Students got a glimpse of what life on Mars might be like in the year 2158 during a comical spoof by the Open Dream Ensemble on Monday.

Third-and-fifth-graders from South Newton, Thornton and Shuford elementary schools attended the performance of “Red Planet” at the Newton-Conover Civic and Performance Place, which ties into the educational curriculum.

“I hope they gained some knowledge about the difference between fictional life on Mars and the planet,” said Emily Smith, a fifth grade teacher at Thornton Elementary School.

“It was terrific,” said Xan Lockman, a third-grader at South Newton Elementary School.  “I liked the music.”

In the show, Earth’s first community on Mars is preparing to broadcast home celebrating the challenges of adapting to an unfamiliar environment.  When the equipment fails, the group hosts a radio show instead.

Throughout the play, the dialogue and songs offer students information about space exploration, Mars and other planets intertwined with an entertaining story. The colorful characters, include a robot named MC2, a shy scientist and a charismatic engineer make the show, among others.

“Red Planet” is the newest production by the Open Dream Ensemble, which strives to connect live performance arts with school curriculum featuring the skills of professional artists from the fields of dance, music and drama. The cast members are all graduates of the North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem.

Smith said the field trip provided a creative tie-in to the classroom instruction.

“It pulls their interest more,” she said.

Brooke Simpson hoped the play helped her third-graders at South Newton see that there is much more outside the community where they live.  She said it also served as an introduction to the next science unit “Sun, Moon and Stars,” which she’ll begin teaching next month. Many of the other teachers said they would be starting a unit on space within the next month as well.

The performance was also a lesson in the arts itself, said Misehele Glover, a third grade teacher at Shuford Elementary. She said the performance illustrated the difference between movies and plays, something the students have been learning about in class, and it also showed them a different genre.

Smith said the nearby field trip also provided an opportunity for all the students to experience a live performance. She said many of her students have never have never had the chance to see a play before.

Monday’s performance was funded through the University of North Carolina Schools of the Arts Catawba County Endowment, said Brian Mahnke, director of programming at The NewArt School.