Instead of being dinosaurs for the umpteenth time, this year the boys were struck by an 11th hour inspiration: Willy Wonka and Charlie, from Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, one of our themes this fall. It was Gareth’s idea to be Wonka; he’s quite the imaginative 6-year-old, and has the drama experience and personality to pull the roll off. Don’t you think?

Here’s how the magic unfolded, after a trip to Don’s Hobby Shop (hat, carnation, bowtie, cane) and a lucky trip to Goodwill (gold pin-striped black velour jacket—what a find!). Jim helped Gareth get into his outfit for a Halloween party we attended:

And here he is seeing himself in the mirror for the first time:

And with “Charlie”, who looks concerned about where Wonka is pointing that cane!

At the Halloween party with his friend “Jack Sparrow”. Wonka and Sparrow have been friends since birth. Even with the blur, I love this picture of their friendship:

The following day we carved our jack-o-lantern. Well, the boys and Jim did. Pumpkin is one of the few smells I absolutely cannot stand—gagville!—and pumpkin guts?  Aaaaaaggghhhh! The texture!

Gareth was just fine getting right into the guts, while Daegan separated out the seeds for roasting. He ate most of them too, once they were ready.

Jim was teaching the boys about how to cut safely as he worked.

And the finished product (sorry the pic is blurry):

Halloween night. It took a moment, but lots of adults broke into a big smile when they sorted out who the boys were dressed up as. I love that they came up with something unusual, and very tied to their interests right now:

I do solemnly swear
On my favourite underwear
That I will take care
Of the costume I am about to wear.

The kids then chose their costumes. Daegan opted to be an elephant, and Gareth a scarlet macaw. (He chose the right colour of shirt to wear to the performance, eh?)

They then spent some time with the actor / actress learning what they needed to do for their role:

They were in the scene set at the city zoo:

Gareth’s job (as a scarlet macaw) was to copy the zookeeper, imitating what she said. He did it perfectly! He illustrated one reason some animals are becoming endangered: illegal pet trade. He came to the zoo after his owner, who received him as a gift at a birthday party, grew bored with him and did not take care of him properly:

Daegan (the elephant) came to the zoo after being hurt when hunted illegally for his ivory tusks. Daegan’s role played to his strengths, as he was required to trumpet (what? my 9-year-old make loud noises? ) and flex his muscles, showing what a strong healthy elephant he’d become with the zoo’s focus on conservation:

After the show the boys got to ask questions of the actors, see how one of the key props worked, go backstage, etc. Many thanks to everyone at Evergreen for today’s wonderful free show, and a special thanks to Jacqueline who teaches the HS drama class for harnessing my kids’ love and enthusiasm for theatre. And for being so understanding of Daegan in particular, who wants/needs to touch everything—props, costumes, sets. In Jacqueline’s words, “That Daegan is a tactile learner.” Yup!

The boys are soooo looking forward to homeschool drama classes starting up again next week. Details are here; there is still space left if you are interested. These have honestly been one of my kids’ favourite classes ever, and at $99 I think they are a superb deal as well. (And for the record, I am in no way affiliated with Evergreen Theatre; my kids just love their programs and as a Mom I’m going to do everything I can to ensure they continue to be offered. If you want to see what the kids ended up performing in last years’ classes to get an idea of what Evergreen offers the HS community, see my blogposts here and here.)

The play began with Professor Frankelnick (played by Daegan) and his assistant (played by teacher / director Jacqueline) doing some bird watching, and spotting a nest of whooping crane eggs:

The eggs hatch, and the mother bird is there to give them food:

Soon the cranes get in formation and fly south to Texas where they spend the winter:

While they suntan on the beach, a Texan arrives, and soon Daegan arrives as well to band the birds:

The birds get spooked by a cat prowling in the bushes, and take off for a new area—a large garden. The landowners discover a slug in the backyard, and spray it with pesticide:

Soon the whooping cranes arrive, and see the slug (played by Gareth’s friend). The birds start munching on the slug, and Gareth says: “Does this slug taste funny?”

There ensues a hilarious scene in which the father whooping crane yells out “I’m too young to die!” while collapsing to the floor, and the birds and landowners rush around calling “Medic! Medic!” Fortunately, after using a defibrillator, Daddy crane is fine.

