Christmas Carol at the Alley

Tonight I finished the 26th show of A Christmas Carol. I had mixed feelings about the closing. I'll miss the friends I have there and not sure if I'll get to do it again because I'm getting so tall. The Alley Theatre is a great place to work. The backstage crew is great and all the technical stuff with the show. I'm glad I have a show to go to which is also part of mixed feelings because now I need to concentrate on MidSummer Night's Dream at the opera. It's easier when a show ends when you have another one to go to. Still, I'll miss the cast and crew at The Alley.

Working during the Holidays

Even though I'm off from school, I'm still working a lot. I've got a movie audition coming up the first part of January so I memorized the lines and worked with an acting coach. I'm also reading some background material to prepare. I'm performing at the Alley until the 28th. We even had a show Christmas Eve. I'm rehearsing at the opera beginning today through the remainder of the holidays and then some more. I'm practicing some recorder music at home also for the opera. I'm still managing to shoot some baskets on my new goal I got for Christmas and to play some of my new video games.

Christmas Wishes CD

I recorded a CD with Christmas songs that have songs for things I wish for like people reaching out to others, or my mom staying cancer free, war to end, and for my friends to have a Merry Christmas. One of the neat things about the CD was that my sister and her friend got to be on it as backup for one of the songs. We've been giving it to family, friends, teachers for gifts. The great thing is that it is also serving as a witness tool for others. Check out some of the songs at www.myspace.com/theofficialseanhardin.

Compassion International

Tonight while blogging and reading other blogs I see that Compassion International has a blog. My family also sponsors a child from Compassion International in Bolivia. We sponsored Jeanette for 8 years until she moved out of the compassion sponsorship area. I picked Jeanette when I was 3 years old. My mom showed me lots of pictures and I picked hers. My mom was surprised and asked why I picked a girl instead of a boy. I replied she did not have a smile and I wanted to see her smile. For awhile Jeanette had to be separated from her mother as her mother had to move to find work. She lived without running water and was so excited when the school got showers so she could shower at school. After 9 years of sponsorship, Jeanette was smiling in the photo we received and ready to go live with her mother. Compassion did not have any area where she moved. Therefore, she dropped out of the program but she'd been a joy to correspond with. Now we sponsor Marina, also from Bolivia, and my mom picked her because her birthday is Christmas Day. Marina is who my sister's school class is going to make cards for tomorrow and we're going to send them all to her. Our family has been greatly blessed by our involvement with compassion. We love getting letters from our sponsored child and learning about Bolivia. To all reading it seems a lot to sponsor a child, but it is a small amount for the things they can get with even small amounts of money. What a great Christmas gift that gives all year long - sponsor a child today.

CASA Home Tour Performance

Today I sang at one of the CASA homes that they decorate for Christmas and people tour them. Benefits go for Child Advocacy. I sang after school before going to my team's basketball game. There weren't a lot of people at the time I sang but those there were nice and the house was cool. I wish I had their backyard. I sang the songs on My Christmas Wishes CD we picked up this week. Now my mom is putting together the CD cases to give as gifts. Her friend came over today to help. It takes a while. It's neat to see yourself on the front of a CD.

A Christmas Carol

We've finished our 2nd week of Christmas Carol performances. Since the kids are split in 2 teams, I do about 25 shows and the other Peter/Scrooge also about 25 shows. I counted up about 50 hours of rehearsal time to prepare for the show. The adults rehearsed even more. The technical aspects of the play are neat with snow falling, the bed coming out remote control, and how the stage manager watches everything and adjusts even though things are cued electronically. They go through lots of batteries at the Alley.

Being in A Christmas Carol has lots of benefits. I get good acting training and experience. I learn endurance of lots of shows and staying up for each one. I make new friends. I work with professionals from the actors to the stage hands to the costume desingers, etc. The parents organize a big Christmas lunch during one of the long Saturday rehearsals and all the actors, technicians, box office, etc come. It's a lot of fun. We also do Secret Santa where we draw names for gifts and you get a sheet of paper telling you what the person's name you drew likes. You sneak in a gift each week of the performances. I've gotten some great gifts. I get a neat t-shirt too because one of the parents has t-shirts designed with all the cast and crew names on the back.

The best thing is just being on stage playing before mostly full houses. The crowds are generally good as there are some funny moments in the play and A Christmas Carol is such a classic with a really good message about giving.