Showing posts with label drama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label drama. Show all posts
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Quick post
I have to make a quick dinner and then go pick Alex up from theater class. He got a scholarship to go to a performing arts school and he started yesterday. He is very excited. He took classes there about a year and a half ago, but had to stop after 6 months because we just couldn't afford it. They now have scholarships for boys only and he applied for and got one. We are still waiting to see exactly what classes they are going to let him take. So far, he is just in musical theater. He is hoping for dance and voice lessons, as well.
I had Shauna's IEP meeting yesterday morning and she got approved for an IEP! Yay! I was really lucky to have the support of a teacher who has known her since kindergarten, as well as the school social worker and psychologist, who just happen to be married to each other and friends of mine! After all the testing was done, it was determined that her IQ is on the higher side of average. However, she has a severe math disability, that only 1% of the population has. Ugh. She also has a lot of memory issues, probably due to prenatal alcohol exposure. I'm so happy she is getting the IEP because she will be in middle school next year and will not survive there without one. I just hope she gets the same special ed case manager that Hannah has this year.
I had Shauna's IEP meeting yesterday morning and she got approved for an IEP! Yay! I was really lucky to have the support of a teacher who has known her since kindergarten, as well as the school social worker and psychologist, who just happen to be married to each other and friends of mine! After all the testing was done, it was determined that her IQ is on the higher side of average. However, she has a severe math disability, that only 1% of the population has. Ugh. She also has a lot of memory issues, probably due to prenatal alcohol exposure. I'm so happy she is getting the IEP because she will be in middle school next year and will not survive there without one. I just hope she gets the same special ed case manager that Hannah has this year.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Yesterday Sucked-Part Two
Alex had a call back for his school play after school, which was supposed to end at 6:00. He called at that time and said that the drama teacher had asked a few kids to stay after until 7:30 to read for the leads. He went in, thinking that he was getting a lead since she had asked 5 boys to stay after and there were 6 boy leads. At the end of the hour and a half, she gave all 4 of the other boys a lead, gave one of the remaining leads to a boy who wasn't even there and gave the last boy lead to a girl. Alex was the only kid there, including the girls, who didn't get a lead. Then she says, to everyone, don't worry if you didn't get a lead, you are still in the play.
Alex has had many disappointments before with not getting the parts he wanted. It is a part of acting and he handles it really well. This time, however, he did not and I don't blame him. First of all, he was on the fence about trying out for this play. They have a new drama teacher this year and he didn't think she was very good. He had joined drama club at the beginning of the year, but ended up quitting because it was so unorganized and she let the kids run wild. I encouraged him to try out because at that school, they had always given preference to 8th graders for the leads, only going to 6th and 7th graders if they ran out of 8th graders. Apparently that isn't the case any more.
At the try-outs, the drama teacher wasn't even the one who was doing the evaluations. She had brought her middle school daughter, one other middle schooler and several high school students to help with the auditions. The high school students did the evaluations. Then she posted the call back list and some of the kids who didn't get on it went to her and begged and she put them on the list. Who ever heard of such a thing? Call backs are never negotiable.
Anyway, the reason Alex melted down was because first of all he figured everyone who was asked to stay late would have a lead and she was just having them stay late to decide which kid would get which part, since she had fewer boys than available boy parts. All the kids who stayed thought the same thing. Another reason was that he had gotten compliments after singing a duet with a girl at the earlier call back. He also had gotten a standing ovation from the kids in the audience after he sang. All of the other kids who were trying out were sure and kept telling him they knew he was going to get the part of Troy (High School Musical 2 is the play).
CUP and Luke went to pick him up and he came in the front door, threw his backpack down, kicked off his shoes and ran through the house and out the back door. I asked what was wrong as he went past me and he wouldn't answer. I let him stay outside for about 10 minutes and then I went looking for him. I couldn't see or hear him, but I started calling and got no response. Then I started to get a little worried because I had never seen him that upset before, but he finally came up on the deck. He had obviously been crying and still could barely talk about it. He finally told me what had happened and I didn't blame him for being upset. I don't like the way the drama teacher handled this at all. She should have known better. It has nothing to do with the fact that he didn't get a lead, that he could handle, it was the way she went about not giving him a lead that was the problem.
