A Voice From The Voiceless

This post is from Michaela Morton. In addition to playing a number of roles in Open Dream's Big Shoes, Michaela wrote the script!

I'm informed that our ensemble is historically unfortunate: in one week, two triplets struck voiceless and a third castmate compromised by flu. Dare I mention that this same week, Carmen opened downtown (featuring Ted, that same flu-bitten baritone), and our schedule was made up of straight two-a-days? But If we're historically unfortunate, we're also hysterically brave. After two days of cancellations, enough was enough. We marched over to the High Point theater. We warmed up what was left of our voices. And we lip-synced. Julianne and Haydee masterfully covered for Deepish and Weepish (they covered for just about every one of my roles, actually). I gulped down applesauce. The next day, with Ted sleeping away his sickness, William played every singing male, belting out 3/4 of the shows' musical numbers. Marine lifted everything while I watched in nausea. And Friday it was me who capitulated, spending the morning at PrimeCare while Julianne picked up my purple leotard and middle harmony. If I thought Open Dream was a good team before, I'm awed now. Plus, the disaster showed me how flexible Big Shoes is as a show. Though not every compromise was ideal, BS survived without becoming ... BS-y. And this week, as the wind picks up all along the East Coast, we're hollering above it -- with lungs refreshed!

Warm receptions

This post is from the outrageously talented William vonReichbauer, pictured here in his role as the Cobbler in Big Shoes!

October has been a very busy time for the Open Dream Ensemble. We have performed for a couple thousand elementary school children, conducted residencies at Meadowlark Elementary in Winston-Salem and University Park Creative Arts Elementary school in Charlotte, and have begun rehearsals for a special upcoming performance with the Winston-Salem Symphony in November. One of the most powerful experiences of the past few weeks, though, was a performance for students at Carter High School in Winston-Salem. Carter High School serves a student body with special needs and places an emphasis on preparing these students for life after high school. Although we did not have the opportunity to work with any of these students in the classroom, it was apparent from the stage that the range of special needs among these students is vast. Many students were in wheelchairs; some appeared catatonic, several wore bibs, some displayed severe physical deformities, while others did not appear to display any physical symptoms of their special needs. We did know, however, that each of them lives with a unique set of obstacles to getting through every day that most of us will never have to face. Prior to the show, we worried that some students would be particularly sensitive to loud sounds so we brought down the overall volume level of the show. However, we quickly realized that we would have to bring the volume up a considerable amount to be heard at all. Throughout the performance, we were greeted with a steady stream of vocal outbursts from the audience; sometimes in response to the action on the stage, many times not. At one point early in the first scene, I exchanged a glance with a fellow cast member: "how in the world are we going to get through this?" It was just so loud. And unrelenting. As the show progressed, though, we found it easier and easier to perform amidst the constant din from the audience; their genuine enthusiasm fueling us to give a bigger and bolder performance. All of the musical numbers ended to thunderous applause (one student in particular couldn't resist jumping up and dancing during every song) and the show concluded with one of the warmest receptions we have received, thus far. Being a performer involves outputting your skills and energy. Thank you, students of Carter High School, for inputting so much energy into your reception of our performance.

Residency Work(s)

This post is from Open Dream Ensemble General Manager and Artistic Producer, Rebecca Nussbaum. Today marks the final day of Open Dream Ensemble residency work this season. At first glance it seems like an impossible mission: artists, Essential Standards, 20+ children in a classroom, arts activities. Each year we take artists, give them a week of training, a teaching artist partner, and a charge to bring the performing arts into the classroom through science standards. Artists are used to being diligent, patient, and creative. They are used to using their brains, bodies and reflexes to create and interpret art. They are generally NOT used to ingesting elementary science standards, teaching classrooms full of children, and writing out lesson plans. But year after year I have found that most artists are intrinsically good teachers. They enjoy the challenge of creating something that combines seemingly disparate fields. They enjoy getting children on their feet and bringing them into the wonderful realm when science, music, drama, dance, and imagination live. This has been a wonderful year to watch the Open Dream Ensemble artists develop in the classroom. From the opening day of teaching artist training to the tentative first moments running a class to where they currently are, 234 classes completed – capable, gifted, creative teaching artists. The returning cast has deepened their practice; the new cast has developed some impressive chops. Kudos to all of them and my thanks to each of them for being such curious, creative, and compassionate people!

Open Dream Gets SYMPHONICIZED!

This post is from multi-talented Marissa. She sings, she dances, she acts, and she plays clarinet! Peter and the Wolf in the making! Prokofiev scored a timeless box office hit, and it is undoubtedly one of my favorites in classical music literature. We get to perform it with the Winston Salem Symphony on November 11th for a kids concert. This is the first time I'll be performing with an orchestra where I'm not in the clarinet section. So instead of playing that killer cadenza with the clarinet as the cat running up the tree, I'll be running and jumping around on stage as the bird with giant wings and lots of facepaint. Julianne has done a fantastic job choreographing the piece in a very short amount of time, and it's a riot to see all the members of the ensemble find their characters. Haydee plays an endearing and extraordinarily convincing Peter. From a distance, you would never know she wasn't playful and

mischievous young boy innocently up to trouble in the meadow. In addition to Peter and the Wolf, there are 4 more pieces on the program... The Headless Horseman, In the Hall of the Mountain King, Goldilocks, and Aladdin (where I make a brief Bellydance appearance shimmying from one side of the stage to the other). It's going to be a ridiculously fun concert, and I'm telling every parent I know to bring their kids to Reynolds Auditorium on November 11th. It's Sunday at 3pm. If you're free, BE THERE.

Every Day a New Adventure

This post is from the fantastic Mr. Cameron. He is pictured here as Gordy in Big Shoes.

