Shakespeare at The Greystone Mansion

The Changling Child

Today was Z's debut as The Changling Child in Midsummer Night's Dream.

Around 9:00 in the morning I braided her leaves into her hair and finished sewing the leaves onto her costume.

At 11:00 we were at the top of Doheny Drive and realized that the Mansion was not there.

At 11:15 after we found Doheny _Road_ we made it to the Charity Event - for Maternal Fetal Care International that Z was "working" at.

Titania and her Changling Child

1:00 was the first performance. Most of the audience was the parents of the young performers. :)

After the small turnout at the first performance Z went hawking the 2:00 show. She was _great_ at that and might have a future career as a carny. :P

2:00 had a much bigger audience.


Z with Titania and Puck

Between 2:00 and 3:00 Z gave out like 40 more flyers. She loved talking to all the people. We got the best compliment of the day (in many days actually) and I hope you don't mind me bragging about it. but one guy, after Z gave him the flyer for the show and explained what it was about said "That is the cutest thing that ever happened to me." *hee hee*

The last show at 3:00 had a big crowd, with a lot of little kids.

It was such a fun day. Z really loved the whole experience.

Another really cool thing was the Director telling me that she heard that Z's Hannukah wish last year was to be in a movie and that if she isn't working by this coming Hannukah she will direct a short film and another person in the company would produce it and they would put Z in it. She says she loves working with Z.

I was really touched.

Z with her hair down and glittery about to get into the bath

My birthday party

Pere took some pictures of me today for my birthday :)



Here is Little Z on our way out to dinner.





We went to the fantabulous Saddlepeak Lodge with Pere's sister and parents. I had Buffalo Tenderloin with spinach.

Then we came home for my cake


and presents.

Z at J's birthday party with reptiles

Today Z went to her little friend J's fifth birthday party. They had an awesome reptile show.




Z had a great time getting to touch and hold the different reptiles.



My favorite was the tortoise.





Z's favortie was this huge yellow python.



Yikes! Not in the face.

grrrr

So the mean lady leader of my homeschooling group said, after hearing Z was doing acting, "I think they should just breed child actors, like dogs, as fodder for the entertainment industry."

omg! Why is this woman so rude to me?

And she said this while two of her kids were rehearsing Shakespeare with Z, so apparently it is okay for kids to act, just not to get paid for it.

I am going to have to spend most of Sunday with her while the kids are performing but I am bringing Pere with me as a buffer. I am counting on her not being so boisterously rude to me in front of him.

My birthday presents

My Maman got me a certificate at Amazon for my birthday.

I got Keeping Your Kids Out Front Without Kicking Them From Behind: How to Nurture High-Achieving Athletes, Scholars, and Performing Artists. Heh. The title isn't great but I have heard it is a very good book. It is all about keeping balance when your kid is talented. I read an excerpt about this boy who is a karate champion but who's parents are telling his coach that he does not need to practice 6 hours.

The other book I bought I have already read but it is great and the kind of book I would refer to over and over. Cradles of Eminence. There is a great write up on it on the Genius Denied website here.

One thing I found comforting in Cradles was that most eminent people had "over invloved" mothers. *grin*

Thanks Maman!

Pageant of the Masters

We drove down to Laguna Beach last night to see the Pageant of the Masters. I had never seen it before. Basically it is a show where they dress people up and put them into life sized sets of famous painting, with wonderful perspective. They had paintings, sculptures, life sized porcelian dolls, art deco purfume bottles, vintage posters, Japanese wooden prints, and more - and all the people in the art are protrayed by real people, sometimes even children!

It was really beautiful and amazing!

Of course Z wants to do that now. I told her to put it on her list of goals. She said that she doesn't have such a list. lol

Earlier that day Z went to her agents and had a meeting with the person who is in charge of voice over auditions. Z went into a little box and had headphones and a mic and the woman fed her some lines - kind of like a commercial. She said Z was very good and that she can start going out on voice over auditions now. The woman said most the work for kids Z's age is cartoons for Nick or Disney.

