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From Building Character Creator, Whitney Christopher King

We all know how smart devices have taken a toll on normal communication skills.  As a mom and acting teacher, I noticed my own kids and their friends were starting to communicate differently than my own peers and myself. The smart device revolution was leaving behind important life-skills like making eye-contact, reading body language, gauging the emotional temperature of a room, to name a few.  I decided to create a way for kids to not only have fun using their imagination and being creative, but to also develop and polish these life-skills…thus Building Character acting classes for kids was born!

I began pulling acting games and exercises from my 25 plus years of teaching acting that would really hone in on all of those skills.  These classes are a blast for the kids and not only help them build their own self-esteem and confidence, but it works on all the imperative life-skills that will serve as a strong foundation for the rest of their lives.

Building Character’s unique curriculum is theatre based with a strong emphasis on improvisation. Since 2008 our professional staff has worked with hundreds of kids each session, and we are thrilled to watch them blossom and find a stronger sense of self through our classes…”it’s the most creative way to spend time after school.”

Building Character Acting Classes include the following:

Warm ups: The purpose of these exercises is to develop cooperation, teamwork and trust and they serve to help break down defenses and loosen up the student physically and emotionally.  The goal is to tune and free the actor’s instrument and creativity!

Concertation Exercises: are used to develop the ability to block out unnecessary and extraneous stimuli and attend only to the character’s present business. These exercise are also fine for discipline training and polishing their abilities to focus which will help the student in and out of the classroom.

Sensory Exercises: are designed to help the students become more observant and add detail to their characterizations making them more believable. Ideally reminding them of the wonderful sights and sounds that we take for granted in our daily lives and develop an appreciation for them as well.

Pantomime: develops attention to detail and body language, and it increases communication skills. Relying solely on the body and not the voice to convey information helping to expand their communication skills. Pantomime is also a fantastic observation exercise that helps our students pay attention to details.  When the observation skills are increased they will strengthen their own self-knowledge by accurately knowing their own behaviors, attitudes and person skills and how they impact others.

Improvisation: a vital skill in acting that helps develop quick thinking, team work, creativity, and problem solving skills.

Performance: This gives the students a chance to work in front of an audience and learn about blocking (all movement on the stage,) creating a character, taking direction, working on projection, memorization, and also learning how to handle nerves.