Calling All Opera Stars!

Sara Litchfield, Opera for All Teaching Artist

Now that our story has been chosen, our scripts are finally completed, & our song is composed and learned, it's time to move onto one of my favorite parts of our program: ACTING!!! 

This week, my students had an opportunity to test out their dramatic skills while considering all of the different ways they can act with our entire bodies. Everyone tends to enjoy this class period because we get to play a lot of awesome theater games like.....

Moving around the space!:

Sounds easy right? Well there's more to it than just walking! As the students are walking, I shout out different prompts like "make a shape", which means strike a pose, "connect", which means connect your shape to someone else's shape and "levels", which means low, middle or high. Once I get their creative juices flowing, I throw in new ideas like,

"Walk around the space as if you're walking outside during a snow storm without a coat on!"

Or

"Walk around like you just won a trip to Disney World!"

While this game is usually super entertaining for me as a teacher, it shows our young thespians just how much they can communicate simply by how they walk.

"Voice, Face, Action!"

In this activity, I hand our brave student volunteers index cards with lines that say things like, "The building is on fire!" or "Someone just stole my lunch."

First they have to read the line like a robot, without any emotion at all. Then, the  ask for suggestions from our classroom audience how our actors can alter just their voices. Next I ask how they can ch age their faces and finally the class gives suggestions for gestures or actions that might complete our performance. Suddenly the line is transformed and by adding these dramatic layers, we end up with some student, directed Oscar-worthy performances! Here's a video of two fabulous 5th graders from Healy playing "Voice, Face Action"

All in all my favorite part of this class period is when one of our very quiet students gets up and knocks my socks off. I constantly have teachers tell me that they were surprised by what their students were capable of!

Opera Mannequins Take Over!!!!!

Matt McNabb, Opera for All Teaching Artist

Renee Fleming, watch out! In what has become a media sensation, students at Healy Elementary and McAuliffe Elementary have been transforming into Opera Star Mannequins!

The only explanation that has been offered is that there has been an overabundance of fun and imagination in the Opera for All classrooms, resulting in this stunning development.

It is reported that these 4th, 5th and 6th grade students have been preparing original scripts for opera performances in May. The casting process is about to begin, and the students are ready to perfect their acting and singing skills.

The excitement generated by the possibilities of being cast in main roles has led to spontaneous opera poses. “I think that the opera world is heading into a revolution.” said opera teaching artist Matt McNabb. “We are going to see Opera Mannequins take over the Met stage!”

Is the world ready for such talent and unbridled performance energy? Will the opera world welcome these new stars with open arms? Only time will tell, but the performances in May are definitely not to be missed!

Welcome to the future of opera! And does it look awesome!

Lights, Camera, Backdrops!

Diana Stoic, Opera for All Teaching Artist

This week Langford Community Academy and Whistler Elementary had the opportunity to meet and work with their guest artist, Luther Lewis.  Not only is he a talented artist, he is also an accomplished tenor. Luther and I sing together every December for Opera Night at the Italian restaurant, Del Rio.  He will also travel at the end of the month to Israel to perform in George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess.  

This week Langford Community Academy and Whistler Elementary had the opportunity to meet and work with their guest artist, Luther Lewis.  Not only is he a talented artist, he is also an accomplished tenor. Luther and I sing together every December for Opera Night at the Italian restaurant, Del Rio.  He will also travel at the end of the month to Israel to perform in George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. 

The students learned how to mix colors and learned different painting techniques to create varied textures on the canvas.

Mr. Lewis sketched the scene for each classroom according to the setting of their show.  Then he outlined the shapes with paint, and with the help of the students, filled in the shapes. 

Langford 6^th grade class back drop before and after day 1.

The students worked very hard on their first art day.  They have one more day to finish up and work on the details. 

 Everyone was all smiles and worked well together to create a beautiful background for their opera.  To quote a line from one of the shows, “teamwork makes the dream work!”

Whistler and Langford put the "Care and Share" in their Winter Showcase Performances.

Diana Stoic, Opera for All Teaching Artist

The reviews are in, and our Opera for All south side schools soared to great heights during their Winter Showcase on Wednesday December 14^th!

The winter showcase was the culmination of the students’ work throughout the school year thus far.

The showcase started off strong with all students singing the theme song, “One World.”  

Whistler Elementary rehearsal of “One World” before the Winter Showcase.

A clip of Langford Community Academy’s performance of “One World.”

A few students shared specific Opera for All experiences:

Brooklynn, a 4^th grade student from Whistler shared her experience about singing along to the Windy City performance.   She poignantly expressed her advice, “Keep calm and sing on because we all shine through in our own special way.”   

Listen to Brooklynn’s entire speech below:

The performance also included sneak peaks of each class’s opera synopsis and class songs, which they worked on with the guest composer.  The students ended their show with an all school sing- along to Jingle Bells.

The day after the performance, Whistler student, Kaytlin, reflected on how her class used cooperation to make their performance successful.

I can’t believe how quickly this school year is progressing.  I would like to recognize and thank the amazing teachers and principals that I‘ve had the opportunity to work with.  They have enthusiastically welcomed the Opera for All program into their schools.   We are also very grateful to have had our guest composers accompany the showcase.  The student’s loved getting the chance to see and work with them again. 

I wish everyone a happy holiday season and look forward to getting back to work in January.

Langford Community Academy’s practice warm-up of Jingle Bells:

"Omigod!"

Caryn Ott-Hillman, Teen Director, COT for Teens

  This is the first song of the show LEGALLY BLONDE and I think it sums up this semester for Chicago Opera Theater @ Senn.  There were so many great things that occurred that helped this program continue to grow since starting this past summer.

   First off, I have never had so many students audition for this ASM's Chicago Opera Theater for Teens before.  Being that Senn is a Performing Arts School without a Musical Theater program, there are a plethora of students just chumping at the bit to get a chance to do musical.   With that, Dan Riley and I gathered the cream of the crop of students to put together the show LEGALLY BLONDE.  This show is a surprise favorite among young people now a days.  It is an empowering, self-discovery story decorated with a lot of pink fluff and sparkles.  

   The music is surprisingly challenging because of its contemporary sound and rhythm...but that did not stop Mr. Riley from pushing these teens.  Our cast totally stepped up to the plate and buckled down - I was so proud of them.

     For the dancing, I had a blast choreographing some hip hop moves to live up to all the high-energy music of the show.  The teens loved it the most when I asked them to slide on the floor in the song “So Much Better.” 

              

   This semester, we also collaborated with 2 other ASM programs.  The Sceneographers helped create our set back drops and Sullivan’s Improv performed with us when we went to their school to put on our show.  It is really a big eye-opening for our teens to see how other ASM classes function.  Plus, they can all appreciate other teens’ efforts in other areas.  I was so thankful to have our ASM program specialist – Sterling Goodrich – connect us with these other programs!

   It was such a fun show and the best, as always, is how they all come together in the last week or so because their focus is real.  They bond over the scary excitement of performing!  We are so lucky that we end each semester with the teens coming together as a unit - being proud of all their hard work!