of working with some of the most talented and dedicated people in our community, but I feel more connected to the Winston-Salem arts community and the community at large. It is encouraging to discover that the two are more intertwined than it feels during those many solitary hours of practicing my instrument or writing music (or working other jobs to make sure that I can do those things). Already, several people in my neighborhood have mentioned that they saw either Big Shoes at a local school or the performance with the Winston-Salem Symphony. Having ascended to the summit, I see that there are so many more mountains to climb, and so many wonderful explorers to share the journey with. Thank you Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts, UNCSA, and all the wonderful people who make the Open Dream Ensemble a reality!

Photo Blog from Haydee!

Haydee Thompson is a widely and deeply talented woman. In addition to her work on stage, she is also a visual artist, musician, and photographer. These are some of the pictures Haydee took during Open Dream 2012. They give a glimpse to ODE-on-the-road including residency work, connecting with children, creative practice space, and what happens when a container of chocolate-covered espresso beans is left in a hot van. (I am happy to report that Cameron survived the caffeine-induced heart palpitations, insomnia, and increased gastric acid secretions).

If the Shoe Fits (or not!)

This post is from William vonReichbauer. A consummate professional, William filled many roles with Open Dream Ensemble this season in addition to the ones he played on stage! He is pictured here playing bass.

GORDY: But I think, what would be really impressive, is if you could be everybody all at once. Now that would be something! ROBBER: Well, I can do that! Of course I can do that! All I’d have to do is wear one person’s shoes on each of my feet! Thanks to the illness that recently made its way through the cast, several of us ended up trying on a few extra pairs of shoes as we assumed various roles left vacant by our fallen comrades. The most fun for me was the opportunity to take on the role of The Robber, with his multitude of shoes, for four performances. While Alexander is certainly an antagonist in Big Shoes, he is ultimately not a bad person, and even comes out of the play a changed and better person. The Robber, on the other hand, is unarguably the bad guy. And it's fun to be the bad guy. And when you consider that he is holding an eleven-year-old boy captive in his magical upside-down house in the woods and plans to steal said boy's soul via the theft of his footwear, he's a pretty creepy and menacing foe. And The Robber's Song is great fun to sing; a surreal, sadistic tango with lots of room for humor, punctuated by Marissa's awesome clarinet playing, and backing vocals courtesy of the voices of all of the souls The Robber has stolen. The opportunity to play both The Robber and The Cobbler back-to-back also brings added meaning to Deepish's line to Gordy, "Look for the maker where the taker was." Of course, having absent cast members creates far more problems than simply leaving parts to be filled, as every one of us has many more jobs than simply performing our roles on stage: props and set pieces need to be set and moved throughout the show; many jobs left undone had to be reassigned in terms of getting the show set up and broken down; many lines, choreography, and even musical parts needed to be rewritten and/or adjusted to accommodate missing performers; and those who remained had that much more gear to haul each time we loaded in or out of a venue. I am proud to say that through it all, the remaining cast truly pulled together and performed admirably under very some difficult circumstances. And though it was great fun to try on a few extra pairs of shoes, it was a welcome relief when the "ODE Plague of 2012" passed and I could return to wearing the shoes... er... boots that truly fit my feet!

Disrupto Dissappears with Teamwork!

This is the fun final post this season from our wonderful Julianne Harper. Enjoy!

