Thanks

Hi Adam and Robbie,
We had a blast on Wed. the kids loved to perform and it was good to see what we also needed to work on, but the kids did a great job over all! Just wanted to say thank you soooooooooo much, and have a wonderful summer Robbie, Adam we'll see you for the grand finallieeeeeeeee.

Final run through

Hi Adam and Robbie,

We have been busy practising the script with the inclusion of costumes. It has been a bit tricky trying to switch costumes after each Act with minimal distraction and time. Hopefully all will go well on Wednesday. See you.

Hilda

Egyptian Performance and Lunch

Hi Adam - Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow. If you could join us on June 18th for our "el grande" school performance that would be great!!!!!! We'll chat tomorrow.
Thanks Lynda

Hi to All!

Just a quick note...I am free after the 17th of June and before the 3rd, if you'd like me to come and partake in your Egyptian brunch and peformance of the operas...let me know if there's a date that works best.

I'm looking forward to our run-throughs/workshop performances tomorrow. It has all been sounding great, and I'm sure your comstumes, props, and set are at an equally high level as your music and acting!

Cheers,

Adam

Final day next week

Robbie,
Thanks for providing me with a breakdown of the day of the program.

Note to all: There certainly doesn't have to be a final performance in the 8th week as sometimes schools would like to present their final products at a later date or combine the final presentation with an arts night, a night for parents, etc. It is out of habit that I refer to it as the "final performance day", not out of expectation.

I'm very much looking forward to hearing the operas next week.

Katherine

Session #7

Great work yesterday team!

The operas are shaping up and your hard work and energy is paying off!

It has now been decided by the teachers that next week’s presentation will be a ‘workshop presentation’ with aims of a larger presentation in mid to late June.

The altered schedule for next week is:

Group one: Rehearse 9-9:40
Perform 9:40 -10:00

Group two: Rehearse 10:15-10:55
Perform 10:55-11:15

Group three: Rehearse 12:45-1:25
Perform 1:25-1:45

*I inserted a break for Adam and I. I think this still gives you enough room to eat before the music festival!

Just a reminder:
*Please try and rehearse the operas on their feet ONCE everyday.
*Please encourage the students to sing and speak towards the audience.
*Try and use some props and costume pieces this week.

Can’t wait for next week! Best, Robbie :)

Final performance

Dear all,
I have been checking in on your blog and I'd love to be able to see your hard work in practice.

Is the culminating performance still happening next Wednesday, May 20? If yes, what is the schedule for the day? Are you having rehearsals in the morning? What time is the final performance? Who has been invited to see the operas (which grades? parents?).

I'd like to block off my schedule from any meetings so that I may attend the performance.

Katherine

design day

It was quite a whirlwind on design day. The students worked to complete the costume elements but were unable to finish. We are still working on them and hope to have them finished today (as well as Mother's Day gifts!)Thanks to Andy for introducing the kids to the busy and creative world of costume design.

Regarding the script, we have staged Act III and did 2 complete run throughs of the entire script. I have given students a revised script with their names included for their parts. They have been instructed to memorize their lines for next week.

We look forward to seeing Robie and Adam on Wednesday.

Designs with Andy!

What a day......full of excitment! Our class got a lot accomplished, but we still need another day to finish the props, which will reflect the students hard work with the opera scripts.
Today, we prepared for Andy by getting together art supplies. We divided into five groups working on the shields a group of 12, Crook, map, amulets, and a oar. Students were divided into five groups. This students were engaged and were working well on designing the props. Now we need to memorized our lines for the opera and practice singing! Looking forward to next week....

Design Day!

Wow! I thought we did a lot when Robbie and Adam came but design day was quite another story. I really did not expect to complete the props in the 40 minutes we had with Andy. As a result, we still have a lot to complete. My suggestion would be that the designer comes to each class for AT LEAST a half day. But anyway, I have confidence that they will turn out great. Today, we prepared for the artist by getting together the suggested art supplies. We divided into three groups to work on the pyramid, Nile river and Rosetta Stone back drops. We hope to have them completed before next week. We are also working towards having our lines memorized and Act 3 blocked. It was interesting to hear about different designs and how they are created at the theatre level. We would have preferred to have a lot more time. The class worked very well cooperating with each other while working in their groups. Looking forward to next Wednesday!

Design Day

Congratulations to all of you for your hard work and participation in todays design workshops!