I don't know what he is going to do now, as far as the play goes. All of his really close friends got leads. I think he should quit because it is a huge time commitment. That would be fine, if he had trust in the director and respected her, but in this case I think it would just be stressful. My guess is that she doesn't like him for some reason and might make his life miserable if he stays. I normally hate quitting and never allow him to try out for a play with the understanding that if he doesn't get a good part, he will quit, like many parents do. I tell him that if you make a commitment, you keep it. I did tell him before he tried out for this one, though, that he could quit if he wanted to, as long as he did it at the very beginning so it wouldn't be a problem for the teacher. In this case, since he will just be an extra, they won't miss him anyway. I am going to leave it up to him and support him either way, but I really hope he decides to quit. He applied for a scholarship with a local acting school and if he gets that, he will have to quit anyway.
Ugh, yesterday was one of those days when I wonder if I would have been better off childless!
Alex has had many disappointments before with not getting the parts he wanted. It is a part of acting and he handles it really well. This time, however, he did not and I don't blame him. First of all, he was on the fence about trying out for this play. They have a new drama teacher this year and he didn't think she was very good. He had joined drama club at the beginning of the year, but ended up quitting because it was so unorganized and she let the kids run wild. I encouraged him to try out because at that school, they had always given preference to 8th graders for the leads, only going to 6th and 7th graders if they ran out of 8th graders. Apparently that isn't the case any more.
At the try-outs, the drama teacher wasn't even the one who was doing the evaluations. She had brought her middle school daughter, one other middle schooler and several high school students to help with the auditions. The high school students did the evaluations. Then she posted the call back list and some of the kids who didn't get on it went to her and begged and she put them on the list. Who ever heard of such a thing? Call backs are never negotiable.
Anyway, the reason Alex melted down was because first of all he figured everyone who was asked to stay late would have a lead and she was just having them stay late to decide which kid would get which part, since she had fewer boys than available boy parts. All the kids who stayed thought the same thing. Another reason was that he had gotten compliments after singing a duet with a girl at the earlier call back. He also had gotten a standing ovation from the kids in the audience after he sang. All of the other kids who were trying out were sure and kept telling him they knew he was going to get the part of Troy (High School Musical 2 is the play).
CUP and Luke went to pick him up and he came in the front door, threw his backpack down, kicked off his shoes and ran through the house and out the back door. I asked what was wrong as he went past me and he wouldn't answer. I let him stay outside for about 10 minutes and then I went looking for him. I couldn't see or hear him, but I started calling and got no response. Then I started to get a little worried because I had never seen him that upset before, but he finally came up on the deck. He had obviously been crying and still could barely talk about it. He finally told me what had happened and I didn't blame him for being upset. I don't like the way the drama teacher handled this at all. She should have known better. It has nothing to do with the fact that he didn't get a lead, that he could handle, it was the way she went about not giving him a lead that was the problem.
I don't know what he is going to do now, as far as the play goes. All of his really close friends got leads. I think he should quit because it is a huge time commitment. That would be fine, if he had trust in the director and respected her, but in this case I think it would just be stressful. My guess is that she doesn't like him for some reason and might make his life miserable if he stays. I normally hate quitting and never allow him to try out for a play with the understanding that if he doesn't get a good part, he will quit, like many parents do. I tell him that if you make a commitment, you keep it. I did tell him before he tried out for this one, though, that he could quit if he wanted to, as long as he did it at the very beginning so it wouldn't be a problem for the teacher. In this case, since he will just be an extra, they won't miss him anyway. I am going to leave it up to him and support him either way, but I really hope he decides to quit. He applied for a scholarship with a local acting school and if he gets that, he will have to quit anyway.
Ugh, yesterday was one of those days when I wonder if I would have been better off childless!
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Alex's Play
Mike, Jack and I finally got to go see Alex in "Father of the Bride" last night. It was sooo good! I didn't realize from just reading the script that it would be so funny. Alex did a great job, as did almost all of the other actors. There was only one who had obviously not acted before, but even he did an okay job.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
My son, the star
Performances for Father of the Bride started this week. Alex was excited because on opening night he got a lot of laughs. When he went out into the lobby after the play, he was surrounded by people who wanted to shake his hand and tell him what a good job he did. It is always nice to get good feedback.
Today there was a review of the show in our local paper. The review was good and discussed all or most of the actors by name, mostly mentioning what part they played. Only two of the actors were singled out and complimented. One of them was Alex! Since he is the youngest person with a lead role, he was thrilled. Here is what was said, not the whole article, but the good parts, lol!:
"There are some great supporting performances in this ensemble, most notably Kathleen W. as Miss Bellamy. She nailed the role as Mr. Banks secretary, and really took off with a funny characterization.