The play then ends with a song and dance number outlining some of the dangers whooping cranes face, and things we can do to help them:

Like, for example:

The cast then took their bows and gave their teacher / director a much deserved round of applause:

Afterwards, kids posed for pictures, tried on various costumes, ran around, and said goodbye to their friends. Here’s Daegan as the evil pesticide:

Evergreen will be running homeschool drama classes again next fall and winter. I can’t say enough good things about these classes: they have been my boys’ very favourite activity this year (and as you know, we do a lot of classes and workshops!), and I think the fun and joy these kids had putting on this play clearly comes through in the pictures. You can read details about next years’ classes below. At $99 / class, these are also one of the most affordable drama options available in Calgary. Hope to see some of you in class next fall!

The first adapted script they read from was Dr. Seuss’s classic Yertle the Turtle, in which Yertle stacks turtles to place his throne upon, so as to extend his lands as far as possible (as far as he could see). It was very well done, and had the kids giggling as they mimed the stacking turtles:

The kids enjoyed many of the songs and poems where they were invited to participate:

And the class ended by making a rainstorm, using their hands to rub (for wind), snap fingers (first drops), clap hands (heavier rain), slap thighs (pouring rain), stomp feet (thunder), exactly as we had done at the Calgary Philharmonic performance a few weeks ago. I love this activity, but someone needs to let folks know that many (most?) kids under 8 or 10 have a very hard time snapping their fingers! (Daegan made a clicking sound with his tongue instead, and all the other kids followed suit):

So, not what I was expecting, but my two didn’t seem to mind at all. And they spent some time looking for books at the library afterwards, a favourite activity.

The final performance opened with a song. Here’s a clip (and lyrics) of the final verse with chorus:

What about animals, why would they go?
Are they feeling kind of shy, or hiding from a foe?
Maybe things are more serious than that,
Maybe they’re losing their habitat.
Food, shelter, water have to be around
Or animals must find new ground.
All their territory is taken away,
Species die out, it happens every day!
Hocus pocus another species gone
Abracadabra wave the magic wand
All over the world, species disappear
Fewer plants and animals every year
Why does it happen, is it a magic trick?
Or is something going on, to make these species sick?

The stage went black, and then opened to all the cast standing in a line, saying “I’m bored!” Well, who should walk by but Leonardo Da Vinci, working on a  secret time machine! And yes, he’ll lend it to them to test out—but “I need a damage deposit”. The kids check their pockets, come up with some muffin crumbs, lint, and 35 cents. They are on their way—to the time machine!

They end up back in the Mesozoic era, millions of years ago, and an enthusiastic slapstick dinosaur chase scene ensues. Guess who played two of the dinosaurs?  

The audience then learns some possible reasons for the dinosaurs’ extinction—an asteroid, volcanoes, climate change—after the cast escapes to the time machine. Their next journey takes them to a scary place: the graveyard of extinct species! The kids did some awesome spooky voices here!

One last journey on the time machine takes them to the future, where they stumble upon a circus. The first act is that of a lion tamer, who—in a humourous twist—plans to show how he can fit an entire leopard in his mouth. However, it being the future, there are no leopards left, so a cat will have to do:

We then see a strongman lift an elephant (Oops! No elephants left either!) and a magician. The magician has help from her companions of climate change, illegal hunting, and habitat destruction, allowing her to make pandas disappear: POOF! And gorillas disappear: POOF! And for her final act, will make these bunnies disappear. But you know what happens when you leave two bunnies alone in the dark, don’t you?

The play ends with each child saying what they can do to help endangered species (recycle, walk rather than driving, etc.), walking onstage after their line. Daegan had the final line, “I can help endangered species by educating people about them” and then the kids joined hands for a sweet ending. And my son—vegetarian animal lover he is—wanted to add a little something:

The audience gave a round of applause, and then the cast members posed for pics after the show. Here’s my favourite pic as you can see the fun the kids had at this, and how proud they are of their creation. They only had about 10 hours, total, from start to performance. Well done kids! And well done Evergreen Theatre!

Parents, grandparents, friends and/or those keen on kids’ theatre can view the entire performance on youtube under “Species Through the Ages”. It’s about 12 minutes long (I edited out some bits where stage was black and music played as they transitioned from one scene to the next).

The play Flushed! is about water and how it is cleaned in our sewer system, and the ‘scoop on poop’. I was not aware of all the details as to how the cleaned waste products are used as the basis of fertilizer and hence are as much “the beginning of the food chain” as the end. In Flushed!, Lolli the bored goldfish is accidentally flushed down the toilet by her owner, and she meets various characters during each stage of the water treatment plant en route to the river, learning as she travels. Here’s the set, before the play began. Note the kids on the right-hand side in brown T-shirts, being prepped to be part of the play.

Lolli, the bored goldfish, swimming aimlessly round and round and round her aquarium:

Jake, Lolli’s owner, dumping poison and other chemicals down the toilet rather than cleaning up properly.

The actor who played Jake played many other roles in the play, including Tilapia the tilapia fish (“I had practical parents”) that Lolli meets in the first stage of the water treatment plant, and “Peter Poo”, here. Yes, we watched a poo sing and dance with sludge (the boys) and scum (the girls). The actor did different accents for each character, and was very funny and enthusiastic. Peter Poo had a “proper British accent” for extra juxtapositional humour.

Bacteria and Lolli in a slow-motion fight, as Lolli tried to save the remains of her friend Peter that the bacteria is eating to decompose it to be used in fertilizer:

More singing and dancing, with some bacteria kids blowing bubbles for effect:

Everyone waving arms and singing along to the water song at the end. It was well received with giggles and applause throughout—and the kids (and adults!) learning something too.

For those of you reading in Calgary, Evergreen Theatre does programs and performances for homeschoolers as well as conventional schools. Just email them (contact info on their website) for details.

They class began by showing us some of the things they had done. They began with freeform movement to music, and when the music stopped, they were to freeze in “an interesting pose.” Gareth got right into it:

Then then went on to various type of movement based on animals: animals in the sea, animals in the forest, animals in the sky. When they froze the teacher would ask them what animal they were, and the kids would answer simply: “a bird,” “a shark,” “a deer”. Except, of course, my little comedian. Here he is moving like “a type of bird, and the type of bird I am being is called a raptor.” This elicited a few chuckles from the audience:

Then the kids demonstrated a game they played often in class: clay and artist. The kids pair off, and one kid in the artist, and one the lump of clay. The artist is to arrange the clay in an interesting pose, and then tell the class when they made. Some answers: “a tree", “a star,” “a cat”. Here’s what Gareth created with the girl with her back to the audience:

And Gareth’s explanation of what he made? “An Irish Dancer…(at this point the girl nearly toppled over from being off-balance with one foot in the air in a crazy pose)…who doesn’t know how to dance.” Cracked the audience (and teacher) right up!

Then they were to move to the music in the form of the animal they were going to be in their little play. So we had some dolphins swimming gently, and elephant walking, etc. And Gareth? He sat on the floor in the middle of everything, and began slapping his flippers together and barking: “Ork! Ork! Ork!” Totally into his character, the seal. Again, lots of the adults in the audience cracked up, and I started getting the “Is that YOUR son?” questions.

Then the kids began their play (which the teacher narrated): A Water Mystery. All the animals were asleep in the zoo when the elephant came and drank all the water! He’d had too much salty popcorn earlier. A detective and zookeeper look for clues, then confront the elephant, who agrees to share the water and spurts it back out of his trunk so the seals and dolphins can swim again, and the other animals can drink.

The kids then took their bows. Here is Gareth demonstrating his seal clap for Dad afterwards. Can you tell he LOVED this class? He told me he wants to do drama again; in fact, “I don’t ever want to not do drama!”

The intro line, in which each child stepped forward and said their name and the character they were playing. Daegan is between Tweedle Dee (or Dum?) and Alice, and I have to say, drama is one activity in which Daegan’s general LOUDNESS and exuberance is an asset. He projects his voice well.

The set and materials for these classes are quite minimal—the kids made much of their own costumes (Daegan designed his antennae out of an old headband, pipe cleaners and styrofoam balls)—but they created many of the effects of Alice in Wonderland in very clever ways. Here is Alice following the white rabbit down the rabbit hole:

Daegan watching the proceedings from the “wings” backstage:

The caterpillar’s entrance, on the “mushroom”. Daegan opted not to smoke the pipe—bad for one’s health, you know.

