Everybody Do The Charleston

November 17, 2011

Ah, my little drama queen is putting her dramatics to good use! She's a party-goer and dancer in her school's production of Charleston. She absolutely loved the experience --this is her third year in a row being involved in the school play, and as far as I can tell, she intends to continue trying to find her way to the stage again in the years to come.

Danielle with her friend Steph, who also played on her indoor soccer team. I just love how sweet these girls are to each other!

Hello Dolly

July 31, 2011


Bree decided to audition for a role in the ensemble of the local community theater's production of Hello Dolly this summer. It's her last hurrah in theater in this town, since she's headed for San Diego for college in August. The rehearsal schedule was grueling, and the dance numbers were intricate and difficult, but the cast pulled off a show they could really be proud of.

Rehearsal for Dolly



Bree with some of her friends from the cast
The very impressive waiters' scene.Bree is the middle chef in all white. The leaps in the the waiters' scene, especially at the tempo they had to dance, were pretty amazing. I was tired just watching them all!

Closing Night of Hairspray

May 29, 2011

Hairspray closed Saturday night--the last high school show for all of our kiddos. Nicole's mom and I decided to get flowers for some of our little darlins. The kids had a great run, and Saturday night's show was the best one yet. Great high note to go out on!

Marlowe, Bree, and Nicole
This might have been the first time some of these boys have been given flowers. They don't appear to have any idea what to do with them. (Austin, Kyle, and Alberto)

The beautiful Miss Sarah Mayo came to see her good friend Bree on closing night. : )

Hairspray Opening Night

May 15, 2011

Last weekend was the opening of Buchanan's production of "Hairspray." Bree plays Shelly, one of the Council kids. It was so much fun seeing all the hard work and effort of all the kids pay off--the production was really entertaining! Doug and I went with Lisa and Larry, Courtney and Justin, and Nicholas and Danielle. Despite a few audio hiccups in the show, it was a great opening night.

Kyle, Bree, Aaron, Shelby, Austin, Marlowe, Cody, and Dhan after the show
Shelby and Bree
Julie Andrews (drama teacher) and me
Bree and Cassie
Maddie and Bree
Lena and Alberto
Skye and Kyle
Council partners
Nicole, Bree, Shelby, Marlowe, and Austin
Nicole and Austin

Baskin Robbins Night

April 27, 2011

What's the best way to end a three and a half hour drama rehearsal? Ice cream, of course! Baskin Robbins 31 cent night, to be specific. If you've never tried their World Class Chocolate, you are seriously missing out. But if that's not your cup of tea, that's just fine. More for me!

To Be, Or Not To Be...

January 29, 2011

That is the question, no? For Bree, it was To Be Or Not To Be in our school's production of Hamlet. She wasn't thrilled about it; her interest falls much more in line with the musical theater variety of drama. There's not much singing or dancing or gallivanting about in Hamlet. Not much cavorting either, unless you count Ophelia's mad scene, which kind of doesn't count, because she doesn't even realize she cavorting. There's a lot of sadness and betrayal, some daddy issues and some self-esteem issues, and a pretty impressive body count by the end. Bree's like her mom--more likely to want to surround herself with puppies and kittens and rainbows. Happy ending sort of stuff, you know, where the guy gets the girl at the end, and they sing a song and live happily ever after. Anti-Hamlet, if you will.

But still, she found herself somewhat obliged (by virtue of her inclusion in the drama class), to be in the show. It was *ahem* suggested that she should be in it. To her chagrin, she learned that suddenly her after school free time became her after school rehearsal time, all for an opportunity to stand on stage and be A Lady In Waiting. And a lovely Lady In Waiting she was. And she found that as she rehearsed, as she waited, being in the play wasn't as bad as she thought it might be. Sure, it was time-consuming, but she got to hang out with lots of her good friends--likeminded theater arts kinds of folks--so waiting wasn't just waiting. It was spending time with people she loves. When I went to opening night last Thursday and met up with her after the show, she was positively glowing, absolutely in her element and floating on the comraderie and sense of family that grows among cast members of a show.

Bree, Austin, Berto, Aaron, Lena, Alyssa, and Marlo after the show.
Bree and Marlo
Bree and Austin
Bree and Skye

Tea Time for Senior Drama Students

December 11, 2010

Bree's drama teacher hosted a tea for all the senior drama students at her home on Saturday. Apparently, they got up close and personal with the horses and climbed trees in addition to drinking tea. It appears these are the only pictures--I had to swipe them from one of her friends, since she didn't take any pictures while she was there. Looks like they had fun!

Bah Humbug!

November 18, 2010

The curtain finally rose on Danielle's elementary school play, Bah Humbug, this week. After weeks of hard work--nearly every day after school--the kids got to show off their skills in a retelling of A Christmas Carol. When Danielle first decided she wanted to audition for drama in 4th grade, I was a little skeptical. She struggled with speech issues when she was very young, and there was still some residual effect even then, although she had made great strides in improving her speech by that time. In 4th grade, she was cast as a chorus member, and by the time the play wrapped up, she was hooked and already looking forward to the next year's production. In fifth grade, she was once again cast as a chorus member, and again had a positive experience.

This year when the cast list went up, she was thrilled to find she'd landed a speaking role. She had several lines, along with some songs along with the rest of the chorus. I was so proud to see her up on stage, not looking nervous or sheepish, projecting her voice and enunciating clearly--something I could never have done at her age, by the way. She did a beautiful job, as all the kids did and I loved getting to see her in both of the evening performances. I'm thrilled that she is already thinking about continuing on with drama as she heads into junior high next year.

Ashley Riordan, Emma Zamora, Danielle, and Danielle Jenkins

No Exit--Jean-Paul Sartre

March 22, 2010
I have a new post up at my other site. Check out my review of Sartre's No Exit at
Sisters Recommend.

After Happily Ever After

March 20, 2010
What happens when After Happily Ever After isn't so happily ever after for everyone? Why, you bring the whole enchanted family on a talk show to work out your issues, naturally, and if the mood strikes you, burst into a song or two while you're at it. If you're really prepared, you'll bring along choreographed back-up dancers to sashay and shimmy to your up-tempo showcase numbers. I've often thought it would be nice to have back up dancers of my own to make life a little more interesting, but so far they haven't shown up yet.


Anyway, that's the premise of the play Danielle just wrapped up. The Ever After--A Musical, featured Snow White and the Evil Queen, Cinderella and her 'beauty impaired' step-sisters, the Frog Prince, and Jiminy Cricket as a panel expert. We went to see the show last Thursday night. Once again I was amazed at how much fun I could have watching an elementary stage production. There was humor, both intended and unintended, and some very well-played roles. Danielle was in the chorus again this year, but got to be in one of the featured small group dance numbers. She also got a line this year, playing a small role in one of the 'commercials' in between segments of the play's talk show. One line or a hundred, it made no difference to me; I was the misty-eyed mama in the audience cheering her on.

The kids also performed during the school day on Friday for the student body. My sister Lisa was able to make a quick one day trip up from the L.A. area to see both of the girls' plays, so I got to see the show a second time when I brought Lisa to the student show. Lisa scored some serious Super Star Aunt points, by the way, for making the turn-around trip just so she could see the girls up on the stage. That's about ten hours worth of driving in twenty-four hours for a little under three hours' worth of theater. (We saw Bree's play that evening.) My sister rocks!