Guest Post by Chris Gilmore
A producer, writer, casting director, child actress, veteran homeschool mom and owner of Creative Kids Acting. Her passion is teaching these skills to kids and teens and helping them grow as a whole person.
Acting can build confidence, teach social interaction, and help you grow as a person even if your goal is not to become a professional actor.
I have seen students develop in so many ways! Yes, some students decide they want to pursue acting and make it a successful career, but others have taken the many skills that acting helps develop and have found success in law, sales, and many other careers,
overcoming speech and reading impediments, memorization skills, creativity and
imagination, focus and discipline, social interacting, and most of all becoming more confident in themselves.
I want to tell you about a few of my students and how acting classes will help them grow into their full potential. (Names have been altered to protect their privacy)
First I want to tell you about James. James is homeschooled and he became very introverted. It came to the point where he had no friends and was lonely because he was very shy and having trouble interacting socially. His mom learned about my class and thought, "What better way to help him socialize than a class where you get up on stage to act (and interact) with other people?" The first time James came to my class, he was so
nervous and shy that he came in with a bag over his head! He was so scared that he told
his mom that he didn’t want to come back to class. His mom knew that this was part of the
fear he needed to work his way out of, and she told him to stick with the class. It was slow, but within a few months I was able to nurture him out of the bag and forward from the back row. He started to make friends, and his confidence started to grow. Flash forward to today,
James is confident, strong, and happy. He has built strong, long-lasting friendships,
and he has decided that he wants to become a professional actor.
Next, I want to tell you about Sarah. Sarah was diagnosed with autism and struggled to understand how to interact with other people. Over the past two years, I have seen Sarah grow so much. Every time she walked through a scripted scene and interacted with her scene partner, I could see her understand more of how to interact on a social level!
Today, most people who talk to her wouldn’t believe she has autism. Now, this confident, talented, and outspoken young lady is trailblazing her way to her career.
A well-known football figure came to me because his teenagers Jack and Michelle loved acting but were unruly and undisciplined. They wanted a program that would provide discipline and focus, without destroying their passion and creativity. I focus on nurturing a student’s confidence, infusing them with the knowledge and skills, all while I provide proper borders of focus and discipline. Already within a few months, Jack and Michelle started to show improved focus
and discipline, which positively affected their home life, their social life, and all aspects
of their education. Their parents thanked me and were not only happy to see their
improved discipline, but also how their passion and creativity for acting was nurtured, and their skill set was growing.
I would love to mention Mike, who was getting in with the wrong crowd. Mike’s parents brought him to me to give him a creative outlet. I saw him go from disinterested, to passionate. His parents came to me later and told me that the class, and his subsequently growing passion for creative arts, made him decide to turn down a gang that he was planning to join! I’m so proud of how Mike turned around!
I could also tell you about Ed, who has started overcoming his speech impediment with his script work. Or tell you the story of a talented young writer that is in my class who has bloomed in creativity and confidence and is ready to publish her first novel at the age of sixteen!
I even have adult students that are lawyers or doctors trying to have a better presence in front of a jury, or a better bedside manner. Suffice it to say that acting class does more than teach you how to be an actor, but in so many ways it helps you grow as a whole person.
We are excited about our upcoming fall curriculum for Burbank and Monrovia, and we are also working with Discovery of Learning to offer these classes in places like Beaumont, Palm Desert, Orange County, and more! (Please let us know if you are interested in a location where we are not currently holding classes, as your feedback may help us come to you). We proudly offer a well-rounded curriculum that focuses on a different skill or technique each month for On-Camera Acting. For more info, you can find us at www.CreativeKidsActing.com