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Annie Musical at Young People's Theatre

2/24/2014

Hurry up and get onto your seats in Young Peoples Theatre (YPT), because the Annie Show is about to start. “I have seen ‘Annie’, the movie, and we are all very excited to see the show,” said Kratara Gaudet with her two kids, Willa and Thomas Gaudet. They are regular YPT goers.

The famous Broadway show is about a little, orphan girl named Annie and her adventure after her attempt to escape the Orphanage and look for her parents. She gets lost in the city which is pretty spooky, but she survives because she believes that “The Sun will come out, Tomorrow.”

The show is very interesting and funny to watch. This is my first time at a musical, so I was very excited. Once the show is on, you keep wondering what’s going to happen next. Some of the main characters to name are: Annie, Miss Hannigan, and Mr. Warbucks.

Emma interviewing Louise Pitre

Louise Pitre is the actress playing Miss Hannigan. Louise comes from Montréal and is active in Broadway. She has won several awards for her singing and acting. As a Voice K journalist, I interviewed Louise before the show.

Voice K: What was the most difficult part to act?
Louise: It was a little hard being mean in the play. In one part of the show, I had to step on a doll! I am glad you met me before the show, so you know that I am nice.

Voice K: Why did you want to be on the Annie show?
Louise: Because three years ago, I worked in the play “Frog and Toad” as the Toad and the audiences wanted me to come back. My husband also works in the show and it is nice to perform together.

Voice K: What was your favorite part of performing?
Louise: Dancing and singing is my favorite part of performing.

Voice K: When was the easiest part of performing?
Louise: The easiest part is when I know what I have to do.

Voice K: What inspired you to be an actress?
Louise: I watched the live musical show “Sound of Music” when I was little. It inspired me to be an actress.

Voice K: What do you think the Annie story is all about?
Louise: I think the story is all about people being loved.

Voice K: Was performing difficult for you at the beginning?
Louise: Yes, and it still is because I have to take care of my voice, especially if I have performances every day of the week.

Jadyn Stern and Charley Silver with Annie Doll at YPT Annie Musical

Jadyn Stern & Charley Silver

I got a chance to interview some children audience. 6-year-old Jadyn Stern and 4-year-old Charley Silver both enjoyed the show. They even brought an Annie doll with them!

“Our favorite part of the show is when Annie was singing ‘Tomorrow’ and when Sandy came.” The girls said. They both enjoyed the show and thought it was very funny. When I asked them what they would do if they end up in Annie’s situation, Charley said she would run away if she was in an orphanage like Annie’s, and Jadyn said she would try to find a nice family to stay with.

Emma interviewing Jenny Weisz

After the show, I interviewed Jenny Weisz who played Annie. Jenny is 21 years old and a recent graduate of the musical theatre program at Sheridan College.

Voice K: What was the easiest part in the show to act?
Jenny: When Annie had to stand up for herself. I really enjoyed that.

Voice K: What was the hardest part to act?
Jenny: The hardest part to act was to tell Mr. Warbucks that she wants to find her own parents, because even if she hurt him she had to tell him the truth because that is what she believed in.

Voice K: What got you into acting?
Jenny: I have an older sister named Tamara which would sing, dance, and when we were young, we put on little shows all the time. So, Tamara gave me the love for acting.

I didn’t get to meet YPT’s artistic director, Allen Macinnis, but these answers from him through email give us more behind the stage stories.

Voice K: What inspired you to bring this story to the stage?
Allen: I have always liked the musical Annie, which I first came to know when I was helping out backstage on a production that toured through Vancouver. This was when I was in theatre school. I really liked the story. So I was inspired to include Annie in this year’s plays at YPT, because all of our plays in 2013-2014 look at children figuring things out for themselves, like Annie.

Voice K: What do you think is the message in the story?
Allen: Be positive because there is always a way to solve any problem.

Voice K: How long did it take to complete this musical?
Allen: We rehearsed for three weeks but we also worked on planning the show and building sets and costumes for six months beforehand.

Voice K: What is your favorite part of this musical?
Allen: I really like when Annie sings Tomorrow to Sandy.

Voice K: When did you first get inspired to work in performing arts?
Allen: I took a drama course in my first year of university and I got hooked!

I like YPT because they could throw in gales of excitement and make the musicals pretty interesting!

Hi! My name is Emma. I was born in the year 2005. I like art, skiing, drama, bears, dogs, Prince Edward Island traveling and Voice K! I love playing little tricks on my family. I am also a nerd and I love my computer. I am a fan of nature because I like camping in the wild. When I grow up, I would love to be an actress. I was inspired by “Annie”, a live musical show. Sometimes, I may use big words like moonshine (nonsense,) cataclysmic (mega jumbo,) pondered (thinking) and more. Well, that’s all you need to know about me!

