drama classes?

[Sheherezade]

Recently, *someone* mentioned drama classes. I'm not sure who.

I've been wondering about nudging my daughter in to these. She's incredibly excited each year when she's involved in our school's holiday show. She gets the same thrill from her annual ballet production. I've been wondering if she would have the same enthusiasm for a play. She's 7. We have a local community theater that does classes for kids, and many of her friends have tried them with success. The problem is that my daughter tells me she "has stagefright" and isn't interested in doing a show. That runs contrary to everything I've ever seen from her. Is this a time to push or let it go? Being on stage is really terrifying to some.....and exciting for others. When do you think you can tell?

And- most importantly - is it going to scar her if I get her to try it out and it fails? I don't want to hear about this in therapy in 10 years.

I'd say give it a try -- maybe with a small part or being a stage manager or non-acting role? And slip a $20 in the therapy jar just in case.

[Gwendolyn]

Hopefully the community theatre has some classes that don't end in a play. Most will finish with a showcase of some sort, but at 7yrs old there should be something that is pretty low risk. My guess is that once she is in a class with a whole bunch of other kids who like the acting thing, she will open right up. I work with 3rd and 4th graders (ages 7-9) over the summer and in two week sessions some kids change their minds at least 15 times about how they feel about performing...and it is heavily influenced by their peer group. When she has had time to rehearse in a safe environment with lots of encouragement so that she is comfortable and confident about what she is doing, I'm sure she will have a blast