James and the Giant Peach at YPT

Watch out for the falling peach! James and the Giant Peach rolls into Young People’s Theatre (YPT) from November 24th to January 4th. This performance was inspired by Roald Dahl’s original story. This version has a few plot twists. This performance is focused on building family values, such as kindness, caring, empathy and respect. This play was brought to stage by Allen MacInnis because all of this year’s plays are about fairness.

Plot of the Play

The play is about a boy named James who lost his parents. James is forced to live with his horrible aunts, Aunt Spiker and Sponge. One day, James meets a mysterious man that helps him to make crystals that will brighten his life up. James drops the crystals near a peach tree. Marvelous and peculiar things start happening.

Characters

- James, the main character. James is shy and always has ideas. James is energetic and active.

- Aunt Spiker, James’s horrible aunt. Aunt Spiker is tall and skinny with a tall hairdo.

- Aunt Sponge, James’s other horrible aunt. Aunt Sponge is fat and lazy.

-The Mysterious old man, whom James meets in his garden, gives James a Bag of magical crocodile tongues that will give him a happy life. The mysterious old man only appears once in the story.

- The Ladybug, one of the creatures James found in the magical peach. The ladybug is very lady-like and has nine spots on her back. The ladybug is nice to James all the time.

- The Spider, one of the creatures in the peach. The spider is energetic and nice to James.

- The Grasshopper, one of the creatures in the peach. The grasshopper loves music and is very gentle with James.

- The Centipede, one of the creatures in the peach. The centipede doesn’t like James at first but realizes James could be his friend.

- The Earthworm, one of the creatures in the peach. The earthworm is very “cute” and doesn’t really talk to James at first but finds his way to being in James’ family.

Costumes

What would a play be without costumes!? The costumes used in this play looked splendid! As a journalist, I got to interview Milena Radeva, who makes props for YPT. Milena enjoys using different materials and exploring what different materials can be used for. Milena thinks helping out with the costumes can be stressful at times because she only has a short amount of time to make the costumes.

Lighting

The lighting made this play look amazing! The most important part of lighting in this play was the shadows. I interviewed the lighting designer, Jason Hand. Jason goes to rehearsals and decides the lighting. Jason loves to play make-believe with shadows. The most interesting shadow in the play to me was the scene of James’ mother and father’s accident. Their shadows looked realistic and clear.

Director

The director of James and the Giant Peach is Sue Miner. Sue thinks being the director of the play is fun but stressful at the same time. “It’s stressful because a lot of decisions are up to me,” said Sue. I think Sue did a wonderful job directing the play.

Alessendro Costatini-James

The main character of this play was James of course who is acted by Alessendro Costatini. “I’ve been acting for ten years so far,” said Alessendro. He really liked being on stage when he was little. Alessendro became inspired to act with a love of stage. Alessendro is trying to convey courage through his performance in this show as that is what he believes this play is about.

Dale Miller-Centipede

Dale Miller, who acted the centipede, told me, “The most difficult part for me is memorizing lines.” Dale was inspired to act by his love of stage and singing. Dale thinks this play is about family.

Jacob MacInnis-Earthworm

The earthworm, in my opinion, is the cutest character in the whole play!  “I did my first musical when I was 15,” said Jacob. Having a love for music inspired Jacob to act. Like Dale for Centipede, Jacob thinks that memorizing lines is the most difficult part. Jacob thinks this play is about discovering where you belong.

Audience-Jenny Weisz

I was pretty surprised to see Jenny, the actress I interviewed before who played the title character in the Annie musical at YPT last year. “I love to hear James singing,” said Jenny. Jenny thinks the play was all about being part of a family.

As the play ended, I felt sad because it was time to leave. I thought the show was amazing and fun. I hope to visit YPT again!!!!

Day of the dead at Habourfront Centre

By Dea Yu (age 9), Selena Xu (age 9), Edward Wang (age 9)

On   November 9, 2014, Voice K journalists went to the Day of the Dead Festival at Toronto Harbourfront Center. Colourful lights lit up the rooms. The halls were filled with beautiful Mexican paper cut-out decorations and stunning flower arrangements.  Mexican music was heard almost everywhere. This festival looked like a memory from Mexican past.