Z really loved it.

Really goood homeschooling day

Wow! We had a really good homeschooling day today.

Right after breakfast Z sent an email to her friend Kaytlin.

Then she did one page in her Grammar book. Z is pretty advanced in her writing just by having read so much. But I wanted to make sure we are covering certain topics that might not come up in normal life. So I found this book by the people who make Daily Grams. Z alrady knew most of the 2nd grade and some of the 3rd grade stuff. This book does cover some topics that she hasn't figured out naturally though.

Then she did two pages of multiplication problems in her Math book. This book has a lot of review too but it is still pretty cool. I am hoping she'll be into her 3rd grade book by September. (although I don't know why I still hold on to regular school year thoughts.)

Next she practiced some in her new piano books, a sight reading book, and for some reason, the second to the last song of a different book. I am now wondering why I paid for the whole book when she is only going to playing one or two songs out of it... hmmm, I need to ask her teacher about that.

After piano Z and I took turns reading to each other from her My Naughty Little Sister books. I love those books, they are very British, clever, cute and old-fashioned. I am glad Z is still into them. Also it gives us a chance to practice our British accents.

We did all that in about two and a half hours. I let her play in her room for awhile before lunch.

After lunch I had to take Z to the court house to ask for an extension on my traffic school (bad Cher!) and while we were waiting for the courtroom to open up Z wanted to practice her cursive writing. The lady sitting next to us ask how old Z was she Z said 5. The lady, she used to be a teacher, said that cursive is usually introduced at the end of 2nd grade and taught in 3rd grade.

So I guess Z's lowest skills - handwriting, math and grammar rules Z is straight across the board late second to early third grade. I am happy with that. This is why we need to homeschool. I don't know many schools that are willing to do a 3 year skip for a five year old.

Why we want to homeschool is because we can get 6 or 7 subjects studied in a day and still have time for Z to put on a play about fairies, do a little shopping, watch an episode of Buffy, eat lunch with her Pere, and have a "field trip" to the local courthouse. :)

When we got home we did some yoga and then Z practiced voice, but not for too long because she has a cough.

Then there was some more piano with Pere helping. She did much better today. She has a lot to work on though.

She has eight songs her repertoire that she has to play 1 - 3 times.
Then some finger technique to work on (triplets).
And fixing some technique in her old song l
As well as working in her music theory book
Plus the new sight reading book (which she is supposed to analyze)
And a new song in the other new book which she did in the morning

It is a lot already which is why we have to split it up into two or three sessions a day.

I would love to hear about what other kid's practices are like.

Z's type?

So I made an appointment with a photographer to make headshots of Z. It is $250 for 50 - 80 shots with 2 looks and $350 for 80 - 100 shots with 3 looks. I am not sure which one we should go with. I like the $250 price with 3 looks - *grin*.

So I have a question for all of you.

What do you think Z's type is?

By type I mean if she was going to play a certain type of child in a movie/tv show/commercial what do you think she could be, based on her looks and then based on what you know of her.

I would love for her to play quirky characters that are supposed to be scary smart or just plan scary (like a spooky girl) or a sensitive brainy type. But she _looks_ fun loving, outgoing and cute. (and she can be all those things.)

The photographer said "think Disney" but I don't want to think Disney. I want to think M Night Shyamalan, Alfonso Cuaron or Wes Anderson.

What does Z really like? Well I have mentioned that in musicals she usually prefers to sing the villian's song or the darkest song. When she makes up her own songs they are pretty dark too. Her favorite television shows are Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Agatha Christie's Poirot mysteries. But she also loves fairies and princesses and her favorite color is pink.

So what do you think based on how she looks and then based on her personaility what type do you think she is?


Thank you

stressed

I came home this evening from a late piano make-up class feeling pretty stressed.

Z had a bad lesson.

