News and reviews of local family dance, theater and movies in Los Angeles.
Stage & Screen
Tween Time: Odd-tober
The spookiness level of Halloween happenings can range from quite slight (Halloween story times) to excessive (Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor). There are some too intense for young kids but not exclusively for adults: Venture into The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens (www.huntington.org) Oct. 26 for The Huntington After Dark, where the Guild of […]
Horror of Cinematic Proportions
Many museums and cultural venues will throw Halloween celebrations this season. The Natural History Museum (www.nhm.org) is doing so on a cinematic scale – with an exhibition inspired by horror films. And it’s not just a display of cool movie memorabilia. The exhibit, entitled “Natural History of Horror,” examines the connections between cinema, science and […]
26 L.A. Halloween Haunts for Families
The origins of the childhood (OK, grown-ups like it, too) holiday we call Halloween can be traced to an ancient Celtic harvest festival. When the Romans conquered the Celts, they added a couple of their own fall celebrations to the mix, one of which honored the Roman goddess of orchards and gardens, known as Pomona. […]
6 Fall Festivals for L.A. Families
Don’t call them Halloween events! These fall festivals don’t ask you to dress up in costumes and are less candy-focused, although they’re more likely to have pig races. Moorpark’s Underwood Family Farms’ Fall Harvest Festival, running through Oct. 31, delivers the Corn Stalk Labyrinth and giant hay pyramids all week, while weekends add the Animal […]
Blue Man Group Gets Its Message Across
Warning to parents: “Speechless,” the Blue Man Group production running through Oct. 6 at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre, is anything but quiet. If you’re bringing the little ones, I recommend bringing them ear protection. That being said, this production is family friendly in every other possible way. Here’s what kids will love about it: The […]
Our 7 Favorite October Family Events
Our favorite events in October feature math, cats, drawing, printing, cooking, P-22 and a rainbow fish.
Theater Company Hosts Boot Camp for Kids with Cancer
Dean Productions Theatre Company is jumping into its fifth season of free, family-friendly shows with the Shakespearean classic “King Lear,” which will be performed this fall in front of Brand Library in Glendale. While there are many companies that offer free Shakespeare in the park, what makes this one unique is its dedication to working with pediatric cancer patients and their […]
Kids for Change: LA Opera Helps Kids Dream Big
The LA Opera Camp for kids offered the perfect meaningful end-of-summer experiences for nearly 80 campers this year. And on Aug. 3, those students got the chance to showcase the performance they’d been practicing at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion: “Then I Stood Up: A Civil Rights Cycle.” Over the summer, campers learned about the importance […]
Open Captioning Comes to the Pasadena Playhouse
The 100-year-old Pasadena Playhouse is reaching out to theater lovers who are deaf or hard of hearing with a new assistive option this fall. In partnership with not-for-profit theater support organization TDF, the playhouse will add open-captioning technology to each of its five mainstage plays and musicals during the 2019-2020 season. One performance of each […]
Go Retro for a Back-to-School Film Fest
As a latchkey kid of the ’80s, I enjoyed summers that were far from over-scheduled. I watched soap operas, fried my skin with friends at the beach and never, ever missed $2 Tuesday movie night at the local theater. We’d pay for the 6 p.m. show, sneak into the 8 p.m. show and eat popcorn […]
Anthony Alabi: on Family, Fatherhood and Failure
For four years, Anthony Alabi lived what many would consider the NFL dream. He played offensive tackle for the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs. After those stints, another team was angling for him, but Alabi was already in L.A., pursuing a different dream that had been with him since childhood: acting. It was 2010 […]
John Ratzenberger: Seasoned Actor’s Work Spans Generations
You and your parents probably remember John Ratzenberger as the know-it-all mailman and bar regular Cliff Clavin on the hit TV show “Cheers,” but your kids have never heard of him. At least, not by those names. Depending on their ages, they may know him as the animated voices of Mack in “Cars,” P.T. Flea […]
Marvels of Representation
When my son Noah managed to discover his early 5th birthday present, an authentic special-edition Miles Morales Spider-Man costume, the look on his face proved the costume was well worth the $40, plus shipping and handling. After seeing the animated movie “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” he came home and told me, “I really am Spider-Man, […]
HBO’s ‘FOSTER’ Reveals Complexity of Foster Care in L.A.
L.A. has the largest county foster-care system in the U.S., and an engaging new documentary explores it from the inside. “FOSTER” was written and directed by Mark Jonathan Harris and produced by Deborah Oppenheimer, the pair that worked together on the Oscar-winning documentary “Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport.” That movie told […]
‘This Is Us’ Star Lonnie Chavis Expands His #FixYourHeart Message
When NBC’s “This Is Us” star Lonnie Chavis discovered that a few people trolling his Instagram account were making fun of the gap in his teeth, he clapped back. Not with retaliatory words; instead, the 10-year-old sent a message that prescribes self-reflection and self-acceptance as antidotes to eradicating a culture of bullying and low self-esteem. […]
Rainbow Edwards-Barris: The Real Bow Tackles Parenting in New Book
If you’ve ever watched ABC’s “Black-ish,” you know that though Rainbow Johnson’s character (played by Tracee Ellis Ross) is a medical professional and mom of five, she is far from a parenting expert. Creator Kenya Barris uses irreverent humor to tackle family matters and societal issues on the show, and Rainbow, despite her best intentions, […]
Mia Cech Shines Brightly in ‘The Darkest Minds’
For Miya Cech’s first feature film, “The Darkest Minds,” she landed an unusual role: She plays Zu, a girl who can control electricity with her mind but doesn’t really talk. “That was kind of hard for me, because I talk a lot,” says Cech, 11. “You have to do everything with your face, and it’s […]
‘Making It’ Show Expands Artist’s Territory
As an artist and sports enthusiast, Billy Kheel enjoyed flexing some creative muscle while taping NBC TV’s “Making It,” a competition crafts series that premiered July 31 and will feature six episodes. Each episode consists of two projects – a fast, timed round and a longer, themed challenge. Kheel is one of eight contestants from […]
Parental Love Wins in ‘Far From the Tree’
As parents, we hold grand dreams for our children – even while they are still in utero – but these dreams can become hindrances when they do not fit the people our children actually become. The new documentary film “Far From the Tree” explores families who have children with wildly different realities – autism, Down […]
L.A. Parent Chat Room: Meet Screenwriter and Author John August
You may know L.A. local John August from his screenwriting credits, which include “Big Fish,” “Charlie’s Angels” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” But, now he’s notched up a new credit: middle-grade novelist. “Arlo Finch in the Valley of Fire,” an engaging and exciting blend of magic, mayhem and mystery, introduces readers to 12-year-old Arlo, […]
County Library Users Get Free Film Access
The County of Los Angeles Public Library is now offering library card holders free access to Kanopy, a film streaming service with more than 30,000 titles. The Los Angeles Public library system acquired Kanopy early last year, making it possible for nearly every Angeleno to now have access to this service. Kanopy is an on-demand […]
Mackenzie Hancsicsak of ‘This is Us’: Tackling Big Issues With Her TV Family
On a recent morning, sandwiched between a hair appointment, a Golden Globes gifting suite and a wardrobe fitting at Paramount Studios is Mackenzie Hancsicsak’s interview with me at the L.A. Parent office in Woodland Hills. The 10-year-old has grown used to the schedule that her role as young Kate Pearson on the Screen Actors Guild […]
Making Play Hands-On with Monster Trucks Movie’s Special FX Coordinator Jim Schwalm
Monster trucks jump over highway railings in playrooms all too often, but seeing it on the big screen is a spectacle that piques a child’s imagination. This and more mechanical feats can be seen in Paramount Pictures’ “Monster Trucks” movie, which just released on BluRay and DVD this month. We recently sat down with Jim […]
Why This Dad Is On Pokemon Go
Last year, Los Angeles TV producer Brant Pinvidic found himself equally baffled by two things. One was the exploding popularity of the smartphone game Pokemon Go, which in the summer of 2016 was played by millions of people, including his whole family. The other was how to find common ground with his 13-year-old daughter, who […]