SPEAKER_00 0:57

So you started out at six years old um taking classes and starting. So as a kid you learned what worked and what didn't work.

SPEAKER_01 1:11

No, as a kid, I learned nothing. I would go to these acting classes, I got because I have a memory, a good memory of it. And there was like they weren't they think this is why I teach the way I teach. Because people think children only know how to play theater games. And theater games are wonderful, but you need to tell them why they're playing this game. Why? There has to be a reason. There's an observation game that I play with kids, and they love it because it's called Three Changes, and I go off. Now I could just close my camera and I put up my hair and I go, What are the three changes? And they're laughing and they're guessing, but they have to know that we use this when we are working with somebody because we need to notice the change. Why is mom's face like that? Why does she look like that? That's oh gosh, what did I do? Do you know what I'm saying? You have to know that this game is not just a game. And and it's interesting because a lot of kids will come to me after all they've done, which is great, is play theater games. And I go, why? Why do you do that? Because the teacher said, okay, well, I need you to know why. And then I tell them, they're like, oh, that's why.

SPEAKER_00 2:38

So as an actor, what made you decide you wanted to teach and teach specifically to kids? Because not everybody wants to teach kids, and you have embraced it and have taken total ownership of it.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

Okay. Well, I was gonna be an actress, so help me God. And I, like I said, I got very close to some very big projects, but it didn't happen, and I can only imagine if it happened. I cared too much about what other people thought about me. It would not have been a good road for me at the time. All I need, listen, I took a workshop once, I think there were, I don't know, 60 adults in it, and 59 said gave me glowing reviews. One person said you are adequate, and it spun me for days. I was like, who is that person? Are they just messing with me? Who oh, I know. Wait, let me. I mean, it made me bananas. I could not survive. I had the love of acting, I didn't have the thick um skin. And I I don't know what would have happened, but it would, I don't think it would have been good. Um, I didn't know how to take anything with a grain of salt. And I even used to do an exercise with a lot of these little kids that were in my class. It was so weird, but I used to do it all the time where I would actually have every kid say something rude to them, not rude, you could never, there were rules like you could never say you're fat, or I would be like, oh my god, mortified. But you would say things like your earrings are stupid. All the kids would say silly things, but insult them, and then they'd have to walk that line and be like, I'm terrific, I'm awesome. And I used to do it, and it's maybe it's a reason why so many of them became stars. They learned how to just let like who cares, and that was the lesson. People are gonna say things, be a duck, that just let it, just the oil just it just flows off of you. Don't take it in, right? So, anyway, I remember I was in a diner with my friend, and I said, I will die if I'm not an actor. I remember that specifically, and then somebody overheard me talking at an acting school about uh given circumstances where in it this woman was what they call barren, she could not have children, and in this actor, in her bio, she had like four children, and it made me bananas because I'm a passionate person. So I was like, how can did you not read the script? Did you not see that? What did you not look up the word barren? And I'm going off and running. Unbeknownst to me, they recommended me to teach acting at this school that that somebody fell out last minute, and I got a call and I said, I'm not qualified. And they said, You're overqualified. And I said, Okay, I'll take the job. And it was a professional theater uh camp, and all the kids that I worked with ended up getting either representation or every single one of them people wanted to see a lot more of, and it was almost like uncanny. And and at first I was like, that's odd, and then I was like, wait, wait a minute. Maybe there's something to this. I love working with kids, I love helping them create. I remember there was one one of the very first kids I worked with. He had to do a monologue about not wanting to wear a tie, and uh, and I got him a tie and I said, we're gonna wear this tie this afternoon. And so he talked about wearing a tie and he owned it, like we were talking about, because I made him wear it for a while. Not I didn't make him wear it, so it was so tight that it hurt him, but it was so uncomfortable. So by the time he was talking about, he said, and it hurt my neck. Why do parents wear ties or whatever the anyway? I had such a ball, I had such a great time, and I just loved to help them and to think that I was part of their success. Now, you know, 36 years later, see, I used to be the person who would spot a little kid and go, Oh my god, you have to be in acting. And now it's very, very, very, very rare that I would ever say anything to somebody. Although I did a couple of months ago, but this girl was something else. But I did put the fear of the business. Uh, I let the mom know it is an ugly business, and that's I guess that's acting is beautiful. Learning about different people is stupendous. Acting as an industry is for adults, it's not made for kids. Your kid will miss Halloween. Ask your kid if they're okay missing Halloween. Most are not, but there will be one who, and I know one right now that I'm working with who will say, I don't care about Halloween. I get to wear costumes every day. But most, and I remember one of one little kid who I was working with crying, and I was like, What's the matter? I missed Halloween. Oh god, that hurt, you know, but that's the kind of sacrifice your kid's gonna have to make, and you don't get to pick and choose. You you people also will think, well, I'll only do the projects that I find interesting. Well, you're not gonna work. Um, because you have to keep working. Work begets work. And at some point, listen, I went, I went to college for acting. And by the end of the four years of training, I didn't like acting anymore. They got so in my head that there was no fun. It was all about, well, what's your objective and what's your action, and make sure you write it to the side, and then what's your super objective and what's you and I was like, get me out of this. I don't want to, I don't so I teach from experience. If I see that this is getting too much in your head, let's pivot. I remember one time I came up with a lesson plan because everyone's like, you gotta have a lesson plan. Okay, let's have a lesson plan. So I had this lesson plan and I was teaching, and it wasn't, I wasn't, it wasn't going anywhere. And I took the lesson plan and I crumpled it up and I threw it away, and the kids were like, What was that? I said that was my lesson plan. Now I'm gonna watch you, and you're gonna tell me what you need. And the class was amazing because not I'm not saying all I was saying is I was looking to them. We would start a scene and I'd go, Oh my gosh, you don't know how to listen. Or, you know, you're you're playing the scene like, oh, I can take it or leave it, right? I'll I let me just say one last thing. I laughed because I remember I tell on myself all the time in class, it humbles me and it's so embarrassing. But like I told you, my dog pooped, okay? So I once was in a store looking at a pair of boots, and I was like, I gotta get those boots. I need those boots. It got to the point where if somebody said, Will you die if you don't get those boots? I'd say, Absolutely. If I don't get those boots, I will die. I ended up buying the boots. Oh my god, but what is the lesson? That that's objective, right? That's how you must play everything. At the end of the day, I didn't need the boots. Hello? I have boots, it's enough. But I tell on myself when I do things that help them understand. It doesn't have to be, the circumstances don't even have to be life and death to make it life and death. And I taught it. My class is also about human growth, really. Because, you know, there's a saying, hurt people, hurt people. And I, every one of my students, little ones five years old, knows that. Because the next time somebody bullies them or says something mean, they're going, Oh, it's not me. Somebody was really hurting them, and they are feel better hurting me, but it really has nothing to do with me. And one other time, when people were really beating themselves up, I took out, I took out uh q tips. I gave everyone a q-tip. And I said, Okay, you want to beat yourself up? Boop. That's how you get to beat yourself up with a q-tip. That's it. And I also tell them one other thing. I ask them to make mistakes because that's how they're going to learn. So very often I'll say, What mistakes did you make? You know, and I love it. I go, oh, thank God you're gonna be a great artist because you're willing to make mistakes. But if you play it safe, you can only be mediocre. So I honestly ask them, I said, you are trained incorrectly. I'm sorry. But yes, in math, if you don't get the equation right, it's a mistake. But in acting, mistakes make you the better artist. So I try to really shake them up with with ideas about life. And and I love them. They're just, they're all my children, they're wonderful.