She did things like instead of playing a triad 2 times allegro and 3 times andante all in a row with no stops she would just play it allegro like 9 times... *sigh*

She was totally off.

Threre were some circumstances - she seems to have another cold (damn summer camp) and the class was from 6:30 to 7:30 tonight, which is kind of late for Z to be focusing.

She also barely practiced at all last week. Last week was summer camp, Shakespeare, agents, auditions and other things that seemed to keep practicing from happening.

Of course this bad practice session has to happen just after her teacher saw a competition with five year olds, some of whom were little prodigies. She told me again that Z could be doing that if I would just have her practice a hours everyday.

I told her again that I don't want Z to be a prodigy. Z doesn't want to either. I think Z would like to learn to play piano so she can write her own music, music that she would probably want to sing. (I am not a clairvoyant though, so I can't say for sure)

I know I need to have Z practice more. I knew that today. But when it was time to practice Z was in her room talking to herself, immersed in some fairy game and playing so nicely that I just couldn't bring myself to interrupt her.

And then later I let her go swimming because I knew she was really looking forward to it.

I try to consistently make the right decision in Z's life. There is such a mix between school work, performing arts practice (piano, acting, & singing), playing with friends, doing normal kids stuff (swimming, riding her bike, playing with LEGO's , watching t.v.) and having down time to relax and create and pretend - plus all the time spent with me doing my normal household errands, well is it any wonder that I am stressed?

I know she needs to practice piano more and now that she is not wasting almost five hours a day on summer camp I know we can get back on track.

I know auditioning might end up taking a lot of her time - but I can bring her homework with us to work on while she is waiting if I need to.

Really, thank God we homeschool. I would never be able to do all this if we didn't. I don't know how people are able to send their kids to school all day and still have time for playing and relaxing much less homework or enrichment classes. (They must be better planners than me.)

Another PG girl blog to add to your reading list!

My friend has started a blog about her PG daughter Kaytlin.

Kaytlin has a lot in common with Z. She loves Harry Potter, Katamari and (I think) Wicked. We are very fortunate to get to meet Kaytlin and her family in real life soon. We can't wait!

Welcome!

Monster House and Gremlins

So today Z did something that I am really proud of. She went into the kitchen to throw something away and saw that there was no bag in the trash bin (the bag was sitting by the door waiting to go out) so she got a new trash bag and put it in the bin.

I was really impressed. Usually Z would have called "Mommy! There is no bag in the trash bin!" and I would have gone and put a new one in, not even thinking to ask her to do that.

I told her I was proud of her.

Then she told me that she also tried to make a swimming pool for fairies in her room and ended up spilling a lot of water on the carpet (LOL) and that she had cleaned that up all by herself too.

Today we had a pretty low key day. Z and Pere built with LEGOs, Z worked on her fairy houses some more, she practiced Poor Unfortunate Souls (from Little Mermaid) on the piano, and she went swimming for awhile.

We also walked to the theatre (it was only 98 degrees outside today) and saw Monster House. It was very funny and the animation was a joy to see in and of itself.

It got me thinking out some of my favorite kid movies - movies I loved when I was a kid and movies that I saw as an adult but would have loved.

So far I have

Goonies
The Neverending Story
The Dark Crystal
Willow
E.T.
The Secret of Nimh
Mary Poppins
Willy Wonka
The Animalympics
The Hobbit
Toy Story
The Iron Giant
The Princess Bride (this one is almost too mature to be considered a kid movie and I don't want to just make a list of every movie I loved as a kid - like Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Back to the Future, etc)

Monster House was not as good as any of those movies. My yardstick for recent computer animated movies are Toy Story and Shrek. But it was fun. It was dark and scary in a fun way. It reminded me of Gremlins. I saw that when it came out in the theatre, the summer I turned 11, I really loved it and begged my father to buy me a Mogwai.

So we decided to rent Gremlins and we watched it with Z tonight. Now she really wants a Mogwai. She promises not to feed them after midnight though!

