Up, up and away!

Feel like flying!

Flying high!

More trusting - Exercise "The Lift"

More amoeba

Performers create trust - Amoeba Exercise

E.A.G. Composers

Company Set Designers

Public Relations Team

Company carpenters

Me and our Historian

Production Process Begins

Hi, I'm Patrick, Production Manager of "Extremely Amazing Gang Kids Opera Company". We're also known as E.A.G. Kids Opera Company or just E.A.G.. This past week we were assigned our job positions. That's the day I discovered I was a Production Manager. Everybody was very happy with the jobs they got. If you would've seen their faces; it seemed like they had ticklish ants all over them. This was just on Monday.

On Wednesday, we all got to discover and learn more about our job positions.I got to discover how much work I had to do. On the bright side,we realized how much more honor and privilege their was in our jobs this year than in last year's opera. The Director even made me a little office. So cute!

I have to go now. I hope you liked my blog. Tune in next week when I talk about getting into our jobs...officially. We'll see if everybody continues to be happy then. Bye for now!

Performer auditions

TASIS Dorado School fifth grade students have delved into the hard work of Creating Original Opera (COO). During this first semester they have been introduced to the Washington National Opera COO Program and the different job positions within a theater production. Students began the semester deciding whether to choose a new name for their Opera Company or keep the name they created last year. The group chose to keep the Company Name: EXTREMELY AMAZING GANG.

After this first experience in group decision making and problem solving, the "Company " explored their opera theme by thinking about issues that were important to them as a group and connecting these issues with virtues presented to them from our Core Virtues manual. From this brainstorming process, they chose WONDER as their theme, and as their thesis: “THE TRUE MEANING OF LIFE IS TO ENJOY IT.” They also worked as a group to create 5 main characters and Design Motif (line, shape, colors and texture) of their opera.

After this process, job position trainings began. Students were divided in four groups and rotated amongst the areas of musical composition, design (scenery, make-up, publicity (company logo), and costume), carpentry and electrician and writing. The purpose of these trainings was for students to experience all job positions before making their final job selections. This was also part of the audition process of the opera, where trainers made the final job position assignments based on student’s performance in the areas selected by the student.

This year, the writing process was expanded to create a collective theater piece by having all students participate in the writing process. The first rotation group established the story’s character relations, main conflict, setting and scenario. The second rotation established the musical moments of the opera, character names and wrote the first act including the two first songs.

Throughout this initial part of the Creating Original Opera process, students successfully developed skills such as teamwork, respect, patience, integration, analysis, discipline as well as dramatic skills such as voice and body training.

By the end of the semester, the story was finished. It is literally WONDER-ful! All we're missing now is the title. Brainstorming will continue ifor this in January. We also concluded the training and audition process of the EXTREMELY AMAZING GANG KIDS OPERA COMPANY. Teachers have met and assigned the final job positions for each company member. Students will find out their final assignments on January 11 in an exciting ceremony which will mark the beginning of the production process of this year’s OPERA.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS because OPERA 2010 is coming to town on May 11, 12th & 13th at TASIS Dorado.