In a little under an hour all 3 classes managed to pull off nearly all of the work - thanks to the high level of cooperation from the students, the prep work and coordination of the teachers Lynda, Hilda and Archana, as well as the support from Mary!!  I know that the time goes by way too fast, and much like the prop and costume departments in the theatre it seems like chaos in the heat of it. However, the end result is that the students have an opportunity to experience the building process, to learn about design and to work together as a team.  I think that in this regard the outcome was a success!

Below is an outline (for Robbie and Adam especially) to show you what we accomplished in each of the classes, and the characters that require the particular props/costumes. 

CLASS #1 - COSTUMES 

(some characters have more then one costume piece & may also be carrying a prop).

TOOLBELTS - LONG (x8)

Egyptian Villagers

Bird Netter / Marsh Man / Traders

Nubian Army / Soldiers / Head of Army

Nubian Local

Sailor

Stone

Toolbelts - SHORT (x8)

Slaves

Grave Robbers

Pyramid Builders

EGYPTIAN COLLAR (x5) 

Nubian Leader

Scribes

Queens / Kings

Amun - Sun God

Pharoah

HEADDRESS (x4)

Queen / Kings

Amun

Pharoah

CLASS #2 - SETS

Pyramid Backdrop (still needs final touches and painting)

Nile River (to be hung up along side of or near the pyramid)

Rosetta Stone (needs Hieroglyphics cut out and glued on)

CLASS #3 - PROPS

SHIELDS (x12)

Soldiers / Army Leaders 

CROOK

Pharoah (cane)

MAP (can be subdivided into sections)

AMULETS (x6)

OAR (needs paddle stick still)

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR HARD WORK!  Please let me know if you have any questions before the performance in regard to design.

Andy

class schedule

Hi Andy,

The schedule for tomorrow is:
9:30 - 10:30 Ms. Bynoe-Walker (Hilda)
10:45 - 11:45 Ms. Taylor (Lynda)
12:45 - 1:45 Ms. Gor (Archana)

See you tomorrow!
Hilda

DESIGN DAY

Thanks much for your post.

I will come early tomorrow to help set-up the first class (9:00a.m.).  I'm not sure what the order of the sessions will be, but if you get this post before tomorrow - just post the order on the blog.

In terms of set-up in the classrooms.  For Taylor's class we can push all the desks off to the side so that we can work on the backdrops in the centre of the room.  We will be working on a giant pyramid, the Nile river, and the Rosetta Stone.

For Hilda and Archana's classes having all the desks grouped into 4 or 5 stations, or areas that the students can work around would work best.  

I think that's it!

See you all tomorrow.

Andy.

Andy's Visit Tomorrow

Answers to your questions - We don't have the sheets but we did manage to purchase 12 white t-shirts for $2.00 each. We are encouraging the kids to buy one. We do have some white fabric, perhaps for the king and queen. We have a cane, 6 glue guns and we will buy the glue tonight. We have some fabric swatches but if you could bring some that would be great. We have brown butcher paper, some cardboard boxes, yellow bristol board, construction paper, markers, glue, staplers, staples, paper, pencils, popsicle sticks. E3 (Taylor) will do the back drops in the class. Hilda's class will do the costume elements and Archana will do the props. We have other supplies in the classes that we could use if we need to. Will you be coming early to set up the classrooms? Is there something we can do ahead of time? We are looking forward to your visit. See you tomorrow!
Lynda

Wednesday, April 29th. and Sat. May 2nd.

Good Morning
It still amazes me how far we have come in such a short span of time. Anyway, here we go. Today we prepared for Robbie and Adam by practising our songs and trying to memorize them. In our session today, we ran through our songs and completed blocking Act 2. This week we are working on memorizing songs, lines and blocking Act 3. We are also preparing for Andy to come. I hope that we are able to gather enough materials. Our favourite part was when we were able to run through all of Act 1 and 2. The kids are really seeing the story unfold. As some kids were away on a tournament, we found it somewhat difficult but some other students filled in without too much of a problem. Wow!!!! What a great experience the opera was. The kids dressed up like I have never seen them before. Just the fact that we were downtown on a Saturday night at the Opera House was enough for them. I was a little worried when the opera began as to whether they would be able to sit quietly for 3 hours, but they did beautifully. One of the ushers commented how well behaved they were and even asked if they were gifted. I wonder why he asked that. They thought it was funny, enjoyed the set on stage and clapped and cheered loudly when it was finished. They got the overall idea of the story and I couldn't have been happier with the evening. Thanks Zoe!! We won't forget it!

