AJ Wester -Director
Productions - Teaching Artist
COT 4 Teens and After School Matters
 Pirates of PenzanceChicago Opera Theater for Teens |  Into the Woods, Jr.Adding the element of rap, we decided the witch needed bodyguards that would turn into a human beat box for the 'Beans' Rap |  Into the Woods, Jr.Jack and the cow - it was very fun to have a cow that was a character courtesy of Quest Theater |
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 Into the Woods, Jr.The Wolf |  Pirates of Penzance |  Creating the set of ALICEThe students created and designed the look of ALICE being told in the Point of View of a Teenager in Chicago today instead of and English girl in the 1800s |
 Opera ExposeStudents created a show based around the idea of 'what if opera characters got interviewed by Oprah Winfrey'. In this scene Opera Wind-free is put in check by her Make-up lady pretending to be Denyce Graves. |  Pirates of PenzanceChicago Opera Theater for Teens |  Alice in WonderlandChicago Opera Theater for Teens |
A great deal of my art deals with educational theater. One of the most rewarding experiences that I have had as an educator is helping create the Chicago Opera Theater 4 Teens program through the sponsorship of Chicago's AFTERSCHOOL MATTERS program (for more specific information regarding the After School Matters porgrams please see www.afterschoolmaters.org). In this program teens explored the idea of Music Theater through the production of Musical Theater, Opera, Operetta and creating orginal pieces. The students learned theory, movement, singing,acting, stagecraft and professional development.
Alumni of the program were accepted to schools all over the country in Classical voice and Musical Theater, including: Eastman School of Music, The Tisch School of the Arts, Northwestern University, Miliken, Roosevelt Univeristy, DePaul University among many others.
This work led me to begin a new program for After School Matters called MUSICAL THEATER EXPERIENCE. Please see RAGTIME for more informtation on the MUSICAL THEATER Tab
Other educational work
As an educator, Ms. Wester has worked with students from elementary school through graduate school. Currently she serves on the faculties of both Northern Illinois University and DePaul University. Over the summer of 2023, she will serve on the faculty of Chicago Summer Opera as well as the National High School Institute (Cherubs). She served as the Director of the OPERA MUSICAL THEATER ENSEMBLE. She was on the voice faculty of the Chicago High School for the Arts (chiarts.org),
She also was the script writer and director for Chicago Opera Theater's 'Opera for All' Program. She created scripts based on John Adams "A Flowering Tree", Mozart's "La Clemenza di Tito" and Cavalli's "Giasone".
Ms. Wester also maintains a private voice studio in both classical and musical theater voice as well as audition coaching (Acting the Song). Please contact her on the contact page for further information.