KWC Holiday Troupe Bringing Smiles to Nursing Homes

Our Kids Who Care troupe is one of Random Farms Kids' Theater's special programs! At this time of year, we have a special holiday troupe performing at six different nursing homes around Westchester.

                         

Last Friday, Cast B performed at the Wartburg Adult Community in Mount Vernon. Friday was a very sad day.

                                     

The kids who performed didn't necessarily know that, but all of the adults, including the older folks in the audience, were very aware of it and quietly discussed what they had seen on the news amongst themselves before we started the show.


                                    

I have no greater testament to the power of the Kids Who Care than this gentleman's smile.

                                     

His name is Ray. This is what he told me after the show: "I thought it was wonderful. I'm so glad they picked such nice, cheerful songs."

                                   

Julia White, seen front and center, made it in just the nick of time due to a traffic jam on the Hutch. The kids started to run from the back of the nursing home lounge to start the show. Julia- while running- tossed her coat on a table, grabbed a Santa hat from Julie while already singing- and didn't miss a note. It was most impressive!

                     

When I spoke to Pearlyn, the woman above on the left, she honestly wasn't sure how old she was. "In my eighties; I forget," she said. She told me this: "I loved it! The children have such great energy and such talent. I hope they keep it up."

                                 

The show lasted 20 minutes.

                   

The girls sang, "Let It Snow," "Jingle Bell Rock," "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," "Deck the Halls," "My Dreidel," "Holly Jolly Christmas," "Walkin' in a Winter Wonderland,""Silent Night," "Sleigh Ride," and "All I Want for Christmas Is You."

Afterwards, they had ten minutes to meet and greet the residents.

                          

I have to say, this is the part that really made my heart swell with pride.

                          

Even though there were juice and cookies and friends to see, each one of our Kids Who Care took time to really reach out to the residents. 

                                          

They asked the residents which songs were their favorites, asked their names, shared information about themselves, and wished everyone a happy holiday. They were bright, articulate, polite and mature.

We got a nice writeup in the Mount Vernon Daily Voice here, and many local Patch sites recognized the children from their towns, including Larchmont, Bedford-Katonah, Scarsdale, Greenwich, Peekskill, Rye, Pleasantville, and White Plains.

To learn more about the Kids Who Care, click here. Please note, this is only one cast! We are just as proud of our Cast A! If you'd like to bring the Kids Who Care to a senior center, afterschool program, children's hospital, nursing home or veterans' organization, please email julie@randomfarms.com. See the full set of photos on Facebook! 

Happy Birthday, Audry!

Last Saturday, Audry (whom you may know as Cast F's Hansel from Hansel and Gretel) celebrated her 6th birthday at Random Farms' Kids Theater. She and her friends performed a scene from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, with Audry in the starring role as Willy Wonka himself!

First, we played a fun game to learn all the children's names...

And then our director Natalie taught the birthday party guests a few lines, choreography and music from the scene where Veruca Salt gets determined to be a "bad nut" by special squirrels in the chocolate factory with a chorus of Oompa Loompas.

Audry made a wish and blew out her birthday candles on a special sweet treat.

Then it was time for the show! 

Great job, everybody!

To learn more about birthday parties at Random Farms, click here. You can also see what a Wizard of Oz theme might be like by clicking here and here.

A First-Time Jellybean's Secret to Preventing Stage Fright

We finished our fall Jellybeans training program for kindergarten through second-graders earlier this month with back-to-back performances of "Hansel and Gretel" at Yorktown Stage. While all of our casts did just wonderfully, we are especially proud of our youngest performers, the brand new Jellybeans. Because children become eligible to do shows when they enter kindergarten, the fall performances are when they grace the stage for the very first time. I sat down with Evelynn Beaton, 5, right before the curtain opened.

Evelynn, who was the Sand Fairy in Cast C, described her role for me before the show. "She sprinkles sand on the children when they're sleeping," she said. I asked if she had butterflies in her stomach, and she told me, "No, because my sister's with me." 

It turns out that the secret to combatting stage fright is to perform with your big sister! Evelynn told me about how she came to see her sister in "Snow White" last winter and "Anne of Green Gables" last spring.  "I thought she was a good singer," Evelynn said.  "Then Lillian said, 'Wanna try a show?' and I said, 'Yes.'"

Lillian was Cast C's owl, but, in her words: "I like the gingerbread costume because it's comfy." 

The Beaton sisters are the second and third gingerbread cookies from the right. 

I caught up with the girls and their father David after the show. The most fun part about performing for our first-time Jellybean Evelynn? "Staying with my sister."

For Lillian, it was this: "I liked at the end when all the gingerbread cookies come out of the oven as neighborhood children."

David shared with me why he and his wife decided to enroll their younger daughter in the program.

"At first Lillian was the only one in the family old enough to do the play," he said. "Her first show was 'Snow White.' She was excited, coming home and talking about the people she met and how fun it was to act. She began singing the songs around the house and teaching the songs to her sister. Then Evelynn, of course, was singing the Snow White songs, and we just thought, "Oh, my gosh, as soon as she's old enough, the first thing we want to do is get her into Random Farms. It's really, really cute, just a great program. We could not be happier with it." 

Sneak Peek from Our "Fashion" Shoot

Here is a behind the scenes look at Anya styling Bridget, one of our young stars modeling the all-new line of Random Farms apparel that we started offering this fall.

We shot lots of different fashion shots with Ben, Olivia, Mateo and Bridget in November, and we'll be pleased to show you them soon! Meanwhile, you can buy Random Farms t-shirts, sweatpants, bitty boxers, burnout hoodies, baseball caps, metal water bottles and canvas totes- all in time for the holidays!- at the Elmsford studio.