The Open Dream Ensemble’s Adventures in SCIENCE!!!

This post is from the perpetually sunny and wonderfully enthusiastic Brandon Harris. This is Brandon's first year as a member of Open Dream Ensemble.

We’re currently in the middle of our second residency at Mineral Springs Elementary School, and I can’t tell you what a blast it is! Honestly, for myself, it is a little surreal. I mean, for the past 18 years of my life I have spent every September beginning a new school year as a student. And now, my first September OUT of school and I winded up... back in school!

And I couldn’t be happier. This week we of the Open Dream Ensemble are splitting our time between performing Peril on the Red Planet for local elementary schools in the morning, and heading to Mineral Springs in the afternoon to teach. As far as teaching goes, we’re currently “rocking” our 4th graders with a lesson about rocks and minerals, and “covering some ground” the 5th graders with an interactive lesson on landforms. I’m teaching alongside “Mr. Peter,” who is a wonderful teaching artist with lots of experience and a truly giving spirit. He definitely helped me get my sea legs under me during our first week long residency at Summit School last week. Combine that with spending my evenings watching Bill Nye the Science Guy, and I really feel that I’m coming into my own as a teaching artist. Today was my first day running a class solo, and I don’t think it could have gone better! :-) Tomorrow I’m bringing in drum sticks and fabric so that my 5th graders can lay down a beat while exploring the actions of tectonic plates. GO SCIENCE!!

As for Peril on the Red Planet, this particular morning we performed at Walkertown Elementary. We had to get to the school extra early, (6:45 am) to load in the set before the school busses got there carrying their precious cargo. We artists often tend to be a nocturnal bunch, so getting up at 5:30 in the morning to be ready for a 6:15 call time is quite a change of lifestyle to say the least. Especially after just graduating from a school where rehearsals regularly went until 11pm. (And sometimes 1am for side projects!)

We’re definitely a sight to see in those early mornings: a band of groggy headed artists wearing brightly colored shirts, loading into a van with a smiley face on each side (the smiley van!) in the pre-sunrise dimness, coffee in hand, eagerly awaiting the caffeine to hit our blood streams and sincerely hoping it doesn’t rain. Another day on the job.

It’s not always easy. It’s not always fun. And taking on a class full of kids can definitely be intimidating. But when you see the children’s excited faces during the show, when you feel their engagement and enthusiasm for learning growing throughout the week, and when you receive a hand written note from the “problem child” that says,

“Mr. Brandon
you ar a good teacher
Pleas come back next year”

You know it’s all worth it.

-Mr. Brandon"

I attached the mentioned note. I think it might be cool to post it on the blog. [notice the coffee stain from aforementioned coffee :-P ]

Summit School and beyond

This post is from third-year cast member, Peter Shanahan. He is pictured here as the maniacal Dr. Disrupto in our web series, The Adventures of the Open Dream Ensemble.



This week we are working at the Summit School in a five-day teaching residency. is turning out to be a real blast. The kids are very eager to learn and we've discovered just how energetic and creative they are! My teaching partner, Brandon Harris, is one of the Open Dream Ensemble's newest cast members and I can't tell you how much I enjoy watching him work with the kids. He is excellent and always seems capable of having more energy than 15 kids combined! Yesterday we played "air guitar" with our Fifth grade class singing a hard-rock tune with the words of "When I Wake Up in Pangea..." Brandon created the tune and was just as capable of getting the kids to learn about and imagine what Pangea was like as he was in exciting them and making them laugh! I'm lucky to be working with such a great actor and teacher.

I'm looking forward to next week's residency at Mineral Springs Elementary and shows throughout the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, but first we have a show coming up on the UNCSA campus at 2:00 PM on Saturday and we'll be filming the show in the afternoon.

I'm very proud to be working with such an excellent group of cast members and teaching artists! And if you haven't already, please check out our webseries: The Adventures of the Open Dream Ensemble!

Tomorrow - FREE performance!!!!!

This post is from the wonderful Sonny Enslen. Pictured here on the right as the "Quarkster" in Open Dream's web series.


Well here we are… a public performance in Raleigh, five school performances, and one week of residencies into the season. After rehearsing, filming, traveling, and all that general mayhem, it is now the time that we get really busy. All matters and the short amount of time considered, things are going quite smoothly.

This week has flown by, but not without first doing another public performance, this time in Winston-Salem. I haven’t performed on the UNCSA campus in 13 years, and here I return with a children’s show. When I finished school here I never imagined that something like this would happen, and it’s very heartening to see the school reaching out to the community at large. For a romping good sci-fi kind of time, come to the show Peril on the Red Planet on 25 September, 2:00pm, at Performance Place on the UNCSA campus.

Flitting across stage,
Fighting for the survival
Of the red planet

Rock - ing

This post is from the lovely and talented Haydee Thompson -- who plays Professor Poople in our new web-series, The Adventures of the Open Dream Ensemble.


So far this has been a whirlwind of a season. The winds really picked up last week as we performed our very first public school performance at Mineral Springs Elementary. I think there were near 400 bright faces there, cheering us along through every scene. I very much look forward to going back to Mineral Springs next week for a 5 day integrated residency.

Speaking of residencies, this year we have been nose down in science books trying to bone up on Birds, Landforms, rocks and minerals, and life cycles. The fun part is creating energizing physical activities that utilize our strengths as artists and personalities.

Everything was going quite well for me until the idea of a "rock dance" came up. In other words, using dance to define the properties of rocks. "Soooooo, you want them to dance like a rock?!", I said. I just couldn't wrap my head around it, I mean how would a rock dance? So then I decided to ask myself the same question but with a different inflection. "How WOULD a rock dance?" I mean, it's not very often we see it happen but rocks are always moving. In one single second there are a thousand/s rocks moving somewhere on earth, right? OPEN THE FLOOD GATES, By George I think she's got it! Rocks Dance!
They crack, they roll and tumble, they erode, melt, spew, rocks can even climb. Truth is, rocks move in endless numbers of ways. Get ready 4th Grade, Its called the "Rock Dance" and its coming to your school. Thank You, I'll be here all week.

ODE on the Road

We've been so busy this past month! We've managed to put up a show, film a web series, and complete teaching artist training.

Tomorrow is the start of the touring season for Open Dream. The cast will perform throughout NC and in the Pasadena area of California. We will also be carrying out a number of arts-integrated residencies. You'll be hearing directly from our great cast on how their season is going starting later this week.

For now, take a look at the first episode of our web series and visit our facebook page!