Glitter & Razz Blog

A dream is coming true here at Glitter & Razz.  Beginning this month, we are beginning a whole series of programming for adopted and foster care kids and families.  This is something we have thought about doing for quite some time and now we have found the perfect partnership.   Starting Sept 28, we will be offering a 10-week afterschool class for 6-10 year olds called Living Lifebook: Celebrating Adoption through the Power of Theater.  The class is taught by Jill Eickmann, our latest addition to the Glitter & Razz family.

Here’s what happened.  It’s quite serendipitous, actually.  Claire and I took an Advanced Finance Class at the Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center back in July.  Our incredible teacher was Melinda Phillips Zumski.  We loved the class.  We learned a lot.  But, the fortunate by-product of taking the class was that Melinda turned out to be a theater person in bookkeepers clothing who, just so happens, is going through the process of adopting a child through the foster care system with the help of the agency, Adopt A Special Kid.  Her social work is Jill Eickmann.  Melinda thought that Glitter & Razz ’s methodolgy would be a perfect match for families like hers.  She hooked us up with Jill and here we are.

Jill is the Artistic Director of Lila Theatre, a San Francisco/Bay Area theatre company committed to truthful, artistic play. Jill performs around the Bay Area in the improv duo, Shades of Grey.  She holds a B.F.A. in acting from the University of Florida and a Masters in Counseling Psychology with a concentration in Drama Therapy from California Institute of Integral Studies. She has taught and directed improvisation and children’s theatre with Rising Stars, San Francisco Day School, Kids Take the Stage, and Children’s Fairyland.

Jill has worked for many years within the foster care system and passionately believes in the healing power of theater with this and all populations of people.  We are psyched as this is just the beginning of this series.  We are also talking about offering programs for parents, special events for the whole family, and original performances.  Keep up with us and we’ll make sure you know all about it.

Oh, and many thanks to Melinda!

"Please use nice words about your art because art has feelings too." -Martin to a 6 year old boy

I am delighted and honored to introduce you to our new visual art teacher, Martin Brecht.  Martin is an experienced educator, artist, and soccer fanatic originating from Pittsburgh, PA.  He began working with us for our summer camps 2009 after relocating from Brooklyn, NY.  He completed a New York City Teaching Fellowship in 2006, earning a master’s degree in Urban Education while teaching art at Public School 94 in the Lower East Side to students with autism and emotional disabilities. Currently, Martin works at Malcolm X Elementary School in Berkeley and volunteers any spare time coaching soccer at Oakland International High School with Soccer Without Borders.

Martin is a priceless addition to our Glitter & Razz family!   He will be teaching our first ever Magic Messes classes (for ages 4-10) on Saturday mornings at Glitter & Razz starting Oct 3.  He will also be leading a special 2-day workshop called Living Murals where elementary school-aged kids will tell their own visual stories of the Bay Area on the back wall of the Glitter & Razz stage!

What does Martin have to say for himself?

What made you want to become an artist?
In college I had to choose a major and my favorite class was art history. The next semester I signed up for Studio Art 101, declared my major, and committed to living the life of an artist. Additionally, my father was an art major in college but couldn’t finish and in some ways I felt like I was picking up where he left off.

Describe your art.
My paintings, printmaking, drawings, and murals are inspired by my work in arts education. I had little training before college so in many ways I learned about art by teaching it. After four years of teaching children with autism and emotional disabilities in one of New York City’s “persistently dangerous schools”, my art became chaotic, abstract, and colorfully obsessive. I feel I am at my best when I creatively combine a variety of mediums with the help of collage or digital technology.

Why is it important to you to work with children doing art?
I am lost as an artist without an art teaching gig. Most of my inspiration comes from working with children. Their experience of art is so raw and uncorrupted. Giving up on their dreams hasn’t even occurred to them yet and I make it habit to surround myself with people like this, no matter the age!

What made you want to work for Glitter & Razz?
I am learning to design and paint murals so making set designs for plays seemed like good practice. I also never went to summer camp as a child because my mom is a teacher and my sisters, brother, and I spent the summer with her at home. Part of me thought it would be fun to finally go!

Why do you like working as a teaching artist at Glitter & Razz?
I enjoy the endless creativity that comes with each group of campers. I also value the supportive, collaborative work environment that exists at Glitter & Razz. I am thrilled to be around such positive energy on a daily basis.

