Sign Up for ALF After-school Workshop

The Assistance League of Flintridge's Fine Arts Academy Drama Program will again provide an opportunity for local children to develop theatrical skills while participating in a fun ensemble under the directorship of Julliard-trained Koni McCurdy.

McCurdy has been working as the drama director for the ALF program since 1997. This association has brought her in contact with many talented children. It is always her goal to make sure every child can walk away from a performance feeling he or she was integral to the production.

To achieve this, McCurdy adapts or writes her own versions of children's stories based on the strengths she observes in each aspiring actor.

After training at Carnegie-Mellon University, the Julliard School, and The Drama Studio, London, McCurdy joined The English Teaching Theatre, touring throughout Europe and Scandinavia. Since her arrival in California, she has been the artistic director of The L.A.Troupe, Theatre-in-Education. This company uses theatre as a teaching tool with programs that range from fire safety for young children to Homer, Shakespeare, and Poe for older students.

The Assistance League of Flintridge's Fine Arts Academy Drama Program is in its 19th year. ALF is a chapter of National Assistance League. This season the ALFie Players (grades 4-6) will be performing an adapted version of P.L. Travers' "Mary Poppins" on November 6. The ALFie Company (grades 6-8) will be singing and dancing on March 18 and 19 in "The Phantom Strikes," a mystery that will be a cross between "The Phantom of the Opera" and "Little Shop of Horrors." Children from all local schools may participate.

Enrollment applications are only available at a mandatory parents' meeting on Tuesday, September 7, at 7 p.m. at the Assistance League of Flintridge chapter house, 4607 Oakwood, behind the Bargain Box.

For more information, call ALF at 790-1328 or check their Web site at www.alflintridge.org.