Well, well, well...our final day of ODE season 8 has snuck up fast, but it's here, and who else would make sure to have one final attempt to foil The Open Dream Ensemble's plans? None other than the disasterously evil, menacingly maniacle, undisputablely handsome, one and only - DR. DISRUPTO!!!!!!!!!! Most of you might recall this evil villain from our web-series adventures in which the team and myself traveled back in time to help Isaac Newton and Pythagorus complete their written roles in history. At every turn Dr. Disrupto was waiting for his chance to change the course of history and therefore, rule the world! Well our last day of the season would be no different. Disrupto surprised us by showing up at our place of departure, begging to be a part of our team. Promising that he had learned from all of his past mistakes, he desperately asked to join us on our journey to somewhere extraordinary. He sealed the deal with fresh baked muffins and piping hot coffee to enjoy on our final drive. In dire need of nourishment and some extra hands, we reluctantly accepted the Doctor's offer. Little did we know the snacks and coffee had been "doctored" and the whole lot of us instantly fell into a deep slumber. Disrupto's plan had worked, and for our final performance of the season- the stage would be all his! Although Disrupto was thrilled to have stolen our show, once he got on stage in front of the audience, he froze. He didn't realize how much skill and bravery it took to perform in front of an audience. So now we find the evil Dr. Disrupto at his most vulnerable, and just as the show was coming to an arresting halt, the rest of the team and myself woke from our slumber and rushed to the stage. Even though Disrupto had done us wrong we felt that through his grave embarrassment he had learned his lesson, and we stepped in to save the show! We aren't sure if Dr. Disrupto will change his evil ways for good, but at least he got a lesson in the enormous value of teamwork. Without the amazing talent and dedication of each individual member of ODE season 8, Big Shoes would have never been filled or arrived in such style at the finish line...THE END! P.S. Thanks to Peter Shanahan for inspiring this tale:)

Vlog-Blog

Super fun VLOG from Marissa and William!

Blown Out of the Water

Another great blog from Michaela Morton!

She is pictured here frolicking to Robert Wendel's Ride of the Headless Horseman with the ensemble. The Winston-Salem Symphony is in the background. This weekend, Open Dream had the good fortune to perform with the Winston-Salem Symphony in a Discovery Concert for kids. Collaborating with a full orchestra in a fancy hall, Julianne choreographed us a smart, silly, and altogether beautiful set of mini-shows. The symphony team was welcoming, and it was especially lovely to perform with a couple of former Open Dreamers, now symphony members. My favorite part of the show was, yet again, the pre-show. As Sonia the Duck, I marched around the lobby for an hour beforehand, quacking and diving while Mr. Cameron chased me with a trombone-rifle (and taking costume notes from audience members -- I added a feathered tail at the request of a young gymnast wearing jazz slippers). Marine and Ted appeared in elegance, dressed to the nines as Jasmine (Aladdin) and the Narrator (Peter and the Wolf). Mr. William stumped about in suspenders with a disgruntled expression and Haydee frolicked as a light-footed Peter. The kids were tickled, as were we all. I feel fortunate that this season of Open Dream has included concert showings as well as school residencies, performances for adults and kids -- we've stretched our skills in so many ways and learned how our work lands with a range of different audiences. We've seen each other at our best and at our beginnings, and that's one more reason to celebrate as the end of this season draws near.

November 2

This post is from Cameron MacManus. A trombonist by training, Cameron has been walking in the shoes of an actor as the protagonist of Big Shoes, Gordy.

A few days ago we Open Dreamers met again in room 126 of the UNCSA Drama School building to work on Julianne Harper's inventive new choreography for the upcoming Discovery Concert with the Winston-Salem Symphony. It was interesting to be in the same space that we had utilized for our teaching artist training at the beginning of our season. We are in a much different 'space' now, having performed, toured, taught, and lived together now for several months. I find myself getting a bit nostalgic for the strange, fun, amazing times we have shared and wondering if I'll actually miss the more taxing parts of our journey as well once we hang up Big Shoes in a few weeks. Yesterday, we performed for a wonderful group of students in Warsaw, NC in the eastern part of our state. Gordy - my character - had just fallen asleep in the robber's house when the commotion started. "Don't fall asleep!", "Lookout!", and all manner of concerned warnings came from the audience as The Robber (Ted Federle) slinked onto the stage to steal Alexander's shoes. When Gordy woke, peered out the window, and noticed The Robber, the cries grew still more emphatic. "Get out of the house!", "Jump out of the window!" exclaimed the children. It is great to have such an invested audience. A few days prior, Gordy managed to convince a whole gym full of children to turn and look for Blue Bear when in fact Ted's mid-season illness kept that character out of Topsy-Turvy all together. It seems there is still plenty of room in the toes of these old Big Shoes for more fun. I plan on enjoying every moment of our season as it all-too-quickly approaches its conclusion.

