In this presentation, you’ll: 

• experience a 20-minute children’s opera performance based on Mo Willems’ beloved characters “Elephant” and “Piggie” with music by the Kennedy Center’s Composer-in-Residence Carlos Simon
• explore the various components that come together to make opera—including puppets!
• think about how friendships can be strengthened through communication, understanding, and mutual respect

Education Standards Alignments:

• MU:Re8.1.PKa-5a
• MU:Re7.1.PKa-5a
• MU:Cn.10.0.PKa-5a
• MU:Cn11.0.PKa-5a
• TH:Re7.1.PK-3
• TH:Cn10.1.PK-6

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.2
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.9
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.1.8
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.1.1

(Social and Emotional Learning):

• Self-Awareness (identifying personal, cultural, and linguistic assets; having a growth mindset; linking feelings, values, and thoughts)

• Social Awareness (understanding the perspectives of and empathizing with others, including those from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and contexts)

• Relationship Skills (establishing and maintaining healthy and supportive relationships; effectively navigating settings with diverse individuals and groups)

• Responsible Decision-Making (demonstrating curiosity and open-mindedness)

What to Expect:

An evening at the opera with Elephant and Piggie!

SLOPERA! A Bite-Sized Opera is based on Mo Willems’ book I Really Like Slop! that brings Elephant and Piggie to a place they’ve always belonged: the opera! An opera uses music and theater to tell a story. In most operas, the actors sing almost all of their lines. While opera can be made with all kinds of musical styles, operas often use classical singing and tell stories that include big, BIG emotions, or feelings, like utter despair and total joy. Elephant and Piggie will show us how high and low their voices and their feelings can go!

Piggie shares a lot about pig culture with her friend in this show: her connection to Swineland; her love for her Oma (a German word for grandmother); and, of course, a traditional pig food, slop! Sadly, Gerald does not love slop the way she does. It can hurt when you share something special with a friend and they do not like it or they think it is weird. In the SLOPERA!, Elephant and Piggie must figure out how to appreciate each other’s differences. Maybe they will find out that trying new things doesn’t mean you have to like every new thing.

This opera performance is approximately 20 minutes long. Two opera singers perform as Mo Willems’ characters Elephant and Piggie. Elephant opera singer is dressed in a black tuxedo and wears large gray elephant ears. Piggie opera singer is dressed in a long green dress and wears a pink headband with small pig ears. The singers use a slop puppet—a blue bowl with green fabric inside that bounces out to represent slop. While performing, the singers often move on and off the stage. A pianist accompanies the performance.

The beginning of the performance starts with an introduction by Dana Scott, the music director of SLOPERA! A Bite-Sized Opera, as well as short interviews with the actors that play Gerald (Daniel Smith) and Piggie (Ariana Wehr). While they talk, there are video clips of an outdoor stage being set up, the outside of the Kennedy Center, and the inside of the Terrace Theater and backstage area.

Collaboration is a fancy word that means working together, and collaborator is a fancy word that means “nice, smart friend who knows stuff that can help you do your part better.” Opera is really about working together and helping everyone do their part as best as they can! In order to use music, words, costumes, sets, and more to tell a story, you need a lot of people to use their imagination, share ideas, listen to each other, and solve problems together to make a show that is exciting to watch. Here are some of the people who make operas happen:

