Thursday, May 21, 2015
You know that feeling when you wake up? I don’t, at least not this
morning. I got about 2-hours of sleep last night due to various factors, the
biggest culprit being a bug the size of a baseball who decided to make my room
his home base. I have no idea what it was. I know tha t it could fly and it made
a hissing sound when it felt threatened. First, it claimed my shoe as its
domicile. I threw my other shoe at it, which caused an immediate cessation of
occupancy. Then it scampered into my closet so I shut the door and laid awake
the rest of the night, listening with my eyes. By the time I fell asleep it was
about an hour before we had to get up in order to get ready, eat breakfast and
check out. Brett offered emotional support and made me coffee, but because of
my nocturnal bug vigil, we left about 20-minutes behind schedule. Brett is
driving this morning, which is probably best. Daniel is following us in the van
with Andrew.
We stop for gas the then begin the drive to Summit Middle School. Leah
is in charge of the tunes this morning and selects The Goat Rodeo Sessions.
It’s a mix of bluegrass, celtic and other music featuring Yo-Yo Ma and other
artists whose names I can’t remember. Taylor comments on the awesomeness that
is Yo-Yo Ma and Katherine, the pinnacle of modesty, says that she is the Yo-Yo
Ma of opera. The area got more snow overnight but it’s partly cloudy this
morning. I think all of the beauty, combined with the stress of driving the
pass coming into Breckenridge is beginning to take its toll on Brett. He begins
to have some kind of psychotic break while driving; fits of giggles. It all
seems to center around Hansel and Gretel
rhymes, so I don’t think he’s dangerous.
Brett and Andrew do an excellent job driving and manage to make up
15-minutes, so we arrive at the school just 5-minutes behind schedule. We then
manage to do the fastest set up on record, 20-minutes flat. No one lost and eye
or anything. I don’t recommend this for amateurs. I connect with Mary Jane and several of the
teachers at Summit Middle School while everyone gets into costume and makeup. I
also get to connect with Joyce Mueller from the Breckenridge Music Festival. We’re
excited to have Steve Dilts, our Young Artist Liaison here today. He’s driven
up from Denver to watch the performance and workshop and then we’re all having
lunch. Opera Colorado’s supporters are, quite simply, the best. The students
begin to come in and we’ve got a packed house today; over 250 6th
graders. We’ve decided that today is the day to try out a new bit in the show.
When we were in Salida, Brett and I found the most amazing hand puppet. It’s an
ostrich – or an emu – not sure which. This is a character element that I’ve
thought about, but haven’t tried before now. You know, the Witch has gone so
bonkers living in the forest alone; she’s created this creature to have someone
to talk to. To make it work, the tenor playing the Witch has to embrace the concept.
Oh boy has Brett embraced it; his new
creative new venture.
I am introduced to give the pre-curtain talk and readers… I’ve changed.
“Kathy” Koepke will now begin the show. I
am able to gauge the energy in the audience within seconds and know that I need
to add a behavior expectation section to my talk. I exit the stage and the show
begins. The Young Artists work like crazy over the next 50-minutes to perform
for a tough audience. It’s not that they’re not enjoying the show; they are.
Sometimes, we get a group of kids that just doesn’t respond in a way that we
expect. The ostrich puppet bit gets a couple of really big laughs so it will be
something I look at in the future. At
bows, the audience is cheering. As the Young Artists exit, I take over and
begin the interactive workshop that we’ll do for the next 45-minutes. As the
Young Artists get out of costume and makeup, they will come out and join me and
each take over teaching a section. This is something I’ve started to do each
year towards the end of the season. It’s a way for me to see what they’ve
learned during their residency in terms of presentation skills and engaging an
audience. Brett did this last year, so he works to load out as much as he can
by himself while I do crowd control. After Leah, Kathrine, Andrew and Daniel
have run through their activities, Taylor takes over for a bit and gives the
students a work out singing scales and adding numbers and clapping on certain
beats. By this point, the students are getting incredibly rowdy, so I take the
reins again with Brett. Readers, if you’ve never worked interactively with
middle school students... proceed with caution. It’s something they might want
to consider as an option for training our military before they go into combat. It’s
not for the faint of heart, but I love it. By the time the workshop ends, the
kids are engaged and, we hope, have learned some skills that they will be able
to utilize.
