STUDENT BACKSTAGE TOURS
Grades 3 – 12 & College
The Lyric Opera of Chicago Education Department's backstage tours offer students from 3rd grade through college a unique opportunity to see the inner workings of the Civic Opera House and to learn what really goes on behind the scenes of a world-class opera company on a typical work day. The tours take place during the regular season while our operations are in full swing--when the stagehands, carpenters, painters, electricians, custodians, tailors, wigmakers, makeup artists, directors, designers, musicians, and their assistants are all working together to bring Lyric's productions to the stage. It's an amazing operation!
During the course of the tour, your students will:
- See the lavish interiors of the Rice Foyer and the Ardis Krainik Theatre
- Stand at the edge of the orchestra pit and learn about where the conductor and the instrumentalists work
- Visit the Wig and Makeup Department to view the current production's wigs and beards--all painstakingly handmade on the premises
- Visit the Wardrobe Department where hundreds of costumes are created, custom fitted, and cared for every season
- Visit the stars' dressing rooms and the dressing rooms of the chorus and supernumeraries
- Get a close look at an array of armor and stage weapons, much of which was crafted by Lyric's own full-time armorer
- See a props display featuring everything from rubber bricks to plastic food to wind machines
- Take a ride in a scenery elevator
- Venture across a catwalk six stories above the stage
- Pass through rehearsal areas (but quietly--often there are coachings or practice sessions in progress!)
- Try on costumes and armor at our interactive stations
The tours are about 90 minutes long, and each tour group of 15 (this number must include at least one adult chaperone) is led by a trained volunteer docent from the Lyric Opera Lecture Corps. Some stairs are involved, but we can easily accommodate wheelchairs if we know in advance. Maximum enrollment: 300 visitors per day.
Admission is $5.00 per person (including chaperones). Be sure to bring a camera!
How to reserve a space for your students:
Return a completed Student Backstage Tours order form (including your 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th choice dates) with payment and we will confirm your visit at least 3 weeks prior to your assigned tour date. Order forms for all our programs for students are sent to Chicago area schools and individual teachers on our education mailing list in mid August. If you need order forms or if you are not sure that you are on our list, please call 312-827-5912. We served over 6,000 backstage tourists last season, so reserve your space early. You'll see why educators call Lyric's Student Backstage Tours "the hottest field trip in Chicago!"
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Student Backstage Tours are generously co-sponsored by
QTG (Quaker. Tropicana. Gatorade).