• The composer writes the music.
• The librettist writes the libretto, or the words that people sing. A libretto is a lot like a script for a play.
• The singers act out the parts in the show and sing all the music. This opera has two singers. A baritone, or a person with a low voice, plays Gerald. A soprano, or a person with a very high voice, sings Piggie.
• The orchestra is a big group of musicians who play different instruments to make music with the singers. The leader of the orchestra is called the conductor. However, the SLOPERA! uses one person playing a piano to be the whole orchestra and the conductor! By using one person, the SLOPERA! can be performed in small places like our opera truck!
• The music director makes sure everyone knows their music and that it sounds just right.
• The stage manager makes sure everyone is in the right place and that everything happens at the right time.
• Operas also have designers who help make the show look good. The costume designer decides what the singers will wear. The set designer decides what should go on the stage with the singers to help create the environment for the story. The lighting designer decides how to use lighting to create a feeling on stage. They decide if parts of the show should have bright lights, dark shadows, or different color lights to help tell the story. Many more people work together to build the set, make and take care of the costumes, run the lights, and more! 
• The director is the person who brings ALL of these people together, leading the collaboration to tell a story that is exciting and makes sense for the audience. The director is like the coach of the whole team!

Many more people help in other ways to put an opera on stage. Some people raise money to get the things needed to put on an opera. Some people make sure that the singers, orchestra players, and others have everything they need. Some people sell tickets and get people interested in coming to the show. Some people help you once you are in the theater to know where to go and what to do. The audience (that’s you!) gets to watch and enjoy all of this hard work through applause, laughter, energy, and singing with the cast. Opera is all about collaborating to create something special for people to see! The creators also hope it inspires you to play and create stories of your own after the show. 

The SLOPERA! has one more very special collaborator, a puppet designer! Piggie’s bowl of slop is an important part of the story. Instead of having a singer act the part of the Slop, we use a puppet made by a puppet designer. Some bowls, fabric, and imagination come together to create a whole new character for this SLOPERA!

Art © Mo Willems. ELEPHANT & PIGGIE
is a trademark of The Mo Willems Studio, Inc.

Questions About Opera

What makes an opera different from a musical?

In musicals, the actors will talk some times and sing other times. In most operas, the actors sing all of their lines! What do you think it would be like if you sang everything you had to say? Try having a conversation with a friend, but only use your singing voice!

Why do the singers sing like that? 

Opera singers might sound different than singers we hear in pop music or some other places. That is because opera singers usually don’t use microphones. They work very hard to be able to safely sing so loudly that they can be heard even if as many as one hundred instruments are playing with them. It’s pretty amazing! If you like singing in any style, think about joining a choir to build your skills.

Do I have to be fancy to like opera?

We often perform operas in big, beautiful theaters. Many people (like Elephant Gerald) think it is fun to get dressed up to go see an opera. However, there are no rules for where to put on an opera or what to wear when you see one! Opera can be done in the world’s fanciest buildings but also in parks, schools, and even on a truck! You can wear anything you want to see an opera. In tuxedos or t-shirts, opera is for you to enjoy in your own way! 

Plus, operas tell stories about all kinds of people: people who lived long ago and people who live now; people who live far away and people who could live next door. People sing operas in many languages, including English. You can see an opera that was written over 300 years ago and an opera that was written this year. There isn’t just one type of opera!

If you’re not sure if you would like opera, we encourage you to be like Elephant and Piggie and give it a try! If you already know you like opera, hooray! What kind of art could you try next?

Think About

• Elephant and Piggie have very big emotions in the opera, like happiness, sadness, excitement, disgust, and worry. We can sometimes tell how people feel through how they act and what they say, but in an opera, the music can also tell us how they feel. How does the music change when Gerald and Piggie express their own feelings? For example, how is the music different when Piggie is singing about how much she likes slop compared to when she is sadly walking away?
• It can be difficult when a friend doesn’t like something that is special to you. Did you ever share something with someone and they did not like it? Did anyone ever share something with you that you did not like? How can you still be a supportive friend when something like this happens?
• At the end of the opera, Gerald tells Piggie, “You make my world bigger.” Even though he does not like slop, he likes that Piggie gets him to try new things. Why is it important to try new things even if you do not like them? What will you do the next time someone asks you to try something important to them that you think you will not like?

Make Your Own Finger Puppets

Download, print, and cut out the finger puppets of Elephant and Piggie, and use them to make your very own opera! 

