Opera guidelines for students and chaperones

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Opera Chaperones:
Thank you for your assistance in attending Carmen this Wednesday,
December 10 with the students. We will leave in busses from the front
of the school, 3939 Tracy, shortly after 9:00. Most chaperones ride
together on the bus, but if it’s more convenient, it’s also possible
to meet the bus downtown at the Music Center, on Hope Street.
The Opera is very strict with instructors about students’ behavior and
how misconduct will result in schools’ being prohibited from attending
future performances. Please review with the students in your group the
guidelines below as well as the additional last minute note below on
snacks during intermission—if chaperones can manage a box of cereal
bars to distribute during the intermission, it would be a good idea.
In the past, although students were asked to bring a lunch, many
didn’t. Although the rules below are very strict about not bringing
electronic toys, binoculars are allowed. Our seats this year are in
the top balcony, and the Opera claims the sound is the best up there,
but it is rather far from the stage. I have a tiny monocular which
fits in my shirt pocket and is quite convenient to manage—a huge ten
pound pair may become cumbersome during the day.
In the three previous years, the performances have been wonderful, and
the trips have run smoothly. The main points I would like to
emphasize, aside from polite behavior, are these: 1) lunch is
inconvenient to manage; and 2) the beginning of the trip involves some
boring amount of waiting to get on the bus, waiting in line for the
doors to open, waiting for the line to move, then a hurried rush to
the seats upstairs. My best advice for dealing with both problems is
to bring a lunch but to eat it while waiting to enter the theatre—call
it brunch for the day and have another snack after school.
Thanks again, and let’s have a safe, fun, educational day!
Ed O’Connell, JMHS Gifted Magnet English
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From the LA Opera Education Department:
Preparing Your Students for Their Roles as Audience Members

Teachers are responsible for their students’ behavior! It is critical
that you spend some time discussing theatre etiquette before attending
the opera. We want all of our guests to feel comfortable in the
theatre and to enjoy the performance. To make this possible, each
student and teacher must play his or her role as an attentive audience
member. Review these rules with your students, so that they understand
what is expected!

We suggest that you give a copy of these “etiquette” pages to the
chaperones before you attend the opera.

1. Go over the story and as much information as you can with your
students. Operas are very different from watching film or
television. Performers can hear when the audience talks or makes
noise. In fact, the audience reaction and energy impact the
performances on stage. Find interesting and innovative ways to
introduce the opera to your students.

2. Enforce a dress code. “Dressing up” for the opera highlights that
this is a special occasion. It may also improve their behavior! We
suggest dress slacks, dress shirts, ties, jackets, dresses, skirts...
think “Sunday Best,” but not formal wear. Please remind your students
and chaperons that it is winter and it might be chilly on the plaza
outside the theatre, or heavily air-conditioned inside. Bring a
sweater or a jacket.

3. Drinks and Snacks: No snacks or beverages will be available for
purchase inside the theater.

4. An adult must accompany students at all times. Please make sure you
have enough chaperones to accompany students to the restrooms.

5. No smoking is allowed by any teacher, student, or adult at any
location, inside or outside, while at the Music Center.

6. Discuss appropriate audience behavior. Discuss different ways to
behave at different kinds of events. As a class project, ask students
to make comparative lists of how one behaves at a baseball game, at a
television talk show, at a rock or rap music concert. Try asking your
students to create a “job description” for the audience.

Opera Etiquette:

• Sit quietly in your seat.

• Don't talk – talking disturbs other audience members, the performers
onstage, and it will cause one to miss important parts of the action
or music.

• When the lights go out in the theater, it is exciting. This is the
time to get ready for the performance, not time to make noise.

• Never throw anything.

• Do not prop feet on theater seats

• Do not eat or drink anything inside the theater.

• No photography, tape recorders, cellular phones, pagers, alarm
watches, text messages or ipods.

• Applaud to welcome the conductor when you see him enter the
orchestra pit.

• Show appreciation by applauding at the conclusion of a song (the
orchestra will pause) and at the end of an act.

• Show appreciation when the opera is over by calling out "Bravo!"
to thank the performers for a job well done.

• Find different things onstage or in the orchestra to focus on.
Students will
want to follow the action onstage and the progress of the story, but
you may
also suggest that they watch the orchestra and the conductor, or make
a point
to observe the lighting, scenery, and costumes.
On the day of the performance:

1. Arrive no earlier than 11⁄2 (one and one half) hours before and no
later than 1⁄2 (one half) hour before the performance is scheduled to
begin. There are limited restroom facilities on the plaza.

Los Angeles Opera is the only major opera company in the country that
still offers fully
produced student matinees at no charge. The average price of a
single opera ticket is over $100! Please let your students know that
coming to the opera is a privilege supported by many generous donors
who are eager to share their passion for the Arts.

Ushers may seat groups in some areas even if there are empty seats in
others. Ushers will use their discretion when seating. Please follow
their instructions. When you are in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion,
you need to follow the rules of the house ushers and managers.

2. If you are traveling in two buses, the groups may be seated
separately. We will not be able to hold seats.

3. If students and teachers are traveling in separate cars, please
make sure each person has their own ticket in order to be let into the
theatre.

