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Local actors take their turn By JOHN DARLING Tidings Correspondent The movie "Indigo," being shot in the city during the last three weeks of August, is about Indigo children - so-called advanced youngsters with superior sensitivity, awareness and even psychic powers. Indigo cast members Angelina Hess, (right), and Meghan McCandless "high-5" each other after winning a card game defeating fellow castmate Ashlee Melikian (center) Monday during breaks between takes in Medford. Ashland Daily Tidings/ DENISE BARATTA But, until now, they haven't had any of these genuine Indigos involved on the set. That changed last week with the arrival of a pair of children who claim to be Indigos: Lizzie McIntosh, 11, of Weed, Calif. and Anna Mantheakis, 15, of Applegate. The girls were brought in as script consultants and spiritual advisors to producer/director Stephen Simon ("What Things May Come" and "Somewhere in Time") and co-writer James Twyman. The playful pair, who became best friends at recent spiritual conferences in Mt. Shasta and Ashland, make their presence felt with an exuberance and eager chatter about a range of fanciful, provocative and sometimes mind-bending issues. "When I first saw Anna, I recognized her from past lives," claimed McIntosh, hugging her friend. "It was weird and cool. We're a lot closer than my sisters. She understands me better than my mom sometimes." "Yeah, there was an instant bond between us," said Mantheakis. "When I was little, it was really vague but I knew there were other kids like me out there and I had to find them. It was like being on a treasure hunt but not knowing what the treasure is." The Indigo pals observe and advise on scenes in which the Indigo child Grace, played by Meghan McCandless, 9, Medford, an admitted non-Indigo, must act out the nuances of an Indigo. "They give James their insights on what an Indigo would and wouldn't act like and, by their presence on the set, help the whole crew get in the spirit of what an Indigo really is like," said Lisa Schneiderman, the film's public relations agent, who has explained the Indigo phenomenon on national tv talk shows. "They have psychic powers, but their main mission is to bring a message of peace," said Schneiderman. "They are world bridgers, here to help people connect with why we are here, which is to love." The children were found when parents of Indigos contacted Twyman's Web site after he wrote a book on Indigo children and held conferences on the topic, she said. Being an Indigo is not always easy, the girls said. Although, they claim, it comes with heightened psychic powers, it presents the challenge of feeling different and isolated. The girls said they often try to blend in with and behave like normal children but it creates inner "friction" and they soon get back in the "clear" groove of being the Indigoes they are. While the Indigo phenomenon causes excitement and hope in New Age circles, Ashland pediatirician Debra Koutnik said children fitting the Indigo profile are just as likely to be "out of control, domineering, oppositional, acting like royalty" and in general, having problems with discipline and authority. "There have always been children who fit the Indigo description -- empathic, intelligent, gifted," said Koutnik, who specializes in behvioral problems of children. "But I haven't seen any who seem like the Indigo children I've read about in the literature. What I have seen is parents coming here who have diagnosed their children as Indigo and they may get a lot of relief from that, but it can be a negative thing in giving a false sense of assurance. All children have difficult qualities and that shouldn't be an excuse for parents to not set limits needed for healthy character development." Readings on the internet say 85 percent of children born in the last decade fit the Indigo profile, said Koutnik, and this leads her to believe not so much in Indigoes as that "parents are having a lot more problems parenting their children these days." The girls are unphased by skepticism, comforted in their beliefs, and the strength they draw from each other. Both girls strive to live normally, they say. "Sometimes you can't get it straight in your mind and you do things wrong and you don't know why you do it," said McIntosh, a student at Weed Elementary School. "You have the urge to say, why am I doing this? I'm such an Indigo, what's wrong with me? But when you get with another Indigo, you realize you have been trying a different trance, a different part of what you are." "That's right," said Mantheakis. "You have a whole bunch of different parts and you want to experience them, as if you were not an Indigo, but then you return to being clear." The two girls cuddled, intertwining their fingers, laughing and poking each other as they talked, nodding agreement to everything the other said. "I felt enlightened from the moment we met," said McIntosh. "I've always looked for people like me. There are so many people around me and I know I have this gift and wonder, when I see someone (who might be an Indigo), should I ask them? So many people are Indigo and don't know it yet. But when Anna and I saw each other we knew." Later, the children played in an abandoned buckboard wagon, explaining they were having conversations with three "soul friends" - disembodied people who've been their friends for thousands of years and who come to them for advice on what they should do about returning to embodied life. "They're like us," said McIntosh, holding pulling a tiny, rubber "earth ball" out of her pocket and inviting this reporter to put energy and love into it. "They want to help people with psychic powers so we can make peace prevail on earth." LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -