Mall Elves and Glitterland

Jacob Ward - Franklin Fine Arts

Mall Elves and Glitterland

Greetings and salutations again, dear reader!  Here’s the skinny on what’s been happening this week in the life of Jacob Ward!  This week is a little different since it is my last week of writing a blog… Don’t worry! Next week won’t follow the normal format but will be pretty much just “Jacob’s list of Chicago things” so stay tuned!

At Franklin Fine Arts:

The school is in utter controlled chaos as we get ever closer to the Annual Winter Showcase.  The fine arts (specifically music, piano, & dance) hold precedent over everything else this week and next week as students rehearse for the big day!  That being said, the art room has had students being pulled for rehearsal left and right leaving Kindergarten as the class I have taught most consistently.  The spare class time has been spent getting some housekeeping done, including tack-firing the 7^th grader’s glass pieces.

With the students who aren’t in the Winter Showcase, Ms. Koreman and I have taken it upon ourselves put them to work to help create the scenery for the show.  This has meant carving and painting 8’ tall foam core panels into evergreen trees and the skyline of Chicago, painting 50 feet of canvas to look like Van Gogh’s Starry Night, and GLITTERING EVERYTHING TO MAKE IT SHINE!  I went home with glitter in my hair, up my nose, caked on my arms, and permanently embedded in my pockets.

This upcoming week will get even crazier as the clock ticks down to show-time and my eminent departure from one of the coolest schools I’ve had the pleasure to teach in.

In Chicago:

Things are coming to an end so it’s time to cram in all that I can!  Goals for the next week and a half:

• Ride the CTA Holiday Train (which is a subway totally dressed to the nines in festive cheer)
•  Go see the Christmas lights show at the Lincoln Park Zoo
• Shop at the Christkindlmarket (The annual Christmas-time German Market)

·         These on top of my usual weekly goings-ons.

Which brings me to the list of shows I saw as a Saint this past week and those to come next week:

• David Ives’ The Heir Apparent (an adaptation of a French farce about one man’s efforts to become sole inheritor of his uncle’s fortune) at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre.
•  David Sedaris’ The Santaland Diaries (about what it’s like to work as a Macy’s Department Store Elf) at TheaterWit.
• University of Chicago Symphony Orchestra concert.
•  Domesticated (What happens to a politician’s family after a sex scandal breaks the headlines?) at Steppenwolf, written and directed by Steppenwolf ensemble member Bruce Norris.
• Treasure Island (Yes, that Treasure Island) at Lookingglass Theatre.
• Barney the Elf (an original musical parody of the movie Elf).
• Bernarda Alba and her House (a woman locks her five daughters and mother in a house for a mandatory period of mourning and emotions unleash) at Red Twist Theatre

Until next time, peace out!