4. Wait on the bus until a bus greeter talks to the group. When you
get off the bus, keep your group together and follow the bus greeter’s
instructions.

5. Please have the adults placed throughout the group, with one
teacher leading the group and another adult at the tail end.

6. If students are bringing lunches, they should eat before or after
the performance, but not during Intermission. There will be a place
for teachers or chaperones to check lunches for those eating after the
performance. All food should be stored in coolers or boxes and
clearly labeled. Do not eat or drink inside the theater

7. Please do not allow students to purchase food from the Spotlight
Café or other restaurants on the Plaza.

8. Find the door with your section name above it and present the
ushers with your tickets. They will direct you to your seating section
of the theater. Go directly to your seats – do not stop at restrooms.

9. Once you have your seats, you may take students to restrooms.

10. Busses staying for the duration of the performance will park on
Hope Street. Busses dropping off and then returning at the end of the
performance should drop off all groups on Hope Street. (See map
enclosed). When they return at 2:00 pm, they should park on Hope
Street to wait. Do not ask buses to park on Grand Avenue.

11. If you are traveling by car, you may park underneath the
Performing Arts Center in the garage on Grand Ave. Make sure that
everyone has his or her ticket. There is an $8 charge for parking.

12. Please stay for the duration of the performance. The production is
in three acts with two intermissions. The performance will last for
approximately 3 hours and 30 minutes, including the intermission. Do
not allow students to leave early except if they are a discipline
problem or
become ill.

13. Teachers and adult chaperones must sit interspersed throughout the
group. Teachers, please do not sit together. We depend on you to
supervise your students, maintain discipline, and handle any problems
that may arise. This is important for the success of this program!
Thank you.

14. Students may not get up and down during the performance. Please
wait until the intermission or the end of the performance to use the
restrooms. If someone leaves during the performance, that person will
not be allowed back into the theatre until an appropriate time.

15. Teachers or other adults must accompany students at all times.

16. If you have students who are causing trouble, please remove them
immediately from the theatre and stay with them. It is imperative that
problem students not be allowed to disturb others.

17. If you requested more seats than you will be able to use, please
call the Education Manager, Jill Burnham at (213) 972-7258, or e-mail:
jbur...@laopera.com. We are eager to reallocate those tickets.

18. We will make special seating arrangements only for those with
physical impairments. If you have physically challenged students in
your group, please contact Jill Burnham (numbers and Email listed
above), at least one week prior to the scheduled performance.

19. The Music Center staff reserves the right to ask any group to
leave the theater if the rules presented here are disregarded.


Please do your best to be an excellent audience member, and a proud
reflection of your school. If all of our student and teacher guests
make the effort, everyone can enjoy the opera!

Disregarding the behavioral guidelines may jeopardize your school's
opportunity to attend future student matinees.

SNACK: After meeting with all the teachers, we have come up with a
plan to deal with snack. If you really feel your students need a
snack, the following plan has been approved by the House Manager of
the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion:
Each chaperone must be assigned 10 specific students for whom they
will be responsible. Each chaperone will be allowed to carry, on their
person, one snack for each student under their charge. This should be
a power bar or the equivalent, the same thing for each student. If you
decide your students must have a snack, the chaperone and their
assigned students will exit the main theater during one of the two
intermissions and proceed to the lobby or waiting area in their floor.
They may then distribute one snack to each student. The snack must be
consumed outside the main theatre area but students may not leave the
building, so make sure they stay inside the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion,
but finish the snack before they return to their seats. They may also
use the restroom at this time.
You should leave at least one chaperone behind so you can find your
seats when you return. This might mean that you split your group up
and give one half their snacks during the first intermission, and one
half during the second.
WE WILL NOT HAVE SNACK TABLES SET UP IN THE LOBBY AS WE HAD PREVIOUSLY
DISCUSSED.
Inside the theater: The house management staff will not allow food
inside the main theater space (where the seats are) so if they are
caught eating in that area, your school will be asked to leave. This
is not a time for lunch. You will not be allowed to bring lunches into
the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. They may be checked at the Lunch Check-
In Table when your school arrives.
And finally, please make sure your students do not bring their cell
phones into the building, and please follow the instructions being
given by the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion ushers when you are being
seated. They are trying to get 3,000 people into the theater in the
space of about 20 minutes, and we absolutely have to abide by their
rules.
There will be two intermissions, one between acts 1&2 and one between
acts 2&3 of about 20 minutes each. There will also be a 5 minute pause
between acts 3&4. Please direct your students to stay in their seats
for this pause. The pause is not long enough for people to use the
restroom, but we will have the curtain open so students can observe
the set change (as with the other two intermissions).

[Conque...@gmail.com]

This is Michael,
I just talked to Spencer, and he told me that you expected me after
school today.
My parents were not home at the time school let out (they were under
the impression that it was a full day),
and I couldn't make it in time. My mother said that she can still
make the trip as a chaperon,
even if I do not have permission to attend. She needs me to let her
know what the situation is, so
any response regarding the situation would be appreciated.

> jburn...@laopera.com. We are eager to reallocate those tickets.