You can use stories from other Elephant and Piggie books, but we hope you also make up stories of your own! What is a moment in which Elephant or Piggie might have a big feeling, like being very happy, very afraid, very confused, or very mad? What music might go along with that emotion? Would it be fast or slow? Loud or soft? High or low? Smooth or choppy? See if you can make up some music that might go along with how they feel. You can sing, use an instrument, or (safely) use things around you to create interesting sounds.

What is it like to make your very own opera? We chatted with some of the people who collaborated to make the SLOPERA! to learn more.

Photo credit: Caitlin Oldham

MO WILLEMS, LIBRETTIST and AUTHOR of I REALLY LIKE SLOP!

What was it like creating your first (And BEST!) opera

Terrifying, which is just the way I like it. New challenges are exciting! Fortunately, Elephant and Piggie have BIG, DRAMATIC emotions that lend themselves to BIG, DRAMATIC music. Even more fortunately, I had a bunch of talented collaborators to work on this with me. 

Have you ever had any experiences like Piggie and Gerald face in the opera?

My family immigrated from Holland, so I grew up eating Dutch foods that some of my class-mates thought were weird. For lunch I would have a hagelslag boterham, which is a chocolate sprinkle sandwich. Instead of trying my sandwiches, the kids in school called them ‘bird poop’ sandwiches. Man, they were missing out, because whatever they had for lunch, MY LUNCH WAS CHOCOLATE.  

CARLOS SIMON, COMPOSER

How did you think of music for characters as different as Gerald and Piggie? What were you thinking about as you composed?

I always think in terms of emotion when I write music. I ask myself, “What do I want to feel?” Since this is opera, there are A LOT of feelings in the music. Piggie and Elephant are two different characters with a range of emotions. I pretend to feel what they’re feeling and thinking. The music becomes the expression of those feelings and thoughts.

How is writing an opera different than writing other kinds of music?

Opera is different from writing other kinds of music in that it is a collaborative art form. Every part of the work involves another person’s input and perspective. It can be so much fun with the right people.

FELICIA CURRY, DIRECTOR

What big ideas, images, or feelings were on your mind while working with the actors and the team who designed the slop puppet, the truck set, and the costumes?

I knew, almost immediately, that I wanted to bring the experience of a night in the Opera House at the Kennedy Center right to your school or neighborhood. I wanted to create an atmosphere that was grand and accessible. The marriage of magnificent music, color, movement, genuine emotion, and friendship all went into creating the perfect playground for our team.

What do you hope people will take away from this opera, from Elephant and Piggie’s story?

This show is an introduction to an art form you may not know much about, and I hope it inspires you to create your own art. I believe the SLOPERA! teaches us that it is important to appreciate things from other cultures. You may not understand, or even like everything, but it is important to try new things, read about things, and work to understand what is important to other people. As Elephant and Piggie show us, all friendships have ups and downs, but if you keep your mind and heart open, your world will only get bigger and bigger!

DANA SCOTT, MUSIC DIRECTOR and PIANIST

How can music help tell very dramatic and emotional stories like this one?

I think about music as a way to add feelings and sounds to go with what is happening on stage. As I work with the score (what we call the music when written down), I get to create the atmosphere of the opera. Sometimes the music is like a sound cue that goes with a certain action that is important. Other times, the music mirrors the words to help tell the story. Musical ideas can also make the audience think of a character, remind them of something that happened before, or give a clue about what might happen next. All of this can be created with only music! The possibilities still amaze me.

The singers use words, but you play the piano. In this opera, how do you help tell the story with an instrument like the piano? 

When I play piano I think of myself as an orchestra. Sometimes I am a flute, or cello, or brass group! Sometimes I use sound to give a sense of the mood that the composer or librettist wanted. Sometimes I use a full, warm, rich tone when a character is happy, but sometimes I play quietly to show a character is worried or nervous. You might hear that when Gerald is not sure if he will really be able to try the slop! By playing in different, expressive ways, I can make singers feel a lot of energy, and that makes the performance better for the audience. Creating an environment with sound that supports the drama is the best part of how my instrument helps tell the story!