When we got there, we went downstairs into a room full of information on the Day of the Dead. We went to the back where we started to do some paper cutting, just like the ones that were hanging on the ceiling. 

When we got to the theatre for the band performance, it was already very cramped. A couple minutes later, the show started and the audience quieted down. A man walked onto the stage and gave a mini-speech. He talked about the birth of the festival and he introduced the band ─ which was all female ─ that was called “Mariachi Flor de Toloache”. The band members explained that “Flor de Toloache" is the name of a flower in Mexico that they put in love potions.

The show included various songs from the people of Mexico and also Latin America. They have slow, fast, high- and low-pitched songs. They sing many famous songs like Calaca and Guadalajara.

All band members wore skull makeup on half of their face. They were also dressed in beautiful band costumes. To us, we didn’t see a band with costumes and makeup. When they were playing slow music, we saw a musical river with beautiful cherry blossom trees all over it. When they were playing fast music, we saw an empty desert with a rampaging horse dancing in the distance.

 The audience cheered for the Mariachi Band on stage while they were singing a wonderful tune and clapped to the beat while others danced or sang. That is the Mariachi Flor de Toloache. They are the first ever Mariachi band that are all women. In 2008, Mireya Ramos found the Mariachi band. The Mariachi band was originally from New York, but the members are from Indiana, United States, Australia, Dominican Republic, Mexico and even Canada! What you can explore are celebrations from Mexico and other areas of Latin America.

 “My father was a mariachi and I used to go with him to all his shows,” says Ramos, a violinist and a singer. “So I fell in love with mariachi music and through that I would learn violin and voice.”

The band explained their half skull makeup: “The day of the dead is about celebrating our ancestors. Part of the makeup represents the ancestors and part of it represents our generation.” 

“It was very exciting when I learned the festival is happening and is assigned to me,” said lead artistic associate, Umair Jaffer. “Harbourfront Centre has a theme of legacy this year. Under this theme, we are transforming from the past to the present and to the future,”

Day of the dead (Dia de los Muertos) is the time of the year when people celebrate and be happy for the people from the past. This celebration was born before Christianity was invented.


“All the activities from the festival are about legacy, celebrating the past and passing onto the next generation,” said Jaffer.

ARTIST AT DAY OF THE DEAD CELEBRATION

BY: Leo Yin (age 11)

Crafts, music, and fun! I couldn’t decide which was best.

From the craft section, there was a great artist, Steve Loretta, who made attractive skull crafts. The most interesting skull was a sugar skull completely covered in icing leaves which was really breath-taking since the leaves looked real.

He made about four types of crafts for the Day of the Dead celebration. Loretta said, “I started making the these crafts five years ago when I was running a children’s workshop on making the sugar skulls in 2009 at the Brick Works, which made me now have a good memory of how to make them.”

There were paper skulls, sugar skulls, full skeletons, and skull decorations. The biggest question in my head was how he created so many decorations for the celebration and did not run out of ideas.

 “I was inspired from my heart to make these creations and that is just a thing I like to do,” Loretta said.

He even made a sugar skull kit with which to decorate your own sugar skull with icing. The decorations came with eye catching colours and irresistible style.

This is a Mexican celebration to respect the dead. Next time don’t forget to have fun with some awesome Day of the Dead crafts!

On Tuesday, November 18, 2014, Voice K went to the media opening of the Ontario Science Center's newest exhibit, "Brain – The Inside Story."  The experience was so educational, fun, and even weird!

 The Exhibition:
by Dea Yu (age 9), Michelle Zhou (age 9) and Jeffrey Li (age 9) 


The first thing we saw when we walked into the doors of the Brain exhibition was a large amount of tangled wires covering the ceiling. At first I felt very confused, but then I read a sign and suddenly I understood. This is what it looks like in a brain.

As I moved on, I learned more and more fascinating facts. Did you know that if you have shorter memory it is because you don’t get enough sleep? Also, did you know that there are about 100 billion neurons present in the human brain? That’s about 15 times the total human population on earth!