Design Day Prep.

Thanks for the updates!  Just a few more questions to sort out the design day sessions.

1. Do you have all of those white sheets that you would like to use? If not, I would suggest we ask the students to wear oversized t-shirts and then we can tie rope or belt them.  But if you have the sheets GREAT!  

2. Can you find a bamboo stick or cane so that we can create the Pharaoh's flail?

3. If all of the students are sharing costumes, how would you feel, as the teachers about having me  break the classes into groups based on props / costumes / and backdrop?  I think that we can accomplish most of your design needs if I am able to focus each classroom.  So, in other words:

- one class will do all the costume elements (headresses, large colorful collars, & tool belts)

- 2nd class will do all the props (map, amulets, jewels, boats, school bus, rosetta stone)

- 3rd class will do the backdrops (pyramids, sand, nile river, tomb, chamber).

If you are comfortable dividing the work in this way, just let me know, and which class would like which job - and then I can follow-up with a more specific materials list for each of your classrooms.

Thanks so much with your help preparing!

Andy Miller

Wed. designs time

Hi Andy,
We have pretty much everything on that list. What we have in mind was customes that our characters will be wearing for the opera. All three classes will be able to use them. This is what we have discussed:
lots of white sheets (long and short lenghts), flail for the pharaoh, headress, large colourful collar,tool belt, map, amulets, flashlight, oar, bird, long papyrus reeds, spears, sheild, burlap bags, jewels, boat and school bus made out of cardboard, and a Rosetta stone.

A common back drop that all of our classes can use is going to consist of pyramids, sand, nile river, a tomb and chamber.

Hope this helps to prepare for Wednesday. Thank you!

Lynda, Hilda & Archana

DESIGN DAY

Hello All,

I have been having a lot of fun reading entries and keeping up with your synopses as they unfold on the blog!  As you know I will be joining you on Wednesday May 6, where we will build on your opera's and develop the characters through the use of design.  Likely we will have each participant working on a costume element and may have time to also incorporate some key props as well as a set piece.  Just a few notes and questions in advance:

1. Please see below for the list of required materials.  Let me know by Monday p.m. if there is anything in this list that your classes are not able to pull-together.  I'm happy to bring whatever you don't have.

2. Wondering as well if our sessions will be in each individual class or in a common space, such as they gym?  If I am moving from class to class it would be great if the materials could be set-up at a table in each classroom in advance.

3. I would love to hear if there are any ideas out there with regard to design and how you visualize your costumes, sets and props!  Also wondering if anyone has done any research on common symbols from this time period?  I will bring lots of images in, but if some work has been done on this already the students can bring that in as well (on paper or in their heads).

Looking forward to Wednesday!  See you all soon.

Andy

MATERIALS LIST

Roll of brown paper

fabric swatches (any color, style, or size will do)

hot glue gun

hot glue sticks

cardboard (box board is fine)

white glue (popsicle sticks, and glue containers too)

staplers (lots is always good)

staples

scissors (again lots is great!)

construction paper (mix of colors - extra yellow)

bristol board (mix of colors - extra yellow)

paper and pencils

markers

Andy Miller graduated with honors from the Industrial Design Degree Program at Humber College. She also holds a BA in Sociology & Social Anthropology from Dalhousie University. To combine her skills Andy works as an independent designer focusing on education and guiding others to generate creative ideas. Awarded 1st place in the 2006 Rocket Show in her category for Playground Design, Andy went on to Coordinate and run the Rocket Show design competition the following year.

Her career has taken her from NYC, Pollen Design Studio, to The Toronto Island, Shadowland Theatre to northern Ontario where she worked as part of the Fall Festival of Learning. She has created and facilitated product design, puppet building, collaborative design, stage make up, set design to name but a few. Andy's product and graphic work includes designing for Yotrio International LLC, Safety Frameworks Company, Simple Ergonomics, Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of Canada, and TOFI Toronto Office Furniture Inc.

Andy's work for The Canadian Opera Company includes instructing design workshops for the After School Opera Program, Create-An-Opera Program, as well as the Summer Opera Camp.