I can’t believe that this year’s “Big Shoes” experience is more than half way over. It has flown by so fast. Instead of griping about the heat during endless load-ins and outs I gripe about the early morning chill. We have now performed “Big Shoes” for thousands of spellbound students and shepherded them along their own imaginary adventures in the classroom. I am getting better conveying Gordy’s emotional life on stage and gauging what needs to happen in the classroom. Still, every day holds surprises: an unanticipated reaction, or an improvised moment on stage and in the classroom that keeps me on my toes. The Open Dream Ensemble cast has also started rehearsing for a performance of Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf” with the Winston-Salem Symphony Orchestra. Our choreographer Julianne Harper cast me as one of the hunters. Sweet! My trombone serves as my rifle and I wield it with a great measure of pride as well as comic ineptitude. Outside of the Open Dream Ensemble I continue to work on my music. I’m getting involved with some regional swing to salsa groups and having a great time trying to gain some degree of proficiency on the tenor saxophone . . . every day a new adventure.

Packing in lots!

This post is from lovely Marine Madesclaire pictured center in the photo! (I hope her Maman reads it....)

Phew! It's been an amazing, albeit exhausting, week or so. We've moved on from three-five day residencies to two-show-a-day touring. An entirely different beast to master, and just after I'd gotten used to residencies. Early morning call times, cold weather and heavy scenery aside it's been a blast getting into the true swing of things. Un-loading and loading the show twice a day has gone from tentative and lengthy to the well oiled machine it is now. I know exactly what I need to do, and the best way to do them. I've even mostly memorized the packing order for the Ryder van. Trees, house, table, floor, leg stands, soundbox,pink then blue trunks, boxes without stuff, JBL, monitors, big mamma, poles and stands, shoe box, bench, costumes, bass case, sandbags. Everything else. Thankfully I didn't have to figure that particular puzzle out, that was Mister William and Mister Cameron's job. Technical stuff aside I've settled into the play much more comfortably. Weepish has slowly but surely started moving from a place entirely made from her name, to a character who's highly and extremely emotional. Able to change moods on the drop of a pin, and yet (hopefully) never false in her emotions. I'm still working on that last part, as an actress my heart dropped when I read the part; the one thing I cannot seem to do is cry onstage, but I no longer feel as if the character is silly. My school-girl and her twin Seth are working on a possible video blog, have an amazing secret handshake, matching glasses and alter egos. And of course I'm having a blast as Wanda, the mandolin playing daughter of the Cobbler. She's a little on the simpler side than her sisters Darlene and Sharlene. No word from Pa as to why Ma didn't call her Warlene. Finally I've been able to spend a little quality alone time with William's mandolin (it's been put into my care for the duration of this season) and after being taught a folk song I've ventured out and started learning some new songs. Which means, Maman, I'll be wanting a mandolin under the Christmas tree in December....

I'm Peter

This post is from the fantastically versatile Haydee Thompson, pictured here as a pirate in Open Dream Ensemble's The Amazing Adventure of Anna Marie.

I'm PETER!!! In Peter and the Wolf with the W-S Symphony. Started rehearsal today. Pinching myself truly! This will be the largest band I have ever fronted. I was asked today if I have ever before played a "pants role". I have. I've professionally played a pirate and once, when I was 16, the Santa on the Hershey Park Trolley fell sick and I was, somehow, the most qualified around to cover his shift. I also played a bearded woman, but that really doesn't count. This role is less a "pants" challenge then an "age' challenge. Peter is a young boy and I'm playing him @ 7yrs. It is indescribable the magic that happens when you can dismiss the weight and worry of being an adult and, as your profession, get paid for the opportunity to escape into a child's brain and body. I have spent the past six years teaching and studying "a many hundred" kids while coasting upon, as well as directing, their worlds of imagination and wonder. Peter is a dream role and I hope an homage to all of them.

Groundlings Are Good For You

This post comes from our bass-playing, play-writing, swing-dancing, Deepish, Michaela Morton. She is pictured here on the right.

In just under a month on the road with Open Dream, I've found that each auditorium, gym, and cafeteria has its own character -- especially when filled with 80-350 elementary school characters! We've performed for kids who live and breathe the arts, who walk in hallways hung with crafts and anticipate our answers to questions about theater history and music terminology. We've also performed for kids who may call Big Shoes "a great movie," and who'll definitely admit that this show is the first "play" they've ever seen. Lately, I've been relishing the responses of kids who know assembly-room etiquette, but haven't been taught a rigid code of theater do's and don't's. They cheer -- loudly -- for the stuff they dig. They laugh uproariously at strange moments. They clap along. They stand to see. They take off their shoes and wave them around during curtain call. They shout encouragements to the actors: "You're doing great!". Sometimes they even pee on the floor, but I don't think that's a referendum on our show. They are a rowdy bunch of groundlings. Shakespeare would've loved them, and I do, too. I'm especially pleased because of what all this means: these kids think Big Shoes is for them. So all in all, we know they've got the right idea.

Heavy Lifting!

This post is from Open Dream Ensemble GM and Artist Producer, Rebecca Nussbaum. Today she got to watch a performance of Big Shoes and witness the cast load the set in the rain!

The Open Dream Ensemble cast was hard at work in classrooms across North Carolina last month. During the past three weeks they created and taught a total of 167 classes. This week, they will load-in, perform, and load-out a total of 10 times. As anyone who has seen Open Dream in action can attest, this is a talented and hard-working group of people. Not only does the cast perform and teach, they also do the load-in, set-up, tear-down and load-out for each performance. And with a full set, sound equipment, props, and costumes, that is some heavy lifting. Thankfully, they bear their load with humor, grace, and more than a little muscle.