Darla's Mom

Every Sunday Darla and I drive to Santa Monica so that she can take an acting class at The Playground, A Young Actors’ Conservatory. It was one of those deals where somebody stopped me in the mall to tell me how cute my child was.

I had heard this before with Jackie until I was not surprised to hear it with Darla. I took Darla to the information session so that they could tell her how cute she was, just like I had done it with Jackie but this time I actually had the money to pay for these classes.

I was also impressed that the program approaching my child did not try to say that she would be hired to ask right away or even at all. They clearly explained that this was a class that she could take on the weekends ; she would learn elocution and self confidence and public speaking as well as the ability to improve memorization. They called her in for an interview which I was allowed to sit in but not participate in. They knew I was willing to pay for classes and I was willing to drive her there and that’s all they really needed to know about me.

They asked Darla if she was willing to commit her weekends for an entire year to these classes. They asked if she would do the homework. They told her that she had to have good grades and behave at home or is she wouldn’t be allowed to continue taking the classes. They interviewed her and treated her as a person who is responsible for making her own choices and that is the reason that she’s in these classes.

I’m not going to lie, I assumed that with a name like Gary spatz we would not be seeing this person and his business. I figured it was a name on the door perhaps a stream of income and that he would not be an active participant. I was wrong. I see this giant manchild every Sunday. He stops to talk to the kids. He invites them into his office to chat. Gary knows their names and their families. It is most definitely his business and he is in the mix.

@ThePlayground classrooms are designed like soundstages and sets. Occasionally the kids are filmed.

I have friends who lives three blocks away from where these classes are so sometimes I drop off Darla and I go visit them and come back an hour later to get her. Sometimes I hang out in the waiting room filled with a menagerie of couches and chat with the other parents . It is out of my way and in the middle of the day…and I have never regretted the choice.