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.

No, really. . . I'm in a play!

This post is from a fellow who is willing to take on new challenges and succeed, Cameron MacManus. Cameron is pictured here as Gordy with the Triplets Ish in our new production, Big Shoes.



Whew! It has been a crazy journey putting “Big Shoes” on its feet . . . and three sizes of big shoes on mine. Yesterday, we ran the complete show three times and it’s feeling better and better to be Gordy. I had no acting experience when I auditioned for the Open Dream Ensemble - just the willingness to dive in and explore new things. Our amazing director, manager, composers, and set designers had done so much work to make Michaela Morton’s wonderfully imaginative script jump to life by the start of rehearsals that it was a little nerve-racking to step into those shoes and stumble my way into their world. There was no need to worry. Everyone involved is as encouraging as they are fantastically talented. Playing Gordy these last three and half weeks (a character whose life frustrations are all-too-comparable to my own middle school experience) and working alongside all these great artist-teachers has been inspiring and thought-provoking. This fall is going to be awesome! I can’t wait to share this show and its message on the stage and in the classroom, and grow more and more into these Big Shoes!