Hillside Headlines Winter Spring 2012

Hillside Headlines
Now Online on the Hillside Home Page
Katie Reidy Loves Graffiti
K
atie Reidy Reigner (she
is married to kindergarten teacher Eryn
Reigner but uses Reidy
professionally) loves to move, and
her art shows it. She paints, she
takes photographs, she makes
gorgeous graffiti—she even did an
octopus graffiti on a boat. Her
Munnys (that is a small one top
right) are for sale on the internet.
She paints on pretty much any
Katie Reidy Reigner, artist and Ursurface available—shoes, skate
ban Illustration teacher, in front of
boards, helmets, a wall in Hasta boat she decorated.
ings. And she teaches the very
popular after school course, Ura mentor , Ms. Buhler, to whom I
ban Illustration.
could talk—she never judged me.
We asked what inspired
She was like my second mom.”
her to become an artist. “It beKatie wishes she had studied
gan in high school—I had the
chemistry
harder—“After two
choice of taking science or art,
weeks,
I
failed
out,” she said. “In
and I took art. My brother Jason
my work now I use a lot of chemiwas a great artist and I imitated
cals and I have to be careful when I
him,” she said.
mix them. If you don’t know how
they react to each other, sometimes
it’s a big whoops! Thank goodness
for science on the internet.”
Besides her Munnys, Katie
has five other copyrighted characters that she designs and paints:
Rari (named for a funny noise she
makes), Bobli, Shukka, Shoshie
and Chanie. You can go to
http://rarigrafix.carbonmade.com/
Katie grew up in BrentKatie’s website, to see the hundreds
wood and went to the local
schools. She ended up in college of designs, products and paintings
she makes.
at SCAD—Savannah College of
Art and Design. She also took
Katie began working at the
courses at Mercy and FIT in
Homework Club after school while
graphic design/computer art.
she was in college, and her kids
kept asking her to draw pictures for
“I did not have an easy
them. “Learn yourself,” she said,
time in high school,” Katie told
and Urban Illustration was born.
us, “but I was lucky. I found
“I started a class, first
with 5, then 10, then 15 and
suddenly 40 kids. I moved it
into the school and now I
teach 110 students every
week. My next goal is to
have a class for adults.”
Each class runs for 8
weeks, and Katie sends
emails and a flyer home. The
course fills up quickly, even
though she teachers Monday
through Friday and Tuesday
and Thursday evenings in
the school, so if you’re interested, sign up quickly.
Her best advice for a
budding artist? “Draw,
draw, draw. I draw at least 4
hours a day, and often much
more than that. Some days
at college I would work for 20
hours. Keep a notebook
handy and DRAW!”
A rainbow row of skateboard decks painted by
Katie awaiting wheels.
BOYZ ON BROADWAY!
Do you know any Broadway actors? You just might without realWe asked about their salaries; they didn’t
izing it. Hillsiders Zach and Noah Unger and Aidan Gemme are
actually know. They agreed that the money isn’t as
all on Broadway in plays. Zach is in the musical, Chaplin; Aidan important as the acting. Whatever they earn is beis in Mary Poppins; Noah just started in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
ing saved by their parents for college.
Zach got his
start without knowing
what he was getting
into. His mom said he
could do a theater group
instead of soccer so he
signed up for Random
Farms Kids, a theater
group in Tarrytown. He
enjoyed it enough to
audition for a showcase
to get an agent to become a professional actor. Out of 400 kids,
Zach was one of the
lucky ones who landed
an agent. He began to
audition for parts and
landed
two in the ShakeZach Unger & Aidan Gemme
speare in the Park summer series, followed by Merrily We Roll Along at the City Center.
He also does voice-overs (for example, he does voices in Dora the
Explorer). He has also been in three movies.
Aidan and Zach are best friends, and Zach said to Aidan,
“You should try acting, it is great!” “And I did,” Aidan said. He,
too landed, some voice-overs (Zach said, “Aidan has the perfect
voice for it”), voicing Benny the Bull in Dora, and some ads.
Then they hit the big time—they
both got parts in Broadway plays! Zach is
onstage 8 times a week in Chaplin. “I even
have to cry onstage,” he told us, “I do it by
thinking of really sad things.” We tried to
make him cry, but he only giggled.
He’s only in the first act, but he has
to stay for the bows, so his wrangler—the
person back stage who takes care of him—
helps him get homework done and plays
games with him
Advice for beginning actors:
Aidan and
Zach agree—
“Learn to be
patient,” they
told us. Noah’s
advice? “Get
an agent!”
Aidan is in Mary Poppins as Michael, the son. There are
three “Michaels,” so he only has to go on twice a week. He was
originally supposed to fly, but that was cut from the play because
of insurance. He gave us some inside information: “Nana, the dog
is really just a puppet,” he told us.
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Noah, Zach’s little brother, is a newcomer
to Broadway. He saw his brother audition and he
liked it so he tried to get a job, as well. He auditioned a couple of times for Verizon, with no luck.
He got discouraged but his mother suggested he
give it just one more try. So he went to an audition
for his current role and got a call-back! Then he got
a second call-back. He was staying with friends in
Dobbs Ferry because the storm had knocked out his
family’s electricity, and they were eating at a diner
when he got a call from his mom. “Noah!” she said.
“You’re going to be on Broadway!”
