THE GRANDKIDS PERFORM

Wednesday night Fin and Max performed in a great abridged version of "The Nutcracker" at their Portland school, the Village Free School. Fin proved quite adept with his wooden sword, so much so that we were afraid he (the Rat King) would actually defeat the Nutcracker and they'd have to go to improv theater on the spot. Max marched around like a real live soldier and played a particularly mischievous party kid with aplomb. The Russian dancers (including Fin) did a hula-hoop routine that you'll probably never see in any other Nutcracker production. Fantastic fun!

And today Nolan nailed the role of Wise Man in his preschool Nativity performance. Because none of the actors had speaking parts, it required great skill to portray the emotion and motive of the characters. Lots of waving, grinning, and adjusting of costumes did the trick quite admirably. Nolan's jeweled headband proved to be especially intriguing to his Wise Man character, requiring much fastening and unfastening during the entire performance, ending up settling on his eyebrows with just the right rakish flair. Baby Jesus was quite impressed!