What’s next on your journey as a teaching artist?
First, I plan on formalizing our individual Magic Messes projects into more of a comprehensive curriculum for Glitter & Razz- oh and did I mention- I plan on teaching it! Next, I am coordinating a trip to Guatemala for the Spring to teach art and soccer to an indigenous Mayan community through a non-profit I volunteer with, Soccer Without Borders.

Anything else we should know?
Believe me (I am a teacher), I could go on and on….

Sign your kid up now>>>

This week at Seriously Fun Theater Camp has been absolutely magical.  It’s our first official week of the summer and we are off to a great start.  The camp is small in enrollment – just 10 kids.  At first, from my perspective as the business owner, I was pretty bummed at the low number.  But, as I have been here this week with these kids and this new team of teachers, it has been an absolute joy to be working in this environment.  The kids are truly delightful people.  Each of them is incredibly kind and creative and smart.  They are in the process – rehearsing now as I type – of creating what I predict is going to be the play of the summer.

The theme of this week is Earth, Wind & Fire.  No.  We are not paying homage to the 70’s mega-pop-disco-soul band.  We are paying homage to the earth.  To nature and our place in it.  Let me give you a sneak peek into what we have been doing:

Monday | “What is your favorite thing to do in nature?”
“Building forts with logs” – Kayla
“Lying down in the grass” – Mitra
“Hiking in the rain with mom, step-mom, and dog” – Adrienne

Elements of Nature Brainstorm

Tuesday | “What does nature have to do with us?”
“I know about a lot of plants.” -Milo
“The environment is where everyone lives.” -Sofia
“We are animals.  All animals are nature, so we are nature.” -Emmett

Wednesday | “How do humans harm nature?”
“We pollute the world with cars and factories and other stuff.” -Eli
“We kill chickens and eat them.” -Ajna
“Using plastic bags.” -Olivia
“Making animals extinct, like the Dodo Bird.” -Sydney

And today, we had the deepest conversation of them all.  We talked about the crazy concept that, since we harm nature and since we ARE nature then, we are actually harming ourselves.  Then, we enter into this cycle of harm – we harm nature which harms us back and then we harm nature again – over and over.  We asked the kids, “How do we stop this cycle of harm?”

Sydney’s first response was “This is the hardest question I have ever had!”  Totally sympathizing with her, I encouraged them all to bring out their biggest imaginations to solve a problem this big.  Emmett posed the question, “How did it even start?”  And we got into a conversation where Ajna explained to us that people have to make factories  in order to make things quicker and that makes much more pollution.  I asked her why people want to make things quicker. “To make lots of money and get rich.”

Then, it was revealed.  Greed is a big cause of all of this.  So, what do we do about this greed?  “You just stop!” said Milo.  Kayla said that “factories should find different ways that don’t harm the forest” and Sydney suggests making signs and “making a promise for people to stop littering.”

Creating the Jungle Set for our play

And finally, in the same spirit with which these 10 amazing kids, their teachers, and 3 youth interns are all working together to create their own play where a jelly bean factory gets a little out of control and harms the jungle in which it is located, we talked about the importance of coming together to stop this cycle of harm.  Eli suggested that we “get lots of friends to help” and Ajna, in all of her 8 year old wisdom said, “It might not seem like you’ll make a difference if it’s just you, but if lots of people do it together, you can.”

Our play, Jelly Beans in the Jungle, is this Saturday at 10:30am at Glitter & Razz.  Join us. Maybe you’ll pick up some saving the Earth tips from these kids.  Check back here for photos from the show itself.

The Youth of Destiny Arts Center

We LOVE Destiny Arts Center and you should too!  Destiny is an Oakland-based nonprofit violence prevention and arts education organization that has done incredible work with kidand youth of all ages for over 20 years.  Check out this amazing opportunity for LGBTQ Families with young children…

SAFETY THROUGH MOVEMENT | A 4-Week Series

Sifu Kate Hobbs, founder of Destiny Arts & 5th Degree Black Belt Kajukenbo, will lead this exciting series.

When: 4-week series, May 20th-June 10th, Wednesdays 10-11am
Where: Destiny Arts Center, 1000 42nd Street, Oakland, CA 94609
Registration: Call Destiny Arts Center 510-597-1619
Cost: $25/Family – No one turned away for lack of funds.

