Tag: nobel-ms

Because I Knew You, I Have Been Changed For Good

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Friends, let me tell you a story. In the past, I’ve written about how teachers have influenced me in my life. Tonight, I’m writing about how two teachers, Jean Martellaro and Fanny Arana, are influencing over 85 kids for good.

Tonight, I just got back from the second performance of “The Wizard of Oz and Then Some” at Nobel Middle School in Northridge, California (Note: there are two more performances of this show on Saturday: 2 PM and 6:30 PM). Wow! What these teachers have guided this group of over 85 remarkable young adults to do. I can guarantee that these two teachers are influencing these kids lives in a way that will benefit them positively for the rest of their lives. And that’s a good thing.

The play is an amalgam of the Harold Arlen “The Wizard of Oz”, with a few songs from Charlie Small’s “The Wiz” and Stephen Schwartz’ “Wicked” thrown in… and a few more surprises. I’m sure everyone is familiar with the basic story, so I won’t repeat it here. The kids did it wonderfully. As there were 85 kids in the production, I’m not going to list them all (nor am I listing last names), but I do need to note some particular standouts in the cast. Starring as Dorothy was Shelby W., who along with Glinda the Good Witch of the North (Savannah L.), and Talulah the Good Witch of the South (Joy T.), were remarkable singers and young actors. Also as standouts in the cast were Nolan M. as Toto (who stole every scene he was in) and Melanie T. as Elphaba (who stole every scene she was an… and projected quite well). I was also impressed with Kenny C. as Biff the Narrator, who had a great speaking voice; the other narrators were John A., Hessica S. and Danielle W.. Rounding out the principles in the cast were Trevor C. as the Scarecrow, Nora F. as the Tinsman, Bobby L. as the Cowardly Lion, and Giovanni F. as the Wizard of Oz. Of these, I was particularly impressed with Nora F., who had a good singing voice and a delightful smile. Bobby L., as the Lion, had the right comic chops, but (perhaps intentionally) couldn’t quite do the songs. Amanda C. as Ozwina also did a good job. A special mention goes to our own nsshere, who played Olive Green as well as being the head costume mistress and wrangler for the entire cast. This was a big job, and she has received incredible complements on her work. The rest of the cast members all did great jobs, but didn’t have specific performances to highlight.

Big kudos, however, go to the teachers behind all of this. They revitalized the drama program at this school. From nothing they arranged a first production, and now this… which was better than many local and community theatre productions I’ve seen. The skills these kids learn here: from public speaking to time management to teamwork…. will serve these kids well the rest of their lives in whatever career they are in. Additionally, I know it will instill a love of live theatre, which is a great thing.

Could things be improved? Yes. Some of the kids need to focus a bit more on projection, so you could hear them more clearly. That will come with time. On some of the songs, the breaths need to be timed a bit better — again, that’s a practice issue, and we’re dealing with 7th and 8th grade non-professionals here, so it didn’t bother me that much. The facility needs a better sound system and raked seating — but this is a public school, so we need bond funds to fix that :-). There were a few cases where I noted some miscues, but I’m sure that will be fixed in tomorrow’s performances. For what they had, they did great! [Updated 6/2 to add: The sound was better at the Saturday 2pm performance, and everyone could be heard great.]

What’s next for us. Well, we’ll be back at the 2 PM performance tomorrow :-). Alas, we’ll miss the last performance of this, as we’ll be at “The Constant Wife” at The Pasadena Playhouse. Following that is “Side Show” at UCLA Theatre Arts on 6/9 @ 8pm; “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” through Broadway/LA on 6/16 @ 2pm. We’re on vacation the end of June in Nashville, and when we return, it is “Jersey Boys” at the Ahmanson Theatre on 7/15 @ 7:30pm; “Can-Can” at The Pasadena Playhouse on 7/28 at 8:00pm; “Beauty and the Beast” at Cabrillo Music Theatre on 8/4 @ 2:00pm, and the DCI 2007 World Championship Finals in Pasadena on 8/11 @ 5:00pm . I’ve also ordered season tickets for the Ahmanson, as discussed here, and there’s likely to be a Hollywood Bowl show in there somewhere.

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If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar… Come in!

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

If you are a dreamer, come in,
If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,
A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer…
If you’re a pretender, come sit by my fire
For we have some flax-golden tales to spin.
Come in!
Come in!