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Kidzfest Winter Magic

12/8/2013

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Leo interviewing Cheryll Diego

Kidzfest Winter Magic
by: Leo Yin (Age 10)

Kidzfest started 6 years ago at Yonge and Dundas square. It goes on for six hours, from 11 am to 5 pm. Over 8,000 to 10,000 people come every year! Kidzfest has a lot of entertainments for kids like SpongeBob, My little pony, the Grinch who stole Christmas, and much more. Aside from that, there were also bouncy castles, cotton candy stands, and a tumble bus. There was always a long line for any game or activity everywhere you go. There’s also a lot of walking characters, one of them was a Tim Horton’s cup! Voice K interviewed one of the organizers named Cheryll Diego.

“To get the weather to be nice is the hardest part of setting up this festival,” said Diego.

Peformance on Stage

Tumblebus

Leo with the Lego Man

Aside from the walking characters and the activities, there were also a lot of shows. The one we liked the best is a pirate magic show. Two pirates performed and asked for volunteers in the audience to help them with their magic show. . One cool trick that I really liked was the one were the captain takes an empty bag and pulls out a bunch of huge things. . How is that cool? Well, the bag was the size of a small McDonald’s take out bag!

After the magic show, I saw another performance by the famous toy brand, Lego. “Lego has been performing for almost 40 years! Lego started in 1970 and has been very popular. Even I still like Lego,” said Jodel Jimenez, the Lego volunteer. Lego is surely a favorite when it comes to kids like me, it’s a lot of fun.

“The fun thing about being a performer is talking and interacting with kids,” said Jimenez.

I also got to talk to one of the people in the audience named Rosemary Asir.

“I’ve been to over 30 festivals and my favorite one is the winter fair,” said Asir.

“It feels nice to be an audience member because you can just sit down and relax while you watch the performers,” said Asir. Very true! It was such a great experience watching different characters perform.

Another thing that got the kids’ attention was cotton candy machine. A lot of kids were interested about how the person who makes the cotton candy. The vendor just twirls the cotton candy onto a small, thin paper cone. I learned that the cotton candy is soft and sticky that’s why it sticks to the cone.

Kidzfest is like a dream come true, full of toys and laughs! If you’re a kid just like me or a kid at heart, come to the next kidzfest and have some fun!

Hi, my name is Leo Yin and I am one of the journalists in Voice K. I am 10 years old and I am in grade 5. I live in Mississauga Ontario. I like to play sports, such as ice hockey, basketball, badminton, swimming, biking etc. l go to Credit Valley Public School. My favorite subject is math and l also really enjoy playing piano and singing. My favorite piano peace is Fur Elise. So yeah. That's pretty much all you need to know about me. See ya!

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Illuminite Toronto 2013 Festival

11/19/2013

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Performance at the main stage

By: Leo Yin (Age 10)

At the amazing Illuminite festival on November 16, 2013, there were tons and tons of breathtaking performances. The Illuminite performers flew, danced, and did fancy walks!

The festival’s purpose is to light up downtown Toronto with a big bang. Illuminite has a lot of actors from Winter Magic, a professional performance team. In fact, there are so many people who come to this event that the place is very crowded wherever you go. If you’re short like me, you won’t be able to see much.

“About 8,000-10,000 people come to this event per year,” said Mark Garner, the executive director of the Downtown Yonge Business Improvement Area. “This event started seven years ago in 2006 and happened right on Yonge and Dundas Square.”

Illuminite started at 6:00 p.m. and ended at 8:00 p.m. At the beginning of the event, music started playing while the performers got ready to come out to perform. Most people were attracted by the balloon even before the event started.

Wherever you looked, there were people shifting from one side to another, trying to get a better look at what was going on. Interesting things were going on at every corner of Dundas Square. The things that caught people’s attention the most were: the acrobat on the white balloon, four gentlemen playing drums on the roof, an angel with handcuffs on, and people in silver outfits.

Near the end of the event, the performers tossed a lot of balls to the audience. People tried to grab one to keep it. Near the end of the balloon performance, the acrobat hanging on the balloon threw some pebbles at a Christmas tree and all the lights went on. We met a performer named Nicky Pearson, but she didn’t have time to talk.

“I like watching shows because they seem to be pretty fun and interesting,” said Ethan Yang, a young child. “I’m very excited about the balloon fly.”

The audience was too amazed to leave even after the end of the event. They stood still until they made sure that there were no more performances.

“The weather and the double stages is the hardest part of this event,” said Garner when we asked about any challenges he has experienced while organizing this event.

Illuminite hopes to see you next year. The Winter Magic festivals will go on until the end of this month so step into Dundas Square and be amazed!

Voice K Junior Journalist Leo Yin (left) with Mark Garner (right), Executive Director at Illuminite

Big White Balloon

Performance by Winter Magic

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Let's go to the Ex!