This was actually a big movie weekend. We also went to see Lady in the Water, the new Shyamalan moviem Friday night. It was very good. I don't know what the critics are talking about. It was funny, and very interesting, and even made me cry - more than once. And there were a few good jump out and scare ya bits too!

We let Z watch it. I thought I would make her go to sleep during the film, especially if it got too scary but it never did. Z cried at the end because she didn't want it to end that way, even though it was the right ending. She really liked it to.

I wonder what movies are going to be her favorite childhood movies?

fairy princess

Z has been really into fairies recently. Remember the Princess party?

Well for awhile Z was really into princesses and reading everything about them. Now it is fairies. She has collected several faux non-fiction books about fairies - ones that tell things like what fairies wear, eat, and the magic they can do etc.

She really likes The Secret World of Fairies that came with four fairy dolls.

I was talking on the phone with my Maman today and she told me she has been making fairy homes - like naturalistic doll houses. Z and I were inspired to create homes for her new fairy dolls.


This was the mess she created with the craft supplies. So far she put the materials for the fairy homes into the boxes. See if you can find the fairies.

Woodland fairy

Water Fairy

Flower Fairy

Eventide Fairy

Last Day of Summer Camp

Yes!!!

But Z was sad to see it end today. She is worried that she might not get to see her little friend J again. She may be right. J is going to this or another camp for the whole summer because both her parents work fulltime. People are so busy today that it can be hard to get together.

Today was Z's musical production in her Extinct is Forever class. It was pretty cute. I was waiting outside with the other parents before the performance and talking to some that I hadn't met before. This one woman was telling another how her daughter wants to skip 1st and go right into 2nd next September. But the mom was really against that and basically likened a grade skip to child abuse and "stealing" her daughter's childhood.

How annoying!

I agree that skipping isn't for everyone but jeez... apparently she hasn't read Genius Denied. I would have been fine if she said "Skipping is not right for our family" or something like that. What really bothered me was her judgemental attitude. I certainly felt attacked given what Z is doing.


I know I am probably going to face a lot of negativity from parents who think that having a child "working" as an actor is stealing her childhood. And I understand their fears, I have them myself. I can only hope that people trust me enough to understand that I will always protect my child and teat my reasons for doing this are for her benefit not my own.

I have already had to deal with people judging me for Z taking Japanese or knowing math when she was four or learning to play the piano at 4 1/2. They can't imagine that a child would want to do those things. They can't imagine that a child would love to learn and demand to be taught at an accelerated pace.

And maybe they really can't see that a child would rather be performing - a child who loves to learn her lines, read her script, practice her delivery , perform for the director and act for an audience than many other things she could be doing. Maybe they can't fathom a child who would say "Mommy when I get home can I work on my script? I want to read it ten times! I love this play!"

I guess a lot of parents have messed up their children up very pubically in Hollywood and I would be judged because of them. But that is really ridiculous. It is like this woman I heard yesterday who said that she wouldn't buy a BMW because whenever she sees someone driving like a jerk on the freeeway they are in a BMW. Riiiight. That is logical thinking.

*sigh* I think I am just in a ranting type of mood today. Sorry!

Our new endeavor - a long story

The 1st of July I sent out 12 resumes and pictures of Z to some acting agents here in L.A.. Over the last three weeks we have met with three agencies.

The first one just wanted her for print and commercials. But Z really wants to act.

The second agency was run by a very nice lady. They gave Z a paragraph that was like a commercial about chips. Z went out into the hallways and read it, memorized it, and then practiced her delivery. This agent said she was "amazed" by Z's cold reading. She said that Z was a natural. I might have signed with them.

But the third agency has a very good record with young kids (there are some big stars signed with them) and the atmosphere there was great. Since we did sign with them I will tell that story.

We got there and there were two other girls a little older than Z already waiting to be seen. They played hangman together for awhile. The first girl was called in and was only there for like two minutes and then they said "Thank you" to the mom and that was that.


