From pretending to play-acting Children's theater teaches lessons ...
Source: www.yatkids.org
Topic: Kid Acting
Sort Desciption: Uta Hagen and Sanford Meisner -- continue to guide YAT's approach to theater. education, said Justin Wade. "We're always trying to talk the kids into ...
Content Inside: From pretending to play-acting Childrens theater teaches lessons that go beyond the stage BY NICK CREWS NICK There are two things you have to remember," says Justin Wade, his voice echoing through the Old Centrum Auditorium as he pushes back from a table littered with notebooks and strides toward the stage. With a bound, he joins the young actors who have paused during a rehearsal of the "The Wizard of Oz" to listen to his direction. "One, have fun," he says. "And two, this is a fairy tale. Fairy tales need to be over the top, and I need you to be over the top a bit so I can pull you back." A routine bit of stage direction, perhaps. But spend time at Young Actors Theatre and youll see Wade is expressing a philosophy that continues to drive the citys oldest independent childrens theater as it enters its 30th year: A sanction to be "over the top" thats made safe by a bit of watchful adult restraint. Since its founding by Charlotte Kaufman in 1976, Young Actors Theatre has grown from small classes in the basement of Glendale Mall to a professional childrens theater now based at the Old Centrum. The group is sponsored by the Athenaeum Turners School of Physical Education and Performing Arts. The students, who range from first to 12th grades, are trained in monologues, soliloquies, improvisation, mime and performance. Everyone who signs up for a class series gets a part in a major production staged at the end of each semester. Kaufman, an actress who studied at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago and with Stella Adler and Lee Strasberg in New York City, began YAT after teaching at the Indianapolis Civic Theatres Junior Civic program. She retired in 2001 after she broke her hip. Today, the theater (which serves about 35 students) is headed by Wade, its artistic director. He began studying with Kaufman 17 years ago when he was in seventh grade. After completing 13 plays as a YAT young actor and graduating from Lawren ...
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