The stage manager calls out, "Actors standing by?" The young actors echo nervously, "Standing by!" As the actors anxiously wait backstage, they are asked to be someone or something different, other than themselves. Maybe it's a king, princess, witch or detective. Whatever the character is, the actor's imagination is ready.

Throughout the rehearsal process, the actor uses techniques, skills and creativity to become his/her character. Becoming someone different can be one of the most exciting and fun parts of being an actor. The challenge becomes creating another character that is not necessarily like you, but is convincingly real.

How do actors do it? There are many different exercises and techniques that actors use to develop their character. One way is to actually write a biography for the character. Actors use their imagination to invent all the details about the character; the character's name, age, where they live, what their favorite food is, who their friends are, what makes them happy or sad. How would this person walk, stand while waiting for a bus, chew their food, or brush their hair? Once this information is established, the actor can pretend to be this person. In addition to filling in all the blanks about this fictional person, actors observe the people around them and watch how they act and behave to give them some ideas.

Pretending to be another character is about creating and knowing all the important details about that character. You most certainly don't have to be an actor to have fun with these imaginative skills! Why not try creating your own character from scratch. See what you come up with and maybe it will inspire you to play, pretend or write a story. Allow your imagination to think of all the fun possibilities and it might take you to places you've never been before!

CAPTION: Actors rely on imagination to create their characters and to make them believable

Student Profile
THE MANY FACES OF AN ACTOR

He's been a detective, a judge, a magician and even a caterpillar. Seven and a half years old, Jake Brockman has a passion for performing. Not being able to study drama at his regular school, he has been taking the drama studio class at the avenue road arts school for the past two years. Being a detective in "Nate & Kate the Great" was definitely Jake's favorite role, to date, because he really likes mystery stories.

First introduced to drama at 3 1/2, in the Fine Arts Kindergarten program, jake demonstrated a natural talent for performing. The fine arts kindergarten, at the avenue road arts school, exposes children to an integrated arts program of visual art, music and drama. A team sports enthusiast, jake sees drama classes and stage performing as another opportunity to work with other kids in an interesting and creative way. "I like doing plays 'cause it's fun and you learn cooperation and how to work as a team or cast. It's important 'cause it teaches you things in your life," says the enthusiastic young actor.

Jake admits, that even though drama classes and acting in plays are great learning experiences and are tremendous fun, they also take a lot of dedication. "Working on a script is hard work. You have to remember your lines and cues," says a very serious Jake. He also admits that performing in front of people sometimes makes him feel nervous, but after he's on stage for a while and has said a few lines, he feels great and quite comfortable.

While many young actors really want the experience of acting on television and in film, Jake is quite content on stage. He likes being on stage because "it's more real and it's live. People are seeing you really doing it and on stage you get to perform over and over again."

Taking drama class again and again is what Jake would like to do. In fact, he says he'd like to take drama for ten terms straight because he learns something different each time. He feels he's challenged in a new and different way each time he takes the class and is presented with a new script and new character.

Does he want to be an actor when he grows up? Well, we'll have to wait and see. This young and very insightful actor isn't sure. "actors have a challenging job. They have to perform in a lot of different places." Jake likes the idea of becoming a "parking enforcement guy", "sports caster", "baggage handler" or "maybe a doctor." For now, he's happy pretending to be these characters in drama class and highly recommends that other kids try drama.

	Teen student works on a model of a house in summer Architecture class. (below)
Alice in Wonderland summer camp students created fun and original Mad Hatter's hats! (above)