backstage pics

chanda, deychen and korrina . . 

morgana, deychen and chanda . . 

morgana, deychen and silvie . . 

deychen and leigh . .

on the job

 

 

another pic from the show

do you see the girl on the left peeking out at you?

a pic from the show

i've been taking pictures of guys and dolls for the past four nights. here's my favorite.

costume load-in

loading in on a cold day . . 34 degrees!!!

 

ready to go!!

schoolwork, babysitting and the costume shop

 morgana was up early this morning to do her schoolwork and practice guitar.

at 11 tsamaret and moriah came over with their new american girl dolls: kaya and . . julie. julie is from the 1970's . . a very ancient time!

they had a picnic with kirsten and samantha . . chanda was not very enthusiastic when tsamaret said to her "you can get your american girl doll out to play with my doll, chanda." growing up . . dolls are no longer very exciting. i'm glad we made the trip to ag place last summer when she still wanted to go.

 at 2 pm we went to janet's to help with the costumes for bye, bye birdie.

to get that '50's look, all the skirts and dresses had to be starched.

so much to do!

the first day of december, errands, and a christmas carol

we started our morning with lighting our advent candle from a child's dream come true. i can't believe it's december first, and only twenty four days until christmas. this is a picture of morgana and chanda from last year.

(a lord and taylor's holiday window from last year)

after that the day went very quickly. the girls managed to do some workbook lessons before we went out. morgana had a babysitting job, korrina had dress rehearsal and a show, chanda had chorus in the evening. but first chanda and i went to 28th street to the plant stores to get a few more paperwhite bulbs (we had given them out as party favors at the ice skating party). i'd like to put about six or seven of them in planters on the windowsill for the holidays. we stopped at books of wonder on the way home to meet morgana who was there with the little girls she looks after. the new cafe is now alice's teacup. they have delicious scones, cupcakes and . . tea, of course. we then stopped at lionbrand to buy yarn for korrina that she needs in order to make kitties for the craft fair. then we went home and i managed to get dinner started and walk the dog while chanda did a little violin practice before we left for chorus. at chorus i wanted to start my next knitting project, but i left my pattern at home. instead, i began reading the current book the study group is discussing, michael howard's educating the will. instead of reading, i fell asleep. well, at least i had a nice little cat nap before heading over to the hudson guild theatre for the homeschooler's production of a christmas carol. because of my nap, i was able to stay awake for the entire show.

it was a wonderful production. the set was minimalist with the use of a scrim for scenes introduced by the three ghosts of christmas past, present and yet to come. the costumes were gorgeous (my friend janet is a true artist, with an elegant vision she knows how to present), and the direction for the actors was clear and precise. songs and movement were simple and allowed the (very!) young actors to stay focused on their lines and motivation. chanda and i really enjoyed the show (and the person who ran the lights did an amazing job!). morgana is going to try and see it on sunday.

and now i better get some sleep.

this evening we read a poem from diane goode's american christmas:

december
by aileen fisher

i like days
with a snow-white collar,
and nights when the moon
is a silver dollar,
and hills are filled
with eiderdown stuffing
and your breath makes smoke
like an engine puffing.

i like days
when feathers are snowing
and all the eaves
have petticoats showing,
and the air is cold,
and the wires are humming,
but you feel all warm . . .
with christmas coming!

little shop photos

here are the photos my friend sent to me of the homeschooling production of little shop of horrors. i love the purple and green janet chose for audrey, and how it played out in the rest of the show.

rainy days and wednesdays

kaas glassworks has beautiful glass dishes and coasters for holiday gifts. i love walking in and looking around for gift possibilities at this time of year. and the store is always decorated so lovely at holiday time.

when we woke this morning the rain was pouring down. chanda and i were tempted to not attend the afternoon dance class, but morgana was determined. so, after our morning reading, i walked them to the Y for their duncan dance class. then i walked to the library to return some books. i was about two blocks away when the sky just poured buckets of water on me. i was drenched.

at last the rain abated for the walk home from the library, which is when i took these pictures. the light was grey and subdued. i love the aftermath of a rainstorm.

-----

after picking chanda up from the duncan dance class (morgana and korrina were at HB studios for tech work on the christmas production), we stopped at the wings theatre to see how janet was doing with the nychea production of the little shop of horrors. she has been working on the costumes, set AND props. last week she told me she thought she was in over her head, but she has persevered and has really outdone herself. the costumes are colorful, fun and just . . amazing! especially the audrey plant. the colors she chose that run throughout the show help to pull the entire production together and help to make everyone feel great and look great singing. i hope i can get some photos that do justice to the handwork that has gone into the skirts and jackets, and the colors that were picked. this evening chanda went around with the camera while i ironed backstage and helped pin scarves on actors. chanda and i went to help sew . . we didn't realize it was opening night!!! all of a sudden actors were taking places! we ran out into the audience and took seats next to some friends. it was a fun show.

here's a photo of camille and caslyn putting a last minute brick wall on mushnik's office windows. caslyn also added some window bars, just to make it skid row authentic.

after documenting the set work that was being done, chanda came and took over the ironing. we both like to iron, which is good, since janet abhors it!

late evening theatre performance

in the evening we went to see our friends perform in our homeschooling production of the wind in the willows. here you can see cindi playing crew and sweeping the stage.

lizette and i made sure to get there early for good seats. all of us enjoyed the show and tessa was especially wonderful as a fairy dancer and ferret and a traveler. even in the smallest of roles, you could tell that her inner world was very full. she was captivating and we enjoyed her performance immensely.

concession duty at annie and closing night

i've been helping out at annie by selling all the delicious food people have been preparing (including some of my own pasta salad). it gets very crazy when intermission happens and it was good i slipped in during the afternoon rush, not that madeline couldn't handle it (she is THE super food seller and organizer), but she did look a trifle flushed, surrounded as she was by a starving pack of nychea members. i stayed for the last show and enjoyed all the final accolades . . kudos to all the players, the crew, the stage manager (!), the costume designers, the set designers, the wranglers . . and to leCee. (m and c and i helped janet load up all her costumes . . bags and bags! we did three trips in someone's SUV.)

annie's stage manager

k has been doing a great job stage managing annie. there were a lot of rehearsals and she didn't want to be at all of them (certainly not with her hair all vinegary and essentially oiled, a necessary preventative that happily paid off), but she persevered and was a big help to director leCee. i hear from some players that she keeps a "strict" backstage (to the relief, i think, of some beleaguered moms) and runs things efficiently. m and c and i certainly enjoyed her brief onstage scene change appearances to carry off large tables with, seemingly, just her pinky.

up and running

annie is up and running. we went to see it last night. it was a lot of fun and the costumes were beautiful! it was exhausting (the scene changes can be a nightmare), but k and everyone did a great job and now, hopefully, all will be smooth sailing.