Makenzie Morgan and Graeme Black Robinson lead a virtual workshop
As one of the most collaborative art forms around, creating great opera for the stage is a team effort all the way. Beyond the composer’s score and librettist’s story, it takes a visionary creative team, using imaginative set and costume design, to produce an immersive world for the audience to get lost in.
This spring, the Canadian Opera Company shared some of this backstage magic through a series of puppetry workshops with Grade 9 students at Heydon Park Secondary School in Toronto; the Toronto District School Board's only all-girls secondary school.
The virtual sessions, focusing on literacy and puppet design, were led by Makenzie Morgan, singer and COC Interim Manager, Organizational Partnerships & Programs, and puppet master Graeme Black Robinson.
Over the course of four experiential learning sessions, students collaborated on the creation of a short story with characters they then brought to life through puppets.
Check out some of their great work below!
Before they get started, students brainstorm on story and character ideas.
Graeme Black Robinson introduces his puppet, a creation from a previous project.
A student from Heydon Park Secondary School begins designing the model of their puppet
“What are you looking at?”
The characters are coming together...
These workshops were made possible through a grant received by Heydon Park Secondary School for their Grade 9 Bridges Art Integration Collective, which is part of the COC’s commitment to providing literacy and communications support through arts integration and experiential learning, for local communities and organizations.
Graeme Black Robinson introduces his puppet, a creation from a previous project.
A student from Heydon Park Secondary School begins designing the model of their puppet
“What are you looking at?”
The characters are coming together...