Daegan’s main role in the play was to explain to Alice that she could control her size. Here he is explaining that eating from one side of the mushroom would make her smaller, and the other side, make her taller:

Alice ate from the side of the mushroom that made her taller; to show this, she hopped up on the stool (only her legs are visible), and the caterpillar went down to the floor:

Then the caterpillar “spun a chrysalis, and changed into a beautiful butterfly.” Can’t say I recall that part of Alice, but it was great of the teacher to adapt the story to Daegan’s interests! Off he flew!

Getting ready for the Mad Hatter’s party:

Bowing before the King and Queen of Hearts:

The “off with her head!” scene followed, then a big chase and finally Alice waking up from her dream. The cast then took a bow (Daegan is not in the shot as he was off to the side flapping with excitement):

And probably my favourite pic of all, in which Gareth gave his brother a congratulatory hug, after telling him how much he enjoyed the play and his performance (“You were fantastic, Daegan!”). Awwwww!

Tomorrow I’ll post about Gareth’s performance.

We had a lovely weekend. Friday night I took the boys swimming at VRRI, where the pool is wonderfully warm. They do lots of rehab stuff there, so I am not kidding when I say the pool is kept at the temperature of a warm bath. Ahhhh! The boys had lots of fun splashing, playing with all kinds of pools toys made available—pool noodles, flutter boards, diving rings, balls, little watering cans, etc.—and sliding down the little slide. (There’s another bigger slide at the deep end, but we didn’t go in that end of the pool as I had the boys on my own as Jim stayed home to catch up on some desperately needed sleep.) And Daegan swam without a lifejacket the whole time (he told me not to bring it) and the boy can now swim! Gareth clung to me in his lifejacket at first, but gradually gained confidence and by the end was floating and splashing about without me. (I was ‘in arm’s reach’ of course). We’ll definitely go back again for the Friday night swim; there was a nice amount of people there and the boys found the other kids friendly and wanting to play.

Saturday afternoon we headed off to Storybook Theatre to check out Seymour the Stegosaurus, tickets for which the boys had received as a Christmas present. There was a little table set up in the lobby with someone from a reptile organization; she had an iguana (named Uba; rhymes with tuba), a bearded dragon, and a few others. Certainly was a great way to pass the time while waiting to go in to our seats. The boys very much enjoyed the play, and talking with the actors and getting them to sign our programs after the show. The play is about a stegosaurus named Seymour who gets lost in 2010 in Calgary after chomping on a magical bulrush. He befriends a girl named Lily, who lives with her mean aunt and uncle; the uncle is a crazy palaeontologist who is consumed by the desire to become “president of the fossil society”—so much so that he fakes a dino skeleton with popsicle sticks, tinker toys, paint and glue. (The boys found this hilarious). He tries to trap Seymour, but with Lily’s help, Seymour gets the magic bulrush back and chomps on it again, transporting him back to his own time. The boys were so inspired by the play that when we arrived home they immediately started creating their own version of Seymour the Stegosaurus. The argued over who’d play Seymour (the both wanted to), cast Jim and I as the mean aunt and uncle (sigh), and felt their friend Aurora would make a great Lily. Daegan started writing the script and Gareth started constructing the set and props.

Here’s a pic of Daegan checking out the set before she show started:

On Sunday Jim took the boys to their skating lessons in the morning. We had a not-so-lazy around-the-house afternoon of laundry, cleaning, cooking, etc. Gareth helped me make an apple crisp, which was a lovely finish to our raspberry-pineapple wheatball (faux meatball), scalloped potato and peas dinner. So nice to have a leisurely sit-down meal once in a while, as weekdays seems so grab-and-go right now. After dinner Jim did a simple science experiment with the boys showing that carbon dioxide is heavier than air; I’ll be writing it up in tomorrow’s blogpost. The boys LOVED the experiment, and I loved seeing Jim in this role, being his zany, charming, geeky self. Here he is at one point during the experiment:

Like I said, it was a great weekend.