I was surprised and a little concerned. It seemed so short and then they didn't even want to talk to the mom.

Then the second girl went in and they chatted her up for a lot longer and then invited her parents back to talk. I don't know if they signed her or not. But at least it seemed hopeful.

Then it was Z's turn to go in. When kids do auditions, even with an agent, they go in by themselves. One thing the agents are looking for is to see if the kid is comfortable around other adults and can disengage from the parent. Z really has no problem with this. I heard them asking her questions and joking around with her. Then she did her Snug the Joiner/The Lion speech from Midsummer Night's Dream.

You, ladies you, who gentle hearts do fear
the smallest monsterous mouse that creeps on floor
may now perchance both quake and tremble here
when lion, rough in wildest rage doth roar

then she raises her "claws" up in the air, take a big breath and says "meee-ow" in a cute little voice.

They loved it. Everyone in the waiting room looked up startled by the peals of laughter coming from the agent's office. I smiled then and felt somewhat cheered. I really wanted this agency to represent Z, but still I wasn't sure.

They they got people from the other offices to come to hear her do her speech again. More laughter. I still wasn't sure.

Z told me later that they asked her her favorite book (Harry Potter), her favorite t.v. show (Buffy) and her favortie movie (Harry Potter) and had her speak some Japanese.

They asked me to come in and said that they really wanted to represent Z. They said she has an amazing memory. I asked them what they saw Z doing and they said "Everything!" (print, modeling, commercial, television, and film)

I told them that I did want to sign with them but I need time to think about it. That was Tuesday.

Yesterday afternoon I called them and told them that we wanted them to represent Z.

Today Z has summer camp. Right after that she had rehearsals for her Shakespeare performance coming up at the end of July. Then I drove to the agents to sign the contract at 4:00

I was on the way to the agents when I got a phone call. It was from the agency. They said 'Can Z go to an audition at 6:00?"

I said "Ummm, I am five minutes from you right now. I haven't signed the contracts with you yet."

She said "That is okay. We can take care of that and the audition is close to here. It is for a commercial."

Wow!

So, in three weeks we went from sending out Z's resume to taking her to her first audition.

I was really not prepared. I thought to myself thank goodness I had her dressed in clean clothes.

We went to the agency and signed the contracts and them drove straight over to her first audition. She was one of about 10 kids (at least that is how many I saw when I was there.)

To be honest I don't care if she gets it. I would be cool but we have other things going on too. And I know it takes a lot of auditions before you get a job.

I am doing this because Z loves to perform. And, apparently, she is very good at it. For now it is something she can do for fun, although I did impress on her today that it is not a game or play but a business and that if she wants to do it professionally she has to be act like a "big girl."

It was kind of funny because I never really used that phrase with her... "Big girl." She has always been seemed too mature for me to call her that. But it seemed to be the right phrase in this case. I gave her a chance to backout but she said "No, I really want to act."

I think she does. (But you never know when she might change her mind.)

She was so high when she came out of the audition. It took her about half an hour to to calm down to her normal state of over-exuberance.

***********

In other news Z started to learn cursive today. I wrote some sentences in cursive and she copied the words below them. Her handwriting was almost as good as mine!

She also had a great time rehearsing for the Shakespeare production. She started out with only five lines. But today they gave her some more and added a bunch of improv for her. She is going to be in the entire production. Titania, Queen of Fairies will be leading the audience through the woods during the performance and Z is going to be with her the entire time, reacting to everything Titania says and does. Z even added a bunch of interpretive body movements to go with Titania's speech. It is amazing really. I wish I was going to be able to see the performance.

here is a picture of Z as Titania's Changling Child

drama girl

Z is practicing her lines (and everyone elses) for her rehearsal tomorrow for the Shakespeare performace coming up.

We got the lines at the beginning of the month and she read over the script the first couple of days but then we put it away. I figured I would bring it out again before rehearsals - but I did mean to do it before the day _just_ before the rehearsal. She only has like five lines in this one though so I think she will be fine.