He was still in rehearsal for Cat on a Hot
Tin Roof when we interviewed him; the play
opened December 18th. “I sing three songs in it—
Three Blind Mice, Happy Birthday and SkinamaRinka-Rinka-Dink.
“I am not nervous at all,” he told us. “I’ve
watched my brother and it really made me want to
be on Broadway, so I’m not scared. If I could be
anybody in the play, I would like to be Sonny, the
other kid—he’s 7 and plays a 7 year old. I’m 7, but
my character is 6.”
His costume is a tie and a brown shirt; his
character, Buster, is nick-named a “no-neck monster” by the lead character.
We asked the three if they wanted to continue acting when they grew up and their answers
surprised us. All want to be
athletes! Zach is reputed to
have a good throw and wants
to play quarterback; Noah
wants to be a wide-receiver.
Aidan is a baseball player
and wants to play short stop.
“He really has an excellent
arm,” said Zach.
We asked the three
of them for advice for beginning actors. Aidan and Zach
Noah Unger
agreed. “Learn to be patient,” they told us. Noah’s advice? “Get an
agent!”
OUR ROVING REPORTERS WANT TO KNOW:
WHAT BOOKS WOULD MAKE GOOD MOVIES, AND WHY?
F
rom School Library Journal: Fourteen of
the 50 movies with the all-time largest
U.S. box office totals are based on
high-profile books. So Hillside
reporters asked members of the community what books they thought would
make good movies, and why. Mrs.
Greene “The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo because
there are so many beautiful settings and
people to meet.” Mrs. Troop agrees: “The characters are very well written and the story is very
meaningful.” Sofia Hayes: “Henry and
Beezus by Beverly Clearly because it is a
funny book and is a sequel
Ramona and Beezus.” Mrs.
Tutino-Smith “The Espiritu
de Tio Fernando because it
would make a really cool movie and
teach kids all about the Day of the
Dead.” Twins Caroline and
Kimberly Rosner agree: “The Candy shop
War because it has various awesome candies and great details.”
Colin McSpedon:
“Swindle by Dan Gutman because it combines mystery, adventure and baseball—three
things I really like.”
Jennifer Goiz “The Odyssey by
Mary Pope Osborne because it
tells about the Greek gods and
really catches your attention.”
Emily Cartwright: There’s a Boy in
the Girl’s Bathroom by Louis Sachar
because it is funny and it teaches a
lesson.”
Liam Halstead: Theodore Boone, Kid Lawyer: The Accused by John Grisham
because it has drama, plotting and
plenty of spunk!”
Mitchell Fink; Hank Zipzer because
it is a good book and you can really
picture it in the movie theater.”
Mrs. D’Amato: “The Chocolate Touch by
because in the movie everything would be
chocolate and at least you wouldn’t starve.”
William Torgoff: “The Pendragon
series has all the dimensions of
the universe, it combines comedy and
adventure.” Luke Gatterdam agrees, “
because it has so much action.”
Noah Stojanovic: I think The Overland
Chronicles because it is funny and has suspense. I also think the author, Suzanne
Collins, did a good job of creating the
characters.”
Christina Flores: “Meet Josefina. It is adventurous and introduces kids to Spanish culture and the life of a Spanish
girl.”
Arden Pochna: “When You Reach Me by
Rebecca Stead because it is mysterious and
there are a lot of things that you discover at
the very end.”
Atri Ray: “The Heroes of Olympus series—it’s adventurous,
kind of scary, depending
on which god you are
based on the Greeks and Romans.”
Janice Dalzell: Charlie and Lola:
I’m Not Sleepy and I will Not Go To
Bed by Lauren Child
because it teaches a lesson.”
Stella Rubin: “Wonder would make a
great movie because it has a lot of detail.
It’s about a kid whose face is deformed
dealing with attending school for
the first time in 5th grade.”
Ms. Vega: “Safe Haven because it was one of
the first books that I felt I knew what was going on in the book from start to finish.”
Kate Diep, Elie Hamerman, Cayla
Ossen: “We all love the Erin Hunter’s
Warriors series about cats because it
is exciting and has things that you
don't expect.
Mrs. Day: “My Father’s Dragon by
Ruth Stiles Gannett would be perfect for a
movie by Pixar. It’s adventurous, funny, and
very visual.”
The Harry Potter franchise accounts for... more than $2 billion in U.S. ticket sales. The three
Lord of the Rings films ... more than $1 billion, and the Twilight Saga ...almost $900 million... The Hunger Games, over $400 million... School Library Journal
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The Hillside Headline Staff. Top, l. to r. Melissa Nadler. Christina Flores, William Torgoff, Colin McSpedon. Front, l. to r. Julia
Gardner, Dahlia Seidel, Owen Silleck, Jeremy Serbee, Yuga Namba
The Fourth Grade at Hillside School Proves That KIDS CAN!
These are just some of the Fourth Graders at Hillside who helped collect food for
needy people in Hastings. They worked
with Pam Koner in the program called
Kids Can! Pictured (l. to r.) Tilly ZwirnGivnish, Elana Zadrima, Stella Stephens,
Dahlia Seidel, Melissa Nadler, Chelsea
Seidel, Lily Safire,
Lola Murnighan,
Kimberly Rosner, Alex
Seleznioff, and Jed Finkelstein. The successful food drive collected over 1000 cans and
boxes of food as well as toiletries for people in
need in Hastings.
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