8/29/2013

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Edward with the Pizza Nova mascot

2013 CNE Trip - Food, Dance, and Exclusive Interviews
By Alex Hu (age 9), Edward Wang (age 8), Leo Yin (Age 10)

Voice K took a trip to the CNE on August 26, 2013. The CNE is a very attractive place for kids to play and learn. The CNE also teaches kids how to make pizza at Pizza Nova’s Kids Making Pizza workshop. If you stop by the workshop, at the beginning you will meet the Pizza Nova mascot. Then, they will teach you how to make the dough round, and at the end, you will get free pizza!

We learned that we need to make the dough flat with our hands, and we also learned how to flip the dough in the air. We really enjoyed eating the free pizza. We also managed to ask questions about
the session. We interviewed Dominic Bruno, who was the instructor for the workshop. We asked how
this event got started and he said: “We started doing this session in a tent. We got great results and
the manager gave us this room." We also asked why he liked making pizza. He said: "I like making
things with my hands, and pizza is very special to me. I have no difficulties making it." Bruno has
been making pizza for quite a long time; “I’ve been working here for twelve years!” he said.

An interview with Carmen Harany

Next, we interviewed the manager, Marilyn Stater. Edward asked why she liked to work there, and
Stater replied, “Because I like playing with kids!” Like Bruno, Stater has been working at the
workshop for a long time too! “I’ve been working here since 1981,” she said. We learned that there’s
always a new kind of pizza because people order different pizzas everyday, sometimes with more
than five toppings! I liked this event very much and I even got to film some of the session.
When we walked out of the workshop, there was a whole new long line of kids outside waiting to go in.

For our next event, we took the CNE express train. However, the name is very deceiving because it
moved so slowly. When we finally arrived at our event, we missed it because we were late.

This led us to our third event, which was at the International Pavilion. There, we saw the five-man
dance group, Cascade. They did a lot of fighting moves and dancing. They did back flips and
slow-motion actions. We really liked their cool moves, and we really want to learn how to do them
when we’re grown up. They even picked random people from the audience to come up on stage and
perform.

Next, we went backstage and interviewed some of the staff. The first interview was with the
International Stage manager, Carmen Harany. We asked her what are some of the excitements
involved with organizing this stage. She said: "We bring people from different countries to perform."
We asked what some difficulties of organizing this show were, and she said: "We sometimes have
trouble getting [the performers] work permits to come into the country. Another thing is language.
Many people speak different languages so it is hard to communicate with them."

We interviewed Emma Dennis who is a writer from Voice K. She helps behind the scenes as a
costume character - a ladybug. We asked Emma how her job was, and she said: "It’s a fun job,
because the whole point of the job is to make people smile, so it’s nice." We asked her how she got
her job, and she said: "Carmen's daughter. I am friends with her, and we went to school together.
And one day she called me and asked if I wanted a job. I sent a resume and had an interview with
Carmen's boss, Daniel. And yeah, I got the job." We asked her why she wanted the job, and she
said: "It’s my first job, and I figured it’s not a difficult job. I figured it was a good place to start, and I
found the interaction with kids was fun."

Lastly, we interviewed Maurice Chan who is the founder of Cascade from France. We asked when
he started performing. He said: "I started when I was 19 years old, and now I'm 38. I also practice
martial arts and gymnastics." We asked how he formed the group, and he said: "I found students,
some students who came all the way from Paris." We asked what the most difficult part was. He
said: "The creation. It is difficult to create ideas for audience participation." The group also does stunt
moves in movies. In fact, they are working on some movies such as Tekken 2 and Smurfs 2.

We had a really great time at the CNE and we hope there will be more events such as these for next
year.

Flattening the dough at the pizza making workshop

Voice K journalists meet Cascade!

Alex Hu
Hi, my name is Alex, I am 9 years old. I am in grade 4. I go to Maple Grove Public School in Oakville. I was born in the United States. I am the only child. I love hockey, tennis, basketball, and swimming. I joined Voice K camp for two weeks this summer. During the two weeks, we interviewed people at the CNE; we learned to film and we did funny fake news reports and uploaded them to Youtube. I really like the fake news conferences we did; one topic was about Superman getting defeated by Darth Vader.

Edward Wang
My name is Edward Wang. I am in Grade 3 now. I go to Edenrose Public School. My favourite food is pizza because it is so yummy. My favourite sports are soccer and hockey, because they allow me to play with team members. If you want to be the winner, you have to work hard and smart together as a team. I also like to read interesting books and watch TV when I finish my homework.

Leo Yin
Hi, my name is Leo Yin and I am one of the journalists in Voice K. I am 10 years old and I am in grade 5. I live in Mississauga, Ontario. I like to play sports, such as ice hockey, basketball, badminton, swimming, biking, etc. I go to Credit Valley Public School. My favourite subject is math and also I really enjoy playing piano and singing. My favourite piano piece is Fur Elise. So yeah. That's pretty much all you need to know about me. See ya!

