Having Fun

This post is from Open Dream Ensemble Artistic Producer and General Manager, Rebecca Nussbaum. 

Recently I was asked to compare the current Open Dreamers to casts from past seasons.  While there are some obvious answers, the one that seems to most shape how well they work as a team and respond to each other is this: they have fun. 

Take a look at the photos from yesterday afternoon's preshow and you'll see what I mean....

Gratitude

This post is from Open Dream Ensemble General Manager and Artistic Producer, Rebecca Nussbaum.

Open Dream Ensemble is now in its ninth season! When I reflect back on the years of productions, performances, residencies, and web series, I am filled with gratitude. I am thankful to the cast members, the creative teams, the writers and the directors. I am thankful to the Kenan Institute for the Arts for its ongoing help and to UNCSA for the talent it develops. I am thankful to the arts organizations that book Open Dream and the schools that host us.

 By the numbers alone, Open Dream has now completed its 36th school residency (with over 2500 individual classes instructed), and has performed 450 times for approximately 180,000 youth in 40 North Carolina Counties. The talents and dedication from the 46 cast members over these years has been inspiring and has brought joy, wonder, and original musical theater across North Carolina.

With three weeks remaining in this season, the Open Dream cast is currently performing in Virginia.  This cast of eight has committed to the work of Open Dream with open heart and minds. They have stretched themselves to perform at their best on stage and in the classroom. And to them, I am thankful.

Between Confucius and Cotton Stands the Land of the Teaching Artist

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

As Open Dream Ensemble heads out to its third residency of the season, I am reminded of this quote attributed to Confucius: “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” In the past weeks the Open Dream artists have made the transition from performers to teaching artists. They have entered classrooms and coaxed the students into caves, caverns, and canyons. They have hiked up mountains to experience volcanoes, earthquakes, and landslides. They have explored valleys, ecosystems, and food chains. They have dived into oceans, rivers, lakes, ponds, and more – all through the performing arts. The purpose of integrating the arts into the science standards is to have the students experience what the standards mean through being on, in, at, under, around, between and betwixt the many aspects of natural science they are mandated to learn. Drama and music are used to tell the story of a volcanic eruption preceded by an earthquake and landslide. Vocal techniques are used to examine how various landforms toss sound around. Dancing is used as a tool to better understand how the producer, consumer, and decomposer flow together. And the hope for the learner is, “I do and I understand.” One can read through the blog posts of the Open Dream cast to see that the experience of teaching artistry is one that requires a great deal of thought, preparation, and learning. One of the wonderful attributes of being an Open Dream artist is the desire to continue to improve, learn, experience, and take on challenges. This season’s deeply talented cast of eight are exceptional artists with an incredible array of talents and skills. They are blessed with alacritous minds and generous spirits. But mostly, they have the drive to keep learning, and thus teaching. After all…. "Who dares to teach must never cease to learn." ~John Cotton Dana

Looking Both Backward and Forward

This post is from our fantastic singing/dancing/bassguitarmandolin-playing Cobbler, William vonReichbauer. He is pictured here as a teaching artist during one of our residencies last season.


It seems as though the premiere of Big Shoes was only yesterday and we are already three days into our week of teaching artist training. It has been a very productive week, thus far and it is always a joy working with Rebecca, our fearless leader and guide into the magical world of teaching artistry. I am very excited to be teaching partners with Big Shoes playwright and word-ninja, Michaela.

The premiere of Big Shoes went smashingly. We had an amazing audience and I was deeply moved and humbled by the response we received. However, with the launch of the show, we had to say goodbye to our wonderful Director, Beth, and our amazing Stage Manager, Lindsey, both of whom are deeply missed. Also, goodbye and a very special "thank you" to our gracious hosts at the Steven's Center, where we rehearsed for the past four weeks. But although we have to say goodbye to some, we are looking forward to hitting the road and meeting the thousands of students across North Carolina and Virginia who we will reach through this amazing work.

Awesome Enterprise

This post is from the beneficent Beth Bostic. All last month, Beth spent most of her waking hours in the Stevens Center basement directing the cast in preparation for the debut of Big Shoes. She is pictured here leading the cast in a movement exercise.

While giving my house a long over-due vacuuming this morning, I finally had a chance to reflect on this Bold Adventure, this Awesome Enterprise that is "The Big Shoes" and the Open Dream Ensemble.

The mission of O.D.E. is, as I understand it to bring a theatrical experience incorporating as many disciplines as possible and of the highest esthetic quality to children in a school setting and to offer a classroom experience with the artists integrating active learning of actual curriculum topics.

Knowing the cast, as I now do, I can't imagine a better ensemble to fulfill this mission.
I have been continually over whelmed with their talent and courage in trying and succeeding beyond the boundaries of their comfort zones. And I have observed that each has a definite gift for teaching. In order to create the show, they have had to teach each other new skills.

We all know the old saw, "those that can do..."etc., but in the Performing Arts it's a little different; those that can also teach. A life in the Performing Arts is continual teaching and learning. It is one of the last bastions of the Master/Apprentice learning mode - to reach excellence there is no other way to learn it.

Directing "Big Shoes" has been such a joy. Working with this extraordinary cast, - I hope you know I love you all madly - and the wonderful folks at the Kenan Institute, has been a true high point in my artistic life. But a special and specially loud shout out has to go to Rebecca Nussbaum whose passion and dedication are remarkable and who holds the vision that is the Open Dream Ensemble.

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!