In partnership with Our Family Coalition, a Bay Area non-profit that promotes the rights and well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer families with children and prospective parents through education, advocacy, social networking, and grassroots community organizing.

I don’t know if you know this yet but I am sitting on top of one of the world’s best kept secrets.  Intrigued?

Theater.  That’s right.  I am not just talking about the Broadway tour of Wicked (which I have to get it together and buy tickets for).  I am talking about theater in it’s broadest, most diverse incarnations.  From games, to learning experiences, to performances, theater, more than any other art/craft/experience I know, has the power to connect people to themselves and each other.

I believe this because it’s true.

And I will continue to make a space on this blog to bring in more and more examples of this.  I will do this because I believe that theater should not be relegated to black boxes where only a select “artsy fartsy types” get to pay $30 a ticket (or much more) and be entertained.  I believe that theater (in all of its incarnations) has a place in schools, in commerce, in corporation America, in government and all the places where humans struggle to understand each other a little bit better in order to bring our society to the next level.

The example I will highlight today is Playback Theater, an original form of improv theater in which audience or group members tell stories from their lives and watch them enacted on the spot.  Derived from the world of drama therapy, this theater form is done all over the world and has truly changed people’s lives.

Allison, my partner, has been a member of the Living Arts Playback Theatre Ensemble here in Oakland for the past 2 years.  I have seen it change her life, for sure.  As a performer, she is able to connect with so many different types of people through their stories.  She has played Holocaust survivors, Chinese immigrants, homeless mothers…the list goes on and on.  And what’s more important is that her work makes an immediate impact as she gives her performance as a gift to these real people in real time who get to see their stories honored.

As an audience member, I have seen people have major “a ha” moments when they have the opportunity to have the stories of their lives enacted on stage.  They are able to learn more about themselves and the important people in the their lives.  I have also felt the connection to hundreds of people at once as we all watch this true story that contains the universal themes that we can all relate to.

You have to see it for yourself.  Join us at Glitter & Razz next Saturday, May 9, where Allison and her company will be performing the unique stories of your family.  And come prepared with any kind of story: mundane, tragic, silly, ridiculous…it all makes for good theater – outside the (black) box theater that might really help you understand yourself and your family a little better.

And it’s free.  So, you can save that $30 for the nice bottle of champagne for Mother’s Day.

I am pleased to introduce our new weekly blog post, “Glitter & Razz presents…”  Every Friday, we will share our favorite books, movies, plays, people, ideas, and organizations that inspire creativity and learning for the modern family.

This week, we present Kidpower, a nonprofit organization dedicated to teaching people to use their power to stay safe, act wisely, and believe in themselves.  Kidpower was founded in the late 80’s by Irene van der Zande here in Northern California when a she, her daughter, and a group of her daughter’s friends were threatened by a strange man. No one knew exactly what to do.  She wanted to make sure that her daughter, as well as all children, know what to do to take care to keep themselves safe.

I was put in touch with Erika Leonard, the Program Manager for the California programs through a colleague of mine.  I wasn’t sure what a self-defense program had to do with providing theater programs for children.  But, when Erika invited me to come to visit one of their public workshops as a guest, I was just blown away and knew that I had to partner with this group somehow.

Similar to Glitter & Razz in how we teach social/emotional skills through theater, this is more than a simple self-defense class.  Kidpower is really all about supporting kids ages 4-17 (they even have programs for adults), “to think, move, and use their voices in order to stay safe.”  I love what they do.  As a guest in that workshop, I saw kids both boys and girls practicing saying things like “Please, stop”, “I need help” and “Mom, I have to talk to you.  This is about my safety” in calm, strong, and confident voices.  And yes, the parents are in the room and they are supported to continue to practice the lessons learned in the workshop back at home with their kids.

But, what I love the most about Kidpower is  that they truly empower the kids themselves to be their own advocates and insist on peace being the norm in their lives.

So, I now I believe that Kidpower has everything do with what we are doing at Glitter & Razz.  My goal is to make the Glitter & Razz Dramatic Play Space a place where you can come to take one of the public workshops.  I also plan to offer a workshop especially for the participants of our Go Girls! Camp.

We’ll keep you posted, for sure.  And, in the meantime, talk to your kids about their safety.  Would they know what to do/say to protect themselves from harm?  Do you know?  It’s okay if you don’t.  But, now is maybe the time to do something about it.