Wow there really is a 5 AM…

Hi everybody my name is Ted and I’m a singer and we do not typically like to get up early in the morning and the thing we like to do even less in the morning is sing a show. However this is the bread and butter of the Open Dream Ensemble and a new tool I get to put into my toolbox. The big plus of this new skill is getting to see so many sunrises and there have been some really beautiful ones. Believe it or not it is a pleasant way to start your day. Well, off to the next show. Until later, Ted

Open Dream Ensemble is in the NC mountains today and tomorrow. There are gorgeous sunrises and sunsets in the mountains that Ted will enjoy!

2 shows at the same time

I’d like to use this post to discuss my life this last month. Balancing the Open Dream Ensemble and Piedmont Opera has been a Herculean task. Early morning performances and late night rehearsals have truly been a test of endurance and my vocal technique. Now that the opera is over it is safe to say mission accomplished. Aside from a nasty case of the flu I have successfully accomplished both tasks and look forward to the next challenge...

This post is from talented Ted Federele. Thankfully, Ted is now healthy and fully back with Open Dream!

On the Road to Warsaw

No, not Poland. Warsaw Elementary School here in North Carolina. The ride out is pleasant and great for napping. Our travel this season has been pretty minimal, and I have to admit that it's nice to go away for a couple of days- under the illusion that everyday life is in a parallel universe far, far away. My existence right now is Sheepish, and my triplet sisters Weepish and Deepish and I are on a mission to get Gordy to Topsy Turvy. I wasn't going to tell anybody, but I have a crush on Gordy. Maybe you can tell anyway because I blush excessively- especially when he jumps every time I talk. I can't help talking so loudly, but he's nice anyway. So nice... Sigh. In real life, this show is a blast to perform. It's always a sign of success when we hear enthusiastic laughter and applause roar from hundreds of children- and see wonder and anticipation in so many little faces when the Robber enters the stage to steal the big shoes from Gordy. Plus, it's rocks my world to act, play my clarinet and a harmonica, sing and dance in the same show, and collaborate with stellar colleagues. Yeah, loading the set in and out is a lot of work, but it truly is worth it. Oh look... We're here. Time to load in the show...

This post is from the marvelous Marissa Byers. As this post goes up, Open Dream has completed the Warsaw performance and is currently performing in Kenansville!

Halloween!!!

Is today, and we are spending our time figuring out our costumes. Not for tonight, but the upcoming discovery concert with the Winston Salem symphony. The array is pretty awesome, Cameron is in the corner headless, William has pulled his pants up to his waist as Grandpa and Michaela is dancing around as a duck. I for one am basking in my character, the Cat. I've had cats all my life and can finally say it was for character study!!! See mom it was all worth it. Other than that, our finish line is quickly approaching and I'm not sure I'm ready for that. Today we had yet another performance for yet another school and yet again the kids blew me away. They reacted as if they'd never seen a play, which they probably hadn't, and ooh and aah and were quite vocal. They even yelled at Gordy to get out of the house before the Robber came and one kid decided jumping out the window was Gordy's best option. As rowdy as they were it was a pretty special thing for me to do, and I hope they take something away from this that'll further their aspirations. Or maybe just make them think about art as a fun and exciting thing. This post is from Miss Marine Madesclaire. As Season Eight of Open Dream Ensemble draws to a close (in 15 days!) it is amazing to reflect that, among other things, Marine has taken on the role of a teaching artist, learned to play the mandolin, and proven her prowess as a cat!