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!

Vlog-Blog

Super fun VLOG from Marissa and William!

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.

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.

"Wickedly Talented"

This post is from the wonderful William vonReichbauer. Not only does William play two roles in the new Open Dream production of Big Shoes, he also runs the sound equipment, plays upright bass, guitar, mandolin, and dances. He is shown here playing his upright bass.


We are now a day into our second week of rehearsals for Open Dream Ensemble's season 8 (!) production of Big Shoes. We have an absolutely amazing cast and crew, this year! Everyone involved is wickedly talented and has brought a ferocious enthusiasm towards bringing this show to life. I count myself very fortunate to be working so closely with such an incredible group of artists.

Julianne mentioned it in her post, but it bears repeating; the sets and costumes are absolutely stunning. Not only that, but they are lightweight and compact, which will make loading and unloading the truck twice per day a little easier, this season.

Speaking of Julianne, she is our choreographer, this year, and it has been very exciting learning to tap from her! I even get to go up against her in a mini tap battle in the show. If you've ever seen Julianne tap, you know I have my work cut out for me. Fortunately for me, I don't have to win.

I can hardly wait to get this show in front of audiences; I think it's really going to blow people away!

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.

Full Throttle

This post is from our heavy-metal man, William vonReichbauer!



Our performance piece, "Peril on the Red Planet," explores some pretty heavy issues, including personal sacrifice, loss, perseverance in the face of adversity and even death (though not directly) and includes lots of loud, often scary sounds and sound effects as well as intense combat sequences. If we are performing for very young children, i.e. kindergarten and first grade, we typically tone certain elements of the show down so as not to frighten the audience. We also usually do a small "show and tell" before the show to introduce some of the louder and scarier sounds. Many of us take turns playing some of the musical instruments used in the show. We also wheel out the large gathering drum and let the kids have a go at banging on it for a little while. Occasionally, I will play a few of the more frightening sound effects for the children while one of my fellow cast members explains to them that the homicidal robot in the show, Zartok 3, is actually not real but is merely a set of sounds on my laptop. (The first time we did this little demo, though, we had three kids wailing in abject terror within two seconds of me hitting the play button. Oops.)

This afternoon, however, we gave our second performance of the season for a group of middle school students. Interestingly, "Peril on the Red Planet" was originally conceived for a middle school audience. It probably goes without saying that middle schoolers are very different from Elementary students: middle school students think they've seen it all, they're beginning to get a little cynical and a little jaded, and they're starting to think that they're too cool for school. This, of course, provides a wonderful opportunity for us to really open up the throttle and see what this show can do.

Today brought us to the Clarkton School of Discovery in eastern North Carolina's sandhills region. We performed on a beautiful stage with a nice set of stage lights (it's always a treat to perform under something other than gymnasium fluorescents) in the school's media center. As soon as we walked on stage in our shiny silver jackets, we could hear derisive chuckles rippling through the audience. Game on. From the show's opening heavy metal guitar riff to the wicked staff fight between Diana and Demeter to the epic final battle with Zartok 3, the whole show was as intense and as ferocious as we have ever performed it. Every catcall or inappropriate laugh from the audience pushed us to raise the intensity of the show even further. Ultimately, we received a great response from the audience who could scarcely contain a thunderous round of applause at the end of the show.

The Kinder in Kindergarten

This post is from the thought-filled William vonReichbauer. William is pictured here in his role as a teaching artist with Open Dream.

We are in our second week of our third and final two-week residency of the 2011 season at Sandhills Theatre Arts Renaissance School in Vass, NC. For the first time this season, my teaching artist partners, Danielle and Adrian, and I have been working with a class of Kindergarteners. A what a fun time it has been!

Kindergarten was developed in the early 19th Century (the term, meaning "children's garden," was coined in 1840) by Friedrich Fröbel for his educational institution for young children he founded in Bad Blankenburg in present-day Germany. Much like the Open Dream Ensemble, Fröbel recognized the importance of play in children's learning. The first kindergarten included singing, dancing, gardening, and self-directed play.

While we haven't been doing anything in the way of gardening, we have certainly had our fair share of playing, singing, and dancing. And we've been learning a lot in the process. Over the past week and a half we have covered comparing relative positions of various objects, exploring different ways that objects and organisms move, and comparing characteristics of living and nonliving things. The arts have really proven to be an excellent vehicle for teaching these topics.