Mo Willems, author, I Really Like Slop!, and librettist

Mo Willems is an author, illustrator, animator, playwright, and the inaugural Kennedy Center Education Artist-in-Residence, where he collaborates in creating fun new stuff involving classical music, opera, comedy concerts, dance, painting, and digital works with the National Symphony Orchestra, Ben Folds, Yo-Yo Ma, and others. Willems is best known for his #1 New York Times bestselling picture books, which have been awarded three Caldecott Honors (Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, Knuffle Bunny, Knuffle Bunny Too), two Theodor Geisel Medals, and five Geisel Honors (The Elephant & Piggie series). Mo’s art has been exhibited around the world, including major solo retrospectives at the High Museum (Atlanta) and the New-York Historical Society (NYC). Over the last decade, Willems has become the most produced playwright of Theater for Young Audiences in America, having written or co-written four musicals based on his books. He began his career as a writer and animator on PBS’s Sesame Street, where he garnered six Emmy Awards (writing). Other television work includes two series on Cartoon Network: Sheep in the Big City (creator and head writer) and Codename: Kids Next Door (head writer). Mo is creating new TV projects for HBOMax, where his live action comedy special Don’t Let the Pigeon Do Storytime! currently streams. 

Carlos Simon, composer

Carlos Simon is a multi-faceted and highly sought-after composer whose music ranges from concert music for large and small ensembles to film scores with influences of jazz, gospel, and neo-romanticism. Recently announced as Composer-in-Residence at the Kennedy Center, Carlos’s commissioning highlights include premiere works with New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Opera, Philadelphia Orchestra, and Washington National Opera. The Philadelphia Enquirer described his music as ​“perfectly engaging and propulsive.” Simon’s latest album, My Ancestor’s Gift, which was released in April 2018 on Navona Records, epitomises Simon’s work by incorporating spoken word and historic recordings alongside traditional classical music, crafting a multi-faceted record that speaks to audiences past and future. In 2017, Carlos Simon joined the inaugural class of the Gabriela Lena Frank Academy of Music. He then went on to be named a Sundance/​Time Warner Composer Fellow in 2018, seeing him work at the legendary Skywalker Ranch, and he was a recipient of the Sphinx Medal of Excellence in 2021. 

Felicia Curry, director

Felicia Curry is honored to be part of the SLOPERA! family, and is thrilled to be back in the room with Mo Willems! They last worked together at the Kennedy Center on Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, for which she was nominated for a 2020 Helen Hayes Award. She’s been nominated eight additional times for the Helen Hayes Award, and in 2018, she won the award for Lela & Co at Factory 449. In the DC Metro Area, she has performed at Arena Stage, Ford’s Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Round House Theatre, Rep Stage, Studio Theatre, Signature Theatre, MetroStage, Imagination Stage, and Adventure Theatre, to name a few. Regionally, she has performed at the Gulfshore Playhouse and Virginia Repertory Theatre, where she received an RTCC Award for her work as Celie in The Color Purple. She has hosted theatreWashington’s Helen Hayes Awards three times and has been named one of “12 DC Stage Dynamos” by The Washington Post and one of “DC’s Biggest Theatre Stars” by Washington Magazine. She is a resident company member at Factory 449 in DC, Everyman Theatre in Baltimore, and an Artistic Associate at Ford’s Theatre. Currently, she can be seen as the new host for WETA Arts on PBS. 