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Tommy Thompson Park Butterfly Festival

8/25/2013

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Kyle and the prairie falcon

Toronto Butterfly Festival at Tommy Thompson Park

By: Dea Yu (8 years old) and William Yang (12 years old)

We went to the fifth annual Butterfly Festival at Tommy Thompson Park on Saturday,
August 24, 2013 in the afternoon. The park is located at Leslie Street and Lakeshore
Boulevard in Toronto.

It took about three months to plan the festival and there were 12 booths that we could
check out.The butterfly festival is meant to teach people about butterflies and to teach
us how to help them.

After we arrived at the park, we went on a nature walk. On the way to the trail, we stopped at the “Wild Ontario” booth. Kyle, a volunteer, had a brownish Prairie falcon resting on his hand. The bird was 15 months old and had beige and white feathers with beautiful black spots on it. At the display table, among a skull of a prairie falcon and a claw, an egg-shaped pill caught our eye. “What is that?” we asked Kyle. It looked like a tiny freckled clay egg. Kyle explained that it was a pellet; falcons can’t digest everything that they eat, so they compact it into small pellets, then cough them out. Very interesting.

Afterwards, we walked on a sandy trail right by Lake Ontario. On the way, we spotted crickets, an orange sulphur butterfly, a Monarch butterfly, milkweeds, a white cabbage butterfly, and cattail weeds. From the scavenger hunt sheet we got from the park entrance, we learned that milkweeds attract Monarch butterflies.

Don with some Monarchs

When we came back from the walk, we interviewed the event organizer, Natalie Racette. We asked, “How long does a Monarch butterfly live?”

“It depends on how long it migrates, so probably three to four weeks,” she replied. We
asked Racette how many species we can find at the park, and she said, “There are 55 species of butterflies around the park.” When we asked what kind of butterfly she would be, if she could be one, she pointed to a poster with a large colourful butterfly and said, “I would be a Swallowtail.”

We continued our walk to other display booths. We saw a man attaching tiny stickers on a Monarch butterfly’s wing, and then he released it. We were fascinated and walked over to his booth. His name was Mr. Don Davis. He’s a naturalist and is from an organization called “Monarch Butterfly Journey North.” He explained that the butterflies he just released will migrate south, all the way to Mexico. Numbers from 1-800 are printed on the stickers he attached so that people down in Mexico will know that the butterflies came from Canada. So far, Mr. Davis has received four phone calls from Mexico since he started tagging the butterflies. He also showed us Monarch butterfly eggs; they were so tiny and transparent! You can hardly see them on the back of a leaf. He hatched all of the Monarch butterflies he released; they are his babies!

Last but not least, we went to a booth with lots of snakes. The volunteers let us hold a
large yellow snake. Its skin was smooth, cool, and slimy. We even had it around our
neck! It felt AMAZING!

Some other things we learned from the booths were that butterflies taste with their feet and use their antennae to communicate with each other, and that some butterfly
collectors preserve butterflies by drying them up.

We had so much fun at the Butterfly Festival, and learned a lot about butterflies! We
hope to come back next year.

Dea makes a slimy friend!

Dea Yu
Hi everyone, my name is Dea, I am 8 years old. My name is not popular, I only knew one girl whose name sounded the same but she spelled it differently. Guess how I got this name; my Mom told me she found it on a website called babynames.com. It is a Greek Goddess name who was in charge of beauty. I go to Sommerville Manor School which is really close to Voice K. My favourite classes at school are Drama and Music, I love playing acting games with my Drama teacher. I live in Mississauga, Ontario. I like reading and all kinds of arts. I am a Ballet dancer; I had my fourth recital this year. I really enjoy putting on new costumes each year and dancing on the stage.
That is it, so far

William Yang
Hi, I am William Yang. I'm a Chinese born in Senegal, Africa. I can speak 4 different languages. I'm 12 years old and I am in grade 7 and go to Hazel McCallion French Immersion Senior Public School. My favourite subjects in school are math, gym, and French. I like video games, making videos, and a board game called "Go". I enjoy playing Go because there are infinite possibilities, and it is challenging. My hobbies are Kung Fu, basketball, soccer, skating, and skiing. I am Tae Kwon Do black belt 2nd Dan and Kung Fu level 3. I also love to read and write. I also love to watch Kung Fu movies, especially Jackie Chan movies. I also love music; I can't stand a day without listening to music of some sort.

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Annie Musical at Young People's Theatre

Kidzfest Winter Magic

Illuminite Toronto 2013 Festival

Let's go to the Ex!

Tommy Thompson Park Butterfly Festival

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