She has been acting out the whole play, playing all the characters, this afternoon. I love her cute British accent!

I am glad that she took the initiative to do this. I just to her to go in her room and practice about an hour ago. I didn't expect her to not only do all the parts but add choreography and background music as well!

Z is getting a lot better about being in charge of her own learning. It is so nice to see. Yesterday when she was practicing piano she asked "How many times should I play this piece?" and I asked her how many times she thought she should. She came up with an amount that seemed reasonable to me. We have been doing the same thing with her voice practice. I must say that it is very helpful to me for Z to set her own goals (with the input of her teachers) and follow through with them.

Oh! Z wanted to act out the play for me know, so I've got to go. :)

One reason we homeschool

Because I am too lazy to be driving Z to and fro to a place that doesn't really educate her and then end up having to educate her myself during what should be my free time.

Sunday with a kite

Sunday we went to the shops by the marina and bought a kite and all of us some new sunglasses.




Doesn't she look kewl? *heh*



The new kite



There wasn't as much wind on Sunday as Saturday





But Pere and Z managed to get it up in the air a few times.

Saturday at the Beach

Friday night after dinner we drive up to the Channel Islands house. It is a good thirty degrees cooloer there. It was nice to be able to escape the over 100 degree days.

We went to the beach across the street Saturday afternoon but it was kind of cold. There we are lot of people flying kites on the beach and at the park, and we wre inspired to go the kite shop the next day.

Something positive from the camp experience

or at least it looks good from here.

Z has a little friend at camp. A very cute girl, J, who is "Five point six" years old. She is just Z's size, which is small.

I wanted to check her out as a suitable outside of camp friend for Z so I asked her some questions today. I asked her what school she went to, ends up it is one our neighborhood schools. Then I asked her if she likes to read and she said "Oh! Of course! I read level 3!"

I asked what Level 3 and she said "You know, books like Willy Wonka." :) Maybe she means 3rd grade.

I watched them play and talk to each other and I was so pleased that she wasn't trying to boss Z around or compete with her or any of that stuff. They were just being silly little girls together - pretending to be animals and dancing the tango.

I don't know if Z will ever see this girl again after summer camp or if J will remain a sweet friend. But it made me happy.

just weird things

Today Z and I spoke in British accent the whole time we were at the grocery store. Hee hee. We are not great but many hours of listening to Jim Dale read Harry Potter, watching Charlie and Lola (and for me The Office and Dr. Who.) We are getting better.

Here is another

Every night before we put Z to bed Pere or I hide her somewhere in the bedroom and the other parent has to find her. We have been doing this for months and months and have mostly run out of original places (her room isn't that big) but we have still been able to come up with some good ones recently. Some places we have hidden her is up on top of her bookshelves under a chinese umbrella, inside her baby bassinet under about 50 stuffed animals, inside a box on the top shef in her closet and under her American Girl dool bed. (Z is very skinny.)

The way this started is that Z loves to hide from us and try to jump out and scare us. She still tries to hide from Pere whenever he comes home from work for lunch or at the end of the day. (sometimes he forgets to find her though.) At some point Z asked for help in finding new hiding spaces. Then Pere and I got somewhat competitive about it and kept trying it outdo each other with the best hiding spots. Z loves it and will almost cry if she doesn't get to do her hiding before bed.

and yet another

All three of us used to watch Iron Chef Japan every afternoon during lunch. (They stopped playing it on the Food Channel recently though) Soon after we started watching Iron Chef Z started playing Iron Chef in the tub. Now during every bath Pere, as the Chairman, has to name a theme ingrediant and then Z, using her myriad bath toys, creates Cuisine. She makes up some funny dishes too like turtle soup in duck broth with a side of muppet. Then Pere has to come in and "taste" all the dishes and declare a winner. At some point Z told Pere that she, as the Iron Chef, shouldn't win every time so sometimes Pere gives the match to the "challenger." :)