Kidsday: Visiting KidZone at Mount Sinai
Recently I had the opportunity to visit the KidZone TV studio at Kravis Children's Hospital in the Mount Sinai Medical Center in Manhattan.
KidZone TV produces an interactive television show twice a day, every day, where children in the hospital can call in to speak with the special guest or be a part of a game show that KidZone TV is presenting. Children who are not confined to their bed also may have the chance to visit the KidZone set and be a part of the live audience.
During my visit, KidZone TV hosted special guests Carly Rose Sonenclar and Rebecca Faulkenberry. Both actresses have performed in Broadway musicals such as "Wonderland," "Les Miserables," "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" and "Rock of Ages."
They sang and discussed their lives as young actresses. I was able to be a part of the live audience and experience what it felt like to be on a TV set. KidZone TV is like a real talk show you would see on TV!
I had a great experience on the set of KidZone TV. It was so much fun to be a part of the live and interactive audience. It would be wonderful if all hospitals could have something similar to KidZone so that when kids are in the hospital, their stay can be made a little easier to get through.
I wish the best for all the kids in Mount Sinai and for kids in hospitals everywhere.
After the show, I sat down with Carly, and I asked her how she got involved in performing on KidZone TV. Carly said, "I just had my bat mitzvah, and when you have a bat mitzvah, you have to have a mitzvah project. So that's something good -- doing something good that makes you feel good -- and you talk about it at your bat mitzvah.
I started a project with Starlight Children's Foundation, and they have a partnership with Mount Sinai, and obviously they have a lot to do with other hospitals. So they kind of brought me in here to do the show. I do a lot of work here, a lot of shows. I have a show -- it's called "Carly and Friends." And I bring in a lot of friends from the theater world because you meet a lot of people. I just pick the people that I think would interact with the kids."
Asked how many times she had done this for the kids at Mount Sinai, Carly said, "This is my third time. The first time, I was by myself. I didn't have a show, I had a segment. The second time, I brought a woman who works for Archie Comics, so she brought in her sketches and stuff to show the kids, and they seemed to like that a lot. It showed the process of making comics. That was fun. This time, I was here with Rebecca Faulkenberry, who plays Mary Jane in "Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark" right now. So that's real cool.
Asked if she gets nervous performing on KidZone TV, Carly said, "In front of the kids? No, because they're like my age, and they're all really, really nice, and I know that whatever happens, they're extremely supportive. I like performing in front of them a lot."
