Open Dream Ensemble to Premiere Dream Machines and Peril on the Red Planet at Stevens Center

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News media contact
Scott Carpenter
336.722.9660 or scott@capturevalue.com

Open Dream Ensemble to Premiere
Dream Machines and Peril on the Red Planet at Stevens Center

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AUGUST 17, 2009) – The Open Dream Ensemble, a professional multi-disciplinary children’s theater group, will premiere two new original plays on Thursday, September 3, at 6:30 and 7:30 p.m. at the Stevens Center. Both shows are free and open to the public, and the audience is welcome to attend one or both productions.

Dream Machines: The Impossible Happens will be performed at 6:30 p.m. and tells the amazing story of the advancements in travel at the turn of the 20th century through dance, music and drama.  Told through the eyes of the Wright Brothers’ sister Katharine, Dream Machines follows Orville, Wilbur and Katharine as they pursue their dream of flying. The story connects their endeavors with Henry Ford’s dreams of automobiles and Octave Chanute’s fascination with trains and early aviation. Dream Machines is geared to grades K-5.

Peril on the Red Planet will be performed at 7:30 p.m. and is set in the future and tells the story of 13 year-old Diana as she works to end famine on Mars. She reconstructs the machine that made human habitation possible on Mars and unexpectedly unleashes more problems. Her efforts to save life on Mars lead her on an important quest, during which she learns life lessons about community, responsibility, teamwork and sacrifice. Peril on the Red Planet is geared to grades 3-8. 

“Both of our new plays focus on important life lessons including dedication, determination, courage and teamwork,” said Rebecca Nussbaum, general manager of the Open Dream Ensemble. “They also highlight the power of imagination and learning in fun, creative, and engaging ways. We are thrilled to have the chance to share these new productions with the Triad community.”

The Open Dream Ensemble is a professional outreach program of the University North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) in Winston-Salem and is comprised of professional artists who trained in dance, drama, and music at UNCSA. Using the diverse skills of its cast, Open Dream Ensemble presents original performances to school students throughout the Southeast. Open Dream combines the power of live performances with artist residencies and educational workshops, aligning the content with current school curriculum.

The Open Dream Ensemble is a project of the Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts, which incubates projects that sustain artists at every point in their creative development through strategic partnerships that capitalize on visionary thinking in the arts. For more information, visit www.kenanarts.org.

In addition to performances, the Open Dream Ensemble performs curriculum-based residencies and workshops. More information on the Open Dream Ensemble is available at www.OpenDreamEnsemble.com or by calling (336) 782-7837. 

The University of North Carolina School of the Arts (www.uncsa.edu) is the University of North Carolina’s conservatory for the arts, dedicated entirely to the professional training of students possessing exceptional talents in the performing, visual and moving image arts. UNCSA offers students focused, intense, professional training at the high school, baccalaureate, and masters levels in its schools of Dance, Design and Production, Drama, Filmmaking and Music.

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