Dana Scott, music director and pianist

Dana Nichole Scott is a classically trained musician with a talent and passion for creating dynamic music. Ms. Scott works in operatic and musical theater productions, but also leads choral and instrumental ensembles. As a vocal coach and collaborative pianist, Ms. Scott accompanies for competitions and recitals, and frequently serves as an adjudicator. Ms. Scott began developing her musical career at a young age, winning several competitions and exploring her skills as a musical Disney cast member. Ms. Scott studied at New England Conservatory where she earned her Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance. She received her Master of Music in Collaborative Piano from the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University where she studied with Eileen Cornett and JoAnn Kulesza. Over the course of her career, Ms. Scott has enjoyed working with master artists who helped her bring her passion for music to the stage. After her formal education, Ms. Scott balanced a host of responsibilities that allowed her to have a vibrant career. During her travels, she realized that a teaching career would allow her to pass on her experience and knowledge, and has spent the last few years helping others to grow through musical performance at schools in the Baltimore area.

Daniel Smith, Elephant Gerald

Maryland-born and bred baritone Daniel J. Smith is a graduate of George Mason University with a MM in Vocal Performance and Winston-Salem State University with a BS in Music Business. Most recently Smith joined the cast of Stirring the Waters Across America and Devine, Hamer, Gray: A New American Musical (in development). Roles include Aeneas (Dido and Aeneas); King Melchior (Amahl and the Night Visitors);  L’horloge comtoise (L’enfant et les sortilèges); Marcello (La Bohème); Pirate King (The Pirates of Penzance); Antonio (The Marriage of Figaro); George, Earl of Mountararat (Iolanthe); and scenes from Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri and La Cenerentola, all with Mason Opera. He has also performed as Barone Douphol in La traviata (Northwest Florida Symphony Orchestra), Zodzetrick in Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha (Opera Northern Virginia), and Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro and Papageno in The Magic Flute (Almalfi Coast International Music Festival). Smith placed in the state and regional National Association of Teachers of Singing competitions and was a semi-finalist at the 2019 Classical Singer Convention. As a featured soloist, Smith appeared with the Winston-Salem State University Choir; the Ben Holt Memorial Branch of the National Association of Negro Musicians; the World Federation of Friends of Museums; and in I Am My Ancestors, a concert sponsored by I Am Confidence, LLC.

Ariana Wehr, Piggie

Brazilian-born soprano Ariana Wehr is a recent graduate of the Cafritz Young Artist Program with Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center. Highlights of the 2019-2020 season include competing in the 2nd International Music Competition Harbin in Harbin, China; a gala with Heartbeat Opera performing works by Vivaldi and Mozart; and a return to Washington National Opera and a debut with the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center to reprise the roles of Girlfriend #1/Nurse/Congregant in Jeanine Tesori’s Blue (cancelled due to the pandemic, but a commercial recording is planned). Upcoming performances include debuts with Boston Lyric Opera in Terence Blanchard’s Champion. Ariana has received awards from The Sullivan Foundation, The George London Foundation, Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions as a National Semi-Finalist, and the Opera Index Foundation, and has competed internationally in the Mt. Fuji International Opera Competition in Japan, and the s’Hertogenbosch International Vocal Competition in the Netherlands. In the 2018-2019 season, the soprano sang Despina in Così fan tutte for Opera in the Heights, Gretel in Hansel and Gretel in a return to Brava! Opera Theater, a debut with the Naples Philharmonic singing Pulcinella by Stravinsky, and Micäela in Carmen in a return engagement with Opera Louisiane.

Dennis Chemelensky, Elephant Gerald (cover)