Same for youngster, Alex S. as Tommy Banks. The playwright gave the character some great lines and a peppery attitude and the B. Middle School student played it well."
None of us have seen the play yet, but I can't wait to get to a performance. Since it is a community theater, it is pretty expensive and they only give each actor two free tickets, hardly enough for all of us!
On a funny note, I asked where the article was because Drew wanted to read it and Jack said it was on the fridge. Then he started talking about how at least it was an appropriate thing to put on the fridge, not like when Steven was in the newspaper's police blotter (twice!) and he cut them out and hung them on the fridge!!! Parents and siblings of substance abusers really need to have a great sense of humor to survive!
Today there was a review of the show in our local paper. The review was good and discussed all or most of the actors by name, mostly mentioning what part they played. Only two of the actors were singled out and complimented. One of them was Alex! Since he is the youngest person with a lead role, he was thrilled. Here is what was said, not the whole article, but the good parts, lol!:
"There are some great supporting performances in this ensemble, most notably Kathleen W. as Miss Bellamy. She nailed the role as Mr. Banks secretary, and really took off with a funny characterization.
Same for youngster, Alex S. as Tommy Banks. The playwright gave the character some great lines and a peppery attitude and the B. Middle School student played it well."
None of us have seen the play yet, but I can't wait to get to a performance. Since it is a community theater, it is pretty expensive and they only give each actor two free tickets, hardly enough for all of us!
On a funny note, I asked where the article was because Drew wanted to read it and Jack said it was on the fridge. Then he started talking about how at least it was an appropriate thing to put on the fridge, not like when Steven was in the newspaper's police blotter (twice!) and he cut them out and hung them on the fridge!!! Parents and siblings of substance abusers really need to have a great sense of humor to survive!
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
My son, the actor!
About a week ago, I mentioned that a friend had told me about an audition that Alex might be interested in and I was debating whether or not to let him audition for that role. Well, I wanted to ignore it, but I felt too guilty, since I know he has been dying to do something with this community theater for a long time.
Last night, he went to the audition. Jack drove him and we expected it to be a quick audition and then he would come home and wait and hope for a call saying he got a part. Well, he ended up being there for almost two hours and he got a lead-kid part! He is so excited because this will be his biggest part as of yet and this play runs for 4 weeks, with 21 performances. He got the part of Tommy Banks, the son of the "Father of the Bride". Rehearsals started tonight and the first performance will be on November 6th.
Last night, he went to the audition. Jack drove him and we expected it to be a quick audition and then he would come home and wait and hope for a call saying he got a part. Well, he ended up being there for almost two hours and he got a lead-kid part! He is so excited because this will be his biggest part as of yet and this play runs for 4 weeks, with 21 performances. He got the part of Tommy Banks, the son of the "Father of the Bride". Rehearsals started tonight and the first performance will be on November 6th.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Audition
A friend emailed me an audition notice from a community theater group that is looking for young teen males for a role that would run from the beginning of October until the beginning of December. I'm not sure if I want to tell him about it because he and Hannah got parts in a play with them a couple of years ago and I hated it.
For starters, the theater is about 15 or 20 minutes from home and they practice every day. Secondly, they have kept them as late as midnight for rehearsals on school nights and then they got mad at me when I said they couldn't stay that late! Alex was 11 and Hannah was only 9. I got "talked to" more than once because I took them out early. I ended up getting so frustrated that I wanted to pull them out a few days before the play started, but they loved it so I had to just suck it up.
I also found out from my friend that she is getting her daughter an agent. Alex is going to freak out when he hears that because he has been begging me to get him an agent for years. Ugh! I don't think I'm cut out to me a "stage mom"!
For starters, the theater is about 15 or 20 minutes from home and they practice every day. Secondly, they have kept them as late as midnight for rehearsals on school nights and then they got mad at me when I said they couldn't stay that late! Alex was 11 and Hannah was only 9. I got "talked to" more than once because I took them out early. I ended up getting so frustrated that I wanted to pull them out a few days before the play started, but they loved it so I had to just suck it up.
I also found out from my friend that she is getting her daughter an agent. Alex is going to freak out when he hears that because he has been begging me to get him an agent for years. Ugh! I don't think I'm cut out to me a "stage mom"!
Saturday, July 5, 2008
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