The teachers and our program sponsors are thrilled with what we were
able to bring to the students today. We’re showered with compliments on the
quality of the performance and the workshop. They want us back next season; at
more schools and doing more workshops. That’s exciting. I think we’re offering
something very unique with these interactive workshops. We’re connecting kids
to opera in a way that not only entertains but helps develop their skills. I
now need a nap – it takes a ton of energy to teach a group that big and I tend
to put in every ounce I can. We load out the last bit of our set and then head
to a local restaurant to meet Steve. As we arrive, we see him, standing in a
parking spot in front of the building to save it for us. Does this man take good care of us or what!?
Lunch is good but it’s especially good to have Steve with us. Throughout the
year, Steve makes sure that the Young Artists have a support system while they
are in Denver. He attends rehearsals, comes to performances and even brings
donuts and coffee. The Young Artists have come to call these occasions, “Donuts
with Dilts.” It may not sound like a big deal but, to us, it’s huge. Steve, we
appreciate you more than we can say.
We persuade Steve to let us buy him a cup of coffee for the road and
then we say our goodbyes. We load into the cars and make our way to Ft. Collins,
Colorado where we’ll be staying overnight. We have a double bill at Bauder
Elementary tomorrow, our last stop on tour. Katherine’s driving the van with
Daniel and Brett is driving while I attempt to copilot. The rest of our car is
asleep within minutes of being on the road. Brett and I don’t have that luxury;
driving on I-70 isn’t something and I enjoy on a good day and today the weather
is bad and the traffic is nuts. It doesn’t help that there’s road construction
every few miles. Brett’s catlike reflexes allow him to avoid getting into a
serious accident when a truck swerves in front of us. Brett honks the horn and
we are treated to repeated hand gestures involving the middle finger. This goes
on for quite a while. Leah says we should pull alongside him and blow him a
kiss. I consider it, until I see the “Hello Kitty” sticker on his rear window –
the bundle of cuteness is holding an AK47. Things go from bad to worse when the
driver starts swerving all over, drives in both lanes and takes out construction
cones. Brett and I get his license plate; we seriously think he’s intoxicated.
We keep our distance and he finally exits off the highway.
We continue to hit traffic and drivers continue to make poor choices.
One woman drives on the shoulder of the road, not realizing she’s not in an
actual lane and then pulls in front of us, narrowly missing the concrete wall
ahead of her. By the time we get to Ft. Collins, we are ready to not be in the
cars any longer. We get to the hotel, check in and I schedule a meeting in my
room after everyone has a chance to get settled. While we’re still finishing up
tour, we have to start thinking about what’s next. We’ve got performances this
weekend and the last week of May is packed. We discuss repertoire, I hand out music and
set schedules. We also discuss move-out details – the end of their contracts is
just around the corner.
After the meeting, everyone is on own their own for dinner. Leah,
Katherine, Andrew and Daniel decide to head to a brewery and Brett, Taylor and
I decide to walk to a nearby restaurant. Back that the hotel, I spend some time
looking at our abridged production of Carmen
that we will tour next year. I wasn’t completely happy with some of the
translations I did, so I am reworking it. Brett is interested in the process I
take when creating a touring show, so he’s been helping me revise the dialogue.
I’ll tell ya – it makes a difference having a male brain to pick when you’ve
got a story like this to condense into an hour. I can do many things, I have
various skills and talents, but… thinking like a man. That’s one thing I can’t do.
It’s time to turn in. Tomorrow will be another busy day. We’re looking
forward to performing for more students and then heading back to Denver.
Sleep well readers – I plan to. This room appears to be bug free.
Cherity
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