German baritone Dennis Chmelensky joins the Washington National Opera as a member of the Cafritz Young Artist Program for the 2020-21 season. Praised for his “strikingly individual timbre” (Philadelphia Magazine) and “his moving, rich baritone accompanied by real acting” (Phindie), Dennis recently performed the title role Don Giovanni in a Curtis/Opera Philadelphia co-production and later in Mexico City and León, Guanajuato. Dennis is a 2018 Opera Awards career grant recipient. Operatic credits also include Junior (A Quiet Place), Papageno (Die Zauberflöte), Paul (Empty the House), Golaud (Impressions de Pelléas), Junius (The Rape of Lucretia), Mr. Gobineau (The Medium), Perichaud (La rondine), Blansac (La scala di seta), Spinellochio (Gianni Schicci), Pirelli (Sweeney Todd), The Clock (L‘enfant et les sortilèges), and Schaunard (La bohème). A Berlin native, Dennis’s love for lieder and new music since led him to unique opportunities throughout his career, including performing works by Wolf, Schubert, Rorem, and Mahler throughout the United States and Europe, and working with many living composers. Dennis was a finalist at the Young Concert Artists competition and received multiple grants from the Gerda Lissner Foundation. Dennis holds a Bachelor of Music degree and Master of Music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music. He also studied conducting at the University of the Arts Berlin. His debut album, DENNIS, was released in 2009 by Sony Music.

Suzannah Waddington, Piggie (cover)

Suzannah Waddington, an American-Canadian soprano from Philadelphia, has just finished her second year as a Bailey Apprentice Artist with Palm Beach Opera and is very excited for her first year as a Cafritz Young Artist with Washington National Opera. Recently, she was a Semi-Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 2020. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in vocal performance from Houghton College where she studied with Kelley Hijleh and Mitchell Hutchings. Her recent opera credits include bel canto scenes with Si Parla! Si Canta in Arona, Italy; Rosalinde in Palm Beach Opera’s Family Performance of The Revenge of the Bat (Die Fledermaus); as well as concert productions of Die Zauberflöte (Pamina), Così fan tutte (Fiordiligi), and Mazepa (Maria) with Russian Opera Workshop.

Megan Alrutz, dramaturg

Megan Alrutz is an artist, educator, and scholar with over 20 years of experience in theatre, media, and interdisciplinary performance for youth and families. She has directed and created several nationally recognized theatre pieces and interactive installations, with a special interest in theatre for the very young, interdisciplinary performance projects, and visually dynamic staging. Megan’s work has been produced or presented by the Alliance Theatre, The New Victory, Kennedy Center, Orlando REP, Seattle Children’s Theatre, Arts on Horizon, and Metro Theater. She is a long-time collaborator of author/illustrator Mo Willems and has worked as the producer, dramaturg, and/or director on his musicals, interactive engagements, and other live and televised performance work. Megan is currently the dramaturg on Mo Willem’s artistic residencies and productions with the JF Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and HBO Max. She is also a professor and associate chair at The University of Texas at Austin’s Department of Theatre and Dance where she writes and teaches about Theatre for Young Audiences, Applied Theatre, and Digital Storytelling.

Puppet design and fabrication by Viva La Puppet

VLP is a Los Angeles-based puppet shop, a team of designers, builders, and puppeteers who specialize in many forms of puppetry. Michelle Zamora, CEO and Creative Director of Viva La Puppet, LLC, began this puppet journey while getting her BA in Theater at Cal State. She formed the LLC with her husband, Matias, who shares her vision for a community of dedicated artists working to bring creative projects to life through puppetry. Originally from Brownsville, Texas, she discovered her love of puppets at an early age creating humanettes out of her dolls, stop-motion VHS videos with her sister, and miniature people out of clay. What started as a childhood passion turned into a company that works to elevate the art form of puppetry into a fresh innovative direction.Most recently, she worked on set for Zedd + Katy Perry’s 365 video, led the TRUTH puppet campaign with 72 and Sunny (2019 Super Bowl commercial), and puppeteered with Terry Crews for Old Spice.Other fun projects include giant puppets for Bob’s Burgers Live at The Orpheum, the Snoop Dogg puppet for California Roll music video with Pharrell and Stevie Wonder, and shadow puppets for The Pee Wee Herman Show-Live on Stage! 

