Ohana Performing Arts and Leadership Education 

Parent/Scholar Information

What is OPA?

We, the families of Ohana Performing Arts are dedicated to providing excellence in performing arts and leadership education for homeschool students. We produce family-friendly shows with our children for the community to enjoy. As a community, we will strive to teach children the importance of developing strong moral character. We are devoted to truth and all that is good. Good character and truth will be the foundation upon which we build the framework for sharing our God-given talents and becoming leaders for positive change in the world. 

Board Members:

President: Diann Ruesch

Vice President: Laura Kilburn
Secretary: Kellyn Wasley
Treasurer: Carie Erickson

Parent Representative: Meagan Ferguson

Junior Director: Toni Mangelson

Mondays and Thursdays

Fall Schedule: August 10-Nov 19

Fall Break Oct 16 (No Thursday classes) 

Spring Schedule:

Jan 5- April 30 (Monday classes WILL be on President’s Day & MLK Jr. Day, )

Spring Break: March 22-26

Monday Class Schedule:

8:45am - 12:00pm Classes

12:00-12:15 Devotional

12:15 Clean up then go home! - everyone 

12:45-3:15 extra EPIC practice November and April

Thursday Class Schedule:

8:45am - 12pm Leadership Education Classes

12:00pm Devotional everyone gather in the Sanctuary

Lunch

12:45-3:15pm EPIC Performing Arts

3:15pm Clean up (Please stay until it’s clean!)

(See attachment for more schedule details and list of important dates)

Cost:

Our goal at Ohana Performing Arts and Leadership is to provide leadership and performing arts education while keeping costs as low as possible.

Family Enrollment Fee: $40 per family per semester - non-refundable and due at sign up in order to hold your spot and help pay for rent, insurance, website, etc...

Class Tuition: $10 per month per class hour (not to exceed $50 per month per student) - due the first Thursday of each month.

Class Fees: Each class may require a separate fee for supplies and books, you will have that information at sign up. 

Fees For EPIC Broadway Musical Production:

Registration Fee: $30 per student - non-refundable deposit due at sign up that will be applied to the production fee

Tuition: $25 per month per student (August-December)

Production Fee: $100 per student ($75 for EPIC Jr.) 

*Class fees and production fees may be split into monthly payments if desired.

Parent Scholar Class:

• Parent Scholar Class, “Mother’s of Influence” will be held each week. This class will provide parents with a mentor-led experience in their own Scholar Phase. There will be optional reading, writing and discussion activities each week.

• At least one parent must take this class for one full semester or a family may opt to pay a $200/month drop-off fee if given approval from the board.

• If a child is not enrolled in Junior classes during this time, parents will need to make appropriate arrangements.

• There will be a minimal class fee of $5 for class materials (no tuition fee). Parents will be responsible for providing their own reading materials. 

• We are offering 2 class choices: Mothers of Influence, required for anyone new or returning to OPA and a continuing education class for those who desire to participate.

• The Parent Class is one way that we create and strengthen unity in our vision as a community as we build character and leadership in ourselves and our families.

Devotional

• Before lunch we will ALL gather in the Sanctuary to have a short devotional and announcements. This is an important part of OPA, please plan to be there. 

Lunch

• Please keep food at a table to minimize mess and clean up afterwards. NO FOOD IN THE SANCTUARY. Please be aware of your children and make sure all lunch areas are cleaned up before leaving or going to EPIC. 

• For safety reasons everyone should stay in the lunchroom. No eating in classrooms or running in the halls. There are no hall monitors during lunch and the church still has people that work during this time so let us be respectful to them. 

• If you need to heat up food for lunch, we encourage families to bring crockpot or Instant Pot meals to feed your family, as there is only one microwave available at the church.

Clean up crew and Childcare needed

• The church has asked us to do certain cleaning each day when we are done. All families will be expected to help with building clean up. Many hands make light work. There will be a place to sign up for your family’s assignment. Youth should be helping too. 

• Nursery for children 18 months to 3 years will be provided from 9:00am -12pm each week for those parents mentoring classes. 

BAND (communication app)

• This is where we post ALL updates, so please check it regularly. It is your responsibility to check for announcements. If you need help with settings for this app, please reach out to a board member. (see names above)

• With your permission, your youth can be on it too to stay in the loop. 

• There is a calendar section to see all of the upcoming events. 

• In the settings, you can choose what kind of notifications you receive. 

Inclement weather report

• If for some reason we have inclement weather, we will let you know if class is cancelled by 7 am the day of class on BAND.  Typically, if Willard School District is cancelled, we will cancel classes however, with people coming from so many areas we will make decisions accordingly. 

Sickness

• If sickness has come to your family, please choose to stay home and get well and let us know so we can say a little prayer for you.

• If your family needs to miss class for sickness or any other emergency, Please let your co-mentor and/or assistants know. Mentors will do their best to find a substitute for their class.

• Junior Mentors- contact our Junior Director- Toni Mangelson 731-608-4868.  

