Opera for five-seven year olds

Author: Isabella Tapia

A week before Halloween, my Arts Integration team at Moore Elementary school performed an "operatic" version of the children's book "Room on the Broom" by Julia Donaldson. I was tasked as "The Everything Manager"- a title very fitting given because of my experience as a stage manager.

We had two matinee performances, the first filled with kindergartners, the second filled with first graders. The performance took place in Moore's Media Center, and my job was to find a way to transform the space into a suitable performance place. I used a white board to create a curtain leg that hid the backstage area from where all the actors would enter. I decided that the big alphabet rug would be where our audience of students would sit. We had a very short blocking rehearsal before the performance began.

To start the performance, fellow ArtistCorps member Carson Weddle did an expressive reading of the story (which was fantastic, by the way). Following that, the characters and story were brought to life through music and action.

We didn't know what to expect when we performed it - many of the ArtistCorps members are not actors or singers - but by the end of it, we were having a blast. A number of children came up to members after to say how much they loved their character. William Brickhouse as the "Dragon" was a showstopper, and Rohit Lila Ram as the "Dog" got kids coming up to him saying "I have a puppy too!" (A common occurrence where the students love to tell us a story about their life that has nothing to do with our lesson, but we listen and respond with excitement anyway).

These performances were certainly a memorable experience, and I learned a little about how to deal with time constraints and challenging performance places that I can certainly apply to my job as a stage manager. It's a moment that I'll always remember as I continue my service with ArtistCorps.