Elephant & Piggie present SLOPERA!: A Bite-Sized Opera

A Washington National Opera and Kennedy Center Commission and World Premiere Based on the book I REALLY LIKE SLOP! by Mo Willems
Libretto by Mo Willems
Music by Carlos Simon

Directed for the stage by Felicia Curry
Music directed by Dana Scott

Executive produced by Ashi Day
Dramaturgy by Megan Alrutz

Directed for film by Felicia Curry, Mo Willems and Tony Donghyuk Yoon

Puppet design and fabrication by Viva La Puppet
Des’ree Brown - Production Assistant
Marsha LeBoeuf - Costume Director
Scott Sosebee - Graphic Designer

Featuring

Daniel Smith as Elephant Gerald
Ariana Wehr as Piggie
Dana Scott, Piano

Dennis Chemelensky, Elephant Gerald (cover)
Suzannah Weddington, Piggie (cover)

Washington National Opera Staff

Timothy O’Leary, General Director
Francesca Zambello, Artistic Director
Robert Ainsley, Director, Cafritz Young Artists and American Opera Initiative
Molly Flores, Manager, WNO Special Projects and Community Relations
Lee Cromwell, Manager, Pop-Up Opera Truck Tour

Video Production

Regis Vogt, Executive Producer
Tony Donghyuk Yoon, Director of Photography
Joshua Rodriguez, Camera Operator
Christina Telep, Camera Operator

Kennedy Center Digital and Multimedia

Andrew Cary, Vice President of Digital
Ben Rosenfield, Director of Multimedia
Regis Vogt, Executive Producer
Kristin Fosdick, Executive Producer
Grace Swihart, Senior Producer

Kennedy Center Production

Terrace Theater Manager: Guy Jordin Heard
Technical Director: Paul Taylor
Associate Technical Director: Christy Blackham
Lighting Designer: A.J. Guban
Terrace Theater Crew: Mikey Berra, Dustin Dunsmore, Rich Haase, Robert Humphrey, Susan Kelleher
Wardrobe: Robert DeGrazia

Kennedy Center Education

Warren Williams III, Director, Music Education
Emily Heckel, Manager, Music and NSO Education
Ashi Day, Manager, Music & WNO Education
Ross Kaufman, Manager of Music Education, Career Development Programs
Jordan LaSalle, Vice President, Education
David Kilpatrick, Senior Director of Education Programs and Productions
Vanessa Thomas, Director of Education Activation and Engagement
Eric Friedman, Director, Digital Learning
Kenny Neal, Manager, Digital Education Resources, Digital Learning
Tiffany A. Bryant, Manager of Operations and Audience Engagement, Digital Learning
Office of Accessibility and VSA

Kennedy Center Education

The Vice President of Education is generously endowed by the

Generous support for educational programs at the Kennedy Center is provided by the U.S. Department of Education.

Gifts and grants to educational programs at the Kennedy Center are provided by The Paul M. Angell Family Foundation; Bank of America; Capital One; The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation; Carnegie Corporation of New York; The Ednah Root Foundation; Harman Family Foundation; William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust; the Kimsey Endowment; The Kiplinger Foundation; Laird Norton Family Foundation; Lois and Richard England Family Foundation; Dr. Gary Mather and Ms. Christina Co Mather; The Markow Totevy Foundation; Dr. Gerald and Paula McNichols Foundation; The Morningstar Foundation; Myra and Leura Younker Endowment Fund; The Irene Pollin Audience Development and Community Engagement Initiatives;

Prince Charitable Trusts; Dr. Deborah Rose and Dr. Jan A. J. Stolwijk; Rosemary Kennedy Education Fund; The Embassy of the United Arab Emirates; The Victory Foundation; The Volgenau Foundation; Volkswagen Group of America; Jackie Washington; GRoW @ Annenberg and Gregory Annenberg Weingarten and Family; Wells Fargo; and generous contributors to the Abe Fortas Memorial Fund and by a major gift to the fund from the late Carolyn E. Agger, widow of Abe Fortas. Additional support is provided by the National Committee for the Performing Arts..

The content of these programs may have been developed under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education but does not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education. You should not assume endorsement by the federal government.