• Scholar Mentors- contact our Principal Mentor- Diann Ruesch 435-414-1165.  

Registration

• You will be notified when registration is open. You will want to register ASAP as class sizes are very limited

SERVICE IS ESSENTIAL

We are a service-oriented school. In order to keep fees low, we require a contribution of time and talents from our families each week during and/or outside of class time. See ways to serve below. As we get closer to the end of the semester and the show, we will send out specific sign-ups pertaining to help for the show. Dads are welcome to help too!

Ways to serve:

•  Mentor/Co-Mentor a class

•  Play piano for music class

•  Childcare for mentors

•  Help with publicity/advertising 

•  Help organize and run concessions during shows

•  Help coordinate meals & kitchen help during show week

•  Serve on the fundraising committee 

•  Serve on events committee- plan opening and closing social for families 

•  Costume Design team 

•  Stage Manager 

•  Lights and Tech Design 

•  Videography

•  Photography / yearbook 

•  Website manager / Social Media 

•  Set design and props builder 

•  Ticket takers at shows 

•  Help prepare taxes with treasurer 

•  Be a part of the cleaning committee 

•  Choreography assistant 

•  Hair & Makeup

•  Backstage help 

•  Hall monitor 

• Student Council Mentor

• Other_______________

LEADERSHIP THROUGH PERFORMING ARTS 

EPIC - Excellent, Powerful, Inspirational, Creative Character Building. 

A class for ages 8-18 dedicated to teaching leadership and building strong character. Students will be able to learn how to create powerful, inspiring, and excellent characters for the stage. Our focus will be on building the individual and giving them opportunities that will help them grow their personal character and help them grow their abilities and skills as it applies to doing a show and as it applies to life. There will be opportunities for older kids to practice leadership skills and be helpers for the younger kids. We will build our show around the meaning of ohana- we are like family and nobody gets left behind. Rehearsals will be 2.5 hours on Thursdays (and Mondays in November and April).  

EPIC Jr - class available for children ages 4-7 years, who have siblings in the show. They will have a part in the show as well.

Requirements

• Bring script each week and take home each week

• Take time each week to practice music, choreography, blocking, and/or lines at home. 

• Bring a pencil to write notes for music or blocking in script

• Bring a water bottle each week. Only water to drink. 

• No food allowed in the sanctuary

• EPIC musical theater production will meet every Monday in November and April, in addition to Thursdays at the same time.    

• Rehearsals are closed to parents to help eliminate distractions for the cast

• EPIC Jr. will join us for rehearsals on days that we are running their scenes. We hope that they will want to be on stage, but if for some reason, they aren’t quite ready to be on stage, it will be okay as they are still practicing.

• All families with children in EPIC are required to sell at least one ad each semester or buy a shout-out for your child/ren 

• Half of any personal ad sales over the first $40 per family will be credited to your OPA account for any fees due. (applies to ALL OPA families)

• In order to participate in EPIC, a child must be enrolled in a minimum of one leadership education class and one parent must take a minimum of one semester of the parent class. 

EPIC Backstage - A backstage production class for mature 7th-12th graders. This class is offered on a semester by semester basis.

• In EPIC Backstage you may have the opportunity to learn any of these skills below:

  • design, build, and paint a set and props

  • design and make costumes

  • design makeup and hair

  • organize and run everything backstage in a theater production 

  • operate a light and sound board

• Plan to be there for all of tech and show week. 

• You will need to go through an interview process to make sure you know expectations for the class and are committed to keeping these expectations and add positive vibes to our backstage atmosphere both on and off the stage.  

• Class size is limited to 12. 

Costumes and Props

• Watch for a list of costumes and props that we will be collecting for our show. If you have any of these items that you would be willing to let us borrow, please let us know.  

Choreography - 

• Watch on BAND and our YouTube channel for rehearsal videos. Our time is limited in rehearsal. Our choreographers put in a lot of extra work to create these videos for our cast. Practice at home is essential. Please help your child if they need your assistance so they can access these videos. 

Music

• We will provide learning tracks for all music. We review all music during our time together, but it is the responsibility of each student to take notes during rehearsal and put in the effort to learn the music, improve, and practice outside of class. We encourage daily practice. 

Show/Tech week
November 30-December 5 all day (4 Shows Dec 3-5)
May 10-15 all day (6 Shows May 13-15) 

• Show week requires a lot of long hours of practice and can be very tiring for kids and parents. We need all hands on deck these weeks. But the show will be a huge payoff at the end. Please keep this in mind as you plan that week and do not plan anything extra for your child. It is an all day/all week OPA family event. 

• We will need a lot of help from parents to help our show week run smoothly. Please give everyone a little extra grace that week. We are all doing our best!

• *IMPORTANT* After the last show, assignments will be made for all families of the cast to help strike the set, clean up dressing rooms, and store props so we can put the church back together for their Sunday services. We need screwdrivers/tools, drills, vacuums, etc. This is a great time for dads and older brothers to help with heavy set pieces. Many hands make light work.