There were activities and games at every turn. There was a stacking game, a tracing game, a language game, a map route game, and lots more!

The tracing game had you trace a shape while looking at your actions in a mirror, so you can only see what you are doing through the mirror. There was a Beginner Shape, which was a triangle. The Advanced Shape was a star. Warning: this activity is easier said than done, but it gets easier over time. It was an example of How-to Memory.

The stacking game is a simplified version of the Towers of Hanoi, where two people can compete against each other. There was also a screen that showed you what happens in your brain when you do things. For example, it showed what happens in your brain when you steal a cookie from mom,  when you're happy, or when you’re hungry.  

There were plenty of strange facts as well. One of the games taught you that things can be easier to memorize when they are in groups that make sense. Plus, there were facts about memory. There was one guy who memorized 2254 digits of π!

Also, we learned that descriptive words can play tricks on your mind. There was also one activity that told you to read two columns that had colored words in them. Column A had words like black, red, and white printed in the color of the words. Column B had the same words, but printed in different colors. Then you had to use the clock above to time someone not to read the words, but to say the color they are printed in. You will notice that Column B takes longer.

We interviewed two guests at the exhibition, Alicia Hilderley and Andrew Barr.

Alicia is a Ph.D. student at the University of Toronto. She works part-time for the Holland-Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, one of the organizers for the event.  She gets to work with lots of kids and play interactive games with them.

Alicia claims to like everything about the exhibit, but feels that having more games, which is already her favorite part, would make the place even more attractive. Her number-one activity is "Stacking Cubes." Though Alicia is an expert on brains, she still learned lots of new and interesting things at the exhibition. "It's very inspiring," Alicia concluded.

Andrew is also learning about the brain at school – its function, makeup, and evolution. He said that his experience at the science center would help him indefinitely during his studies. Andrew found the exhibit very fun and exciting because it was his first time at the facility in many years and he was able to gain a lot of knowledge from the trip. Above all, Andrew liked the languages activity, as he felt that it revealed the substantial differences between some of the languages that are spoken around the world.

Interview with Dr. Elaine Bidiss
by Amelie Zhou (age 9) 

Elaine Bidiss is a scientist at the Bloorview Research Institute and a Professor at the University of Toronto’s Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering. 

She was developing a new way to let kids have fun while waiting in the waiting room of Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital. She didn't want kids to be bored, but, in an even worse scenario, anxious. Anxiety could result in resistance to treatment, worry, and fighting to not go back to the rehab center. Boredom is just a minor problem, but anxiety proves to be a major problem. They didn't want kids to have a bad memory of the place.

The problem was, they couldn't use toys that involved touching surfaces that everyone touches, because contagious viruses could spread very easily just at a touch. That meant iPads, computers, dolls, hand-activated toys were out of the question. What about bubble machines? That was a good question. It only involved looking at something. However, it’s still no good ─ that interested parents for about 5 minutes, and kids for about 5 seconds. The hospital tried so many things, and after years of experimenting, they came up with a great toy that involved the art of waiting. There was a colourful carpet on the floor and by standing on the squares, floor sensors under the carpet send messages to a big screen. The longer you stand there, the prettier the pictures and sounds will become. Now, parents and kids alike can enjoy growing a garden together!

We also wanted to know why she chose to study the brain. She thought that the brain was a sort of magical thing, and she thought that it was important to know how your brain works, how you learn, how you think. 

 “We want to make sure that kids with disabilities can do things all kids like to do and have fun doing it,  so we design technology that makes it easier for kids to do those sorts of things,” Dr. Bidiss said. We asked a few questions on the brain itself, and learned that playing piano is good for the brain. If you want to improve someone’s brain, it takes practice and willingness. When we asked her why she thinks the brain is located in our heads, she laughed and said she thinks it makes it harder to be damaged, compared to being located in the foot or hand.              

