I learned to act late in life, after I had some life experience and heartache. Acting became an awesome release for me. When I teach kids the art of loving theatre and acting they connect with me, to each other, to their surroundings, and the light bulb comes on as to who they are and what they are capale of!

The reason I quit teaching in the public school was for a few different reasons. One, I was tired of "working for the man" Two, I wasn't on my own clock and the demands of the public school limited my energy and ability to give all I had to the kids who wanted to be there. Three, I wasn't actually teaching theatre at all. I was asking kids to sit down, keep their hands to themselves, please work, do something, get off their phones, etc. I wasn't teaching theatre, I was babysitting a bunch of kids, who liked me, but didn't necessarily love theatre.

That last one was especially hard for me, because I am passionately in love with everything that is theatre! The producing, the lights, the singing, the acting, the sets, the management, the marketing, the rehearsals, the dancing, the relationships, the energy, the hard work, and most of all watching all of those elements come together and create magic for all involved!

The art of acting and theatre is so diverse and complex there is no doubt that it can be for everyone interested in the art of theatre! In a successful acting class you can learn to let go of yourself, find a character, tap into all the emotion you didn't know you had, escape from the ghosts of your past and give them to your character, build relationships with friends and actors, lose all fear and inhibitions!

Acting and theatre games are not just for kids. Finding yourself in a room of like minded adults all throwing caution to the wind and showing vulnerability is extremely healing and it is why so many people have chosen to pursue acting as a career. It is a constant challenge from the inside out!

I will leave you with this, if you are a theatre teacher: never give up on the kids who truly want to learn what theatre can do for them, on and off stage. If you want to be an actor or start to learn the art of acting, don't let anything stop you! Because worse case scenario, you become more in touch with the power of who you are and what you can do for other people!

If you are just now thinking about acting in your life whether it is for the sheer release of it, or because you want to try your hand at acting on stage, tap into your life experience! If you have had life: joy, heartache, sorrow, spontaneity, thrills, love, lost love, hope, peace, anger, denial, any real emotion, then you know how to act! Tap into the emotions you have already felt in this life and turn them into a beautiful character!

Here is to your freedom and release of inhibitions through acting!