And with this, the Nobel Middle School Theatre Arts department started their first production, An Evening of Silverstein, which was a combination of The Giving Tree with a number of Shel Silverstein poems. This was the first production of the reincarnated Theatre Arts Department, with 62 super-energetic kids. So, first and formost, how did they do? In my opinion (as I said yesterday), they did excellent. They all projected well, they all moved, they all spoke to the audience. No one forgot their lines, no one cracked up on stage, no one bumped into anyone else unintentionally, no one fell off the stage. More importantly, they danced, they conveyed emotion, they acted, they sang. They had fun. They became a theatre family. In the words of George Gershwin, “Who could ask for anything more?”

Were there things I would change? Yes. I wasn’t that enamored of the rap version of Unicorn, perhaps because the movement kept the kids from the microphone. Some of the poems that were selected were not ones I would have chosen — I wasn’t that crazy about Thumbs or Hot Dog, but that was more the poem, not the acting. I did find the acting in Tug of War a little creepy (and I can’t quite say why). I do wish they had included The Little Boy and the Little Man and Polar Bear in the Frigidare. I also wish nsshere had a larger part, but isn’t that always a parent’s lament?

Most importantly, unlike Thursday night, we had two Vice-Principals there for the performance, so they got to see the talent of the kids… plus the magnet coordinator saw all the performances during the day. Supposedly, they raised over $2K over two nights, which says something, as they sold no ads and publicity was primarily word of mouth.

I think they did great!

By the way, for those who think Shel Silverstein is only a kid’s poet, you’re wrong. Take a look at this site, which has Shel’s adult works. So let’s end this post with a few lyrics you don’t often see from Grizzly Bear:

Yeah, they call me Grizzly Bear.
They say I’m kooky and square.
They can say anything they want about me I don’t care. (I don’t care.)
Because I’m takin’ it day by day,
And I’m livin’ my own sweet way.
Let me tell ya’ that I howl, yowl, growl like a Grizzly Bear.
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Gather ’round fellas, I’ll tell you some tales / About murder and blueberry pies…

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

… well, maybe not murder… at least yet.

The title of this post is from a poem by Shel Silverstein; the full verse is:

Gather ’round fellas, I’ll tell you some tales
About murder and blueberry pies
And heroes and hells and bottomless wells
And lullabys, legends and lies.


Why am I quoting Shel Silverstein to you? Because last night was the first performance of nsshere‘s drama class, and the reviewer in me must speak.

The show? The show was blueberry pie. Sweet and tasty, with lots of juicy bits. It was a collection of Shel Silverstein poems, together with a performance of The Giving Tree, the famous co-dependency story everyone knows far too well. Alas, they didn’t include my favorite Shel Silverstein (the ABZ book), or even my favorite kids poem (see the end of this post). But it was great nonetheless. How did the kids do? I was very impressed. This was a collection of enthusiastic 11-13 year olds. They spoke clearly, cleanly, and projected. They conveyed emotion. They made the poems come alive. A few were silly, but for an initial drama performance of a new drama program, they were excellent. I look forward to them doing even better tonight.

So where does the murder and the hell come in? That, dear friends, is reserved for the school administration. They provided this program no support. There wasn’t an article promoting it in the school newsletter (but they did promote the band and pep squad). There wasn’t anyone videotaping the program (but they do video the band and pep squad). There was no one from the administration there last night to encourage the students, tell them how proud the school was of them. I’m sorry, but I think that is the role of the principal and vice-p’s: build that school spirit, make the students want to come to school and enjoy learning. You don’t promote some programs and not others. Here you had a bunch of kids bonding, doing excellent work, learning skills that will serve them well in real-life even if they don’t go into the LA Media world — for the public speaking skills are critical in every field. They should be encouraging these kids, and I know there was disappointment that the administration wasn’t there.

Today, the drama class is doing presentations for the entire school. Tonight is the last performance. I have written a note to the one administrator’s address I could find on the web. Let’s see if they redeem themselves this evening.

Oh, and my favorite Shel Silverstein poem?

Said the little boy, “Sometimes I drop my spoon.”
Said the old man, “I do that, too.”
The little boy whispered, “I wet my pants.”
“I do that too,” laughed the little old man.
Said the little boy, “I often cry.”
The old man nodded, “So do I.”
“But worst of all,” said the boy, “it seems
Grown-ups don’t pay attention to me.”
And he felt the warmth of a wrinkled old hand.
“I know what you mean,” said the little old man.
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