Cavalcade of Lights
by Sarah Ning (age 12) and Katie Wang (age 12)

The lights, the music, and the magic─everything is on fire when you’re at the Cavalcade of Lights! From carols to dancing, instruments to fireworks, there’s absolutely nothing you won’t enjoy at this incredible event. On Saturday, November 29, 2014, the 48th year of this festival took place at the Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto to celebrate Christmas.

Before the show, we interviewed the Programming Supervisor at Toronto Cultural Events, Kerri McDonald. She says that the most challenging part of her job is last minute changes.

“We’ve been trained to just roll with that, to just go like, ‘Oh well, too bad, so sad’ and let’s get on with Plan B.” McDonald says.

McDonald and her team began preparing for this event in February, and have been working hard on it since, especially in the summer and fall. The 60 foot tall Christmas tree also took a long time to set up, so that it could wow the audience with its 12,000 bright lights.

This year’s Cavalcade of Lights was different from last year’s. McDonald and the staff decided that they wanted a “hip-hop Christmas.”

“We just thought it would be fun to do something a little different, a little edgier,” she says.

At approximately 7 o’clock, it was the moment that everyone was waiting for! The show had finally started and thousands of people gathered around to watch the performance come to life. Everyone was jittery with excitement.

The Drumline started off the show with some superb drumming! Next, the a cappella group Retrocity sang some Christmas carols. A cappella is singing without any instruments, using only voices to create music.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1! Finally, the enormous Christmas tree was lit up! This was the official lighting of Toronto’s Christmas tree. Thousands of lights shone brightly on the tall tree. Never had we ever heard such loud and enthusiastic cheering. The beautiful decoration, the shining lights, it was absolutely amazing. The massive tree made everyone speechless. We could really tell that the staff put a lot of work and effort into it.

After the lighting of the tree, there were performances by various hip hop artists and dancing by the Collective Elite Dancers. The show featured Kardinal Offishall, Kellylee Evans, and Maestro Fresh Wes singing some Christmas songs with a twist of hip hop.

At around 8:20 pm, the fireworks went off. It was a brilliant display of colorful fireworks. There was even fire coming from the top of a building! The audience was awed by this spectacular. There was an explosion of many fireworks, all at once; the magic really caught everyone’s attention. In our opinion, the fireworks were one of the best parts of the entire show!

To finish off the show, the Cavalcade of Lights featured Shad, an up and coming hip hop artist.

This event was truly outstanding! It’s impossible to describe in words how exciting this experience was. It was a pleasure to be able to come, and we are definitely returning next year. 

By Sarah Ning (age 12)

What are you waiting for? Hurry up, or you'll be late for the "To Kill a Mocking bird" play at the Toronto's Young People's Theater (YPT)! From October 6 to November 2, the successful 1960 classic was turned into a play, by artistic director Allen Macinnis.

"This whole season is about fairness," says director Macinnis, "This play, and all the plays in this season have some idea of fairness. This is a play that's all about that."

The play is set in 1935. It is about a young girl named Scout who, while growing up, learns more about the way of life. She lives with her brother Jem, her widowed father Atticus Finch, and her maid Calpurnia. During the summer, she and Jem befriend a boy named Dill. They all share an obsession with the Radley house, because of a mysterious man who lives there: Arthur Radley, but the kids call him Boo. Soon after, the children's father, who is a lawyer, takes on a difficult case that includes a black man named Tom Robinson, who is accused of raping a white woman. Scout and Jem go on a journey which will teach them about racism, injustices, and simply, the ways of humanity and life.

Macinnis really likes the part where the jury reveals that Tom Robinson is guilty and the children was shocked by the ruling. He loved that because children should be shocked and outraged and that this is what racism can be like. His favourite part of being the artistic director is casting for the show. Macinnis says that trying to find the right people to play each character is difficult, but it’s really fun to do.

The opening night has full house and the theatre is packed with people. The show in my opinion is a very creative, original work of art. I personally liked the setting ─ how they made the beautiful trees  ─ because it's extremely unique and imaginative. I also really liked how Scout is both the main character and the narrator of the play. It's really cool that while everyone is acting their own part in the scene, Scout is simply just narrating the story; it's as if the cast pretends she's invisible!  The YPT turned the novel into such an amazing play!