The Kids Actor's Guide

You already know how to pretend. You have been a dragon, a teacher, a pirate, a dog. Acting takes that and adds one thing: you do it so that other people can see it, hear it, and believe it.

Actors use six tools. You carry all six with you everywhere:

Tool	What it does
Face	Shows what your character feels
Body	Shows who your character is and what they are doing
Voice	Lets the back row hear you, and shows how your character talks
Imagination	Makes the pretend real to you, so it looks real to us
Focus	Keeps you in the story, even when you are not talking
Listening	Lets you react to what really just happened

Try this: one tool at a time. Pick a feeling, like excited. Show it with only your face. Now only your body, face totally still. Now use both. Which one was hardest?

A queen walks differently from a sneaky cat. A tired grandpa sits differently from a kid who just won a prize. When you build a character, start with how they move: are they fast or slow? Do they lead with their nose, their chest, or their feet? Do they take up a lot of space or a little?

Stillness is a superpower. When you stop wiggling, the audience looks at you. A frozen actor who means it is more interesting than a moving actor who does not.

Face the audience. Your face is how we see the story. When you can, stand so we can see you. If you have to turn, turn just a little, not your whole back.

Uta Hagen, a famous acting teacher, said that real things happen in real bodies. When your character picks up a cup, your hand should know how heavy it is, even if the cup is pretend.

Try this: the emotion walk. Walk around the room normally. That is neutral. Now walk HAPPY: face, arms, feet. Now SNEAKY. Now PROUD. Now like your shoes are too big. Now like gravity just doubled. Then freeze, and say "I found the treasure" the way you are feeling.

Try this: pretend cup. Pick up a pretend glass of water. Feel how cold it is. Drink it. Put it down where you can find it again. Now pick up a pretend bowling ball. What changed in your whole body?

On stage you need the person in the very last row to hear every word. But yelling makes your voice tight and scratchy, and it makes it hard to understand you. What you want is your stage voice: big, clear, and coming from your belly, not your throat.

Think of voices on a scale of 1 to 5:

Level	What it sounds like
1	Whisper
2	Small voice
3	Regular talking
4	Stage voice
5	Too loud

Level 4 is the goal for almost everything you say on stage. Practice line: "The dragon is behind you!" at Level 4.

Kristin Linklater, a voice teacher, believed everyone already has a free, natural voice, and that most of voice work is getting the tight, tense stuff out of the way. That starts with breath.

Try this: belly breath. Put one hand on your belly. Breathe in through your nose so your hand moves out, not your shoulders up. Let it out on a long, easy "haaaaa." Do it three times. Now say your Level 4 line on that same easy breath.

Try this: tongue twisters. Say each one slow first, then with a clap on every word, then a little faster. Never sloppy.

• Red leather, yellow leather.
• Unique New York.
• Toy boat. (Say it five times fast. It is harder than it looks.)

A long time ago in Russia, an actor and director named Konstantin Stanislavski wrote about something he called the magic "if." You do not have to be a pirate. You just ask: what would I do if I were a pirate on a ship that was sinking? That little word "if" opens the door. Your imagination does the rest.

The more details you imagine, the more real it gets. Not just "a forest," but: is it dark? Is it cold? What does it smell like? What is that sound behind you?

Try this: the magic object. Hold out your hands. There is something in them. Mime using it: is it a hat? A phone? A tiny kitten? Show us without words. If you are with a friend, pass it to them, and they turn it into something new.

Try this: obvious, funny, weird. For any pretend thing, there are three kinds of ideas. For "something in a backpack": a lunchbox is obvious, a flying sandwich is funny, a backpack that tells lies is weird. All three are allowed. Weird is very allowed.

This is the most important question in acting, and both Stanislavski and Uta Hagen built their teaching around it. Your character always wants something, and something is always in the way.

• What do I want? (the cookie)
• What is in my way? (the cookie jar is on the top shelf, and a grown-up said no)
• What will I try? (ask nicely, climb a chair, blame the dog)

When you know what your character wants, you always know what to do on stage, even when you are not talking. You are watching the cookie jar. You are waiting for your chance.

Try this: one line, three wants. Say "Can you open the door?" three times. First, you want to get out because you are scared. Then, you want to surprise someone on the other side. Then, you really, really need the bathroom. Same words. Totally different scene.

The rule is "Yes, and." When your partner gives you an idea, you say yes to it (you accept it as true), and you add something new. If they say "Look, a spaceship!" you do not say "No, it's a bus." You say "Yes, and it's landing in our backyard!"

Viola Spolin invented many of the theatre games that kids around the world still play. She believed games are the best way to learn acting, because when you are busy playing, you forget to be nervous. Keith Johnstone, another improv teacher, noticed that the scenes that work are the ones where actors accept each other's ideas, and the ones that fall apart are the ones where actors keep saying no. Big improv theatres like UCB and Second City still teach these same ideas to grown-ups today.

A choice is a gift. When you tell your partner who they are ("Grandma, you forgot your glasses!"), you have done the hard part for them. They do not have to make anything up. They just take it and go. Giving gifts is the kindest thing you can do on stage.

Make your partner look good. If you try to be the funniest person in the scene, the scene usually dies. If you try to make your partner look brilliant, it works, and you look great too.

Try this: Yes, Let's! With a group, someone shouts an idea: "Let's all be dragons!" Everyone yells "YES, LET'S!" and does it. Then the next person shouts a new idea.

Try this: gift giving. With a partner, hand them a wrapped pretend present. They open it, decide what is inside, show it to you, and are thrilled about it. Then flip it: you say what it is as you hand it over ("Here, it's a live eel!"), and they still have to love it.

Try this: one-word story. Sit with a friend or a family. Tell a story one word each, taking turns. "Once... upon... a... pickle..." Do not plan ahead. Just say the next word.

Here are tricks that work:

1. Learn your cue too. Your cue is the line right before yours. If you only know your line, you will not know when to say it.
2. One bite at a time. Learn one line, then the next, then say both together. Then add a third.
3. Say it out loud and move. Walk around, act it out. Your body helps your brain remember.
4. Know what you mean. If you understand why your character says it (what do they want?), the words are easier to remember.
5. Sleep on it. Practice right before bed. Your brain keeps working on it while you sleep.
6. Run them with a helper. A grown-up or friend reads everyone else's lines, and you say yours.

If you mess up on stage, keep going. The audience does not have the script. If you forget a line, say what your character would say, in your own words. That is called staying in character, and real actors do it all the time.

Try this: run your lines with a computer. Line Runner reads the other parts out loud and waits for you to say yours, so you can practice alone.

Auditions. An audition is when you show a director what you can do so they can decide who plays which part. Tips:

• Say your name and what you are doing in a clear Level 4 voice.
• Make a choice and commit. A big brave choice is better than a small safe one.
• If you mess up, smile, take a breath, and start the line again. Directors like seeing that.
• When you are done, say thank you. Then you are done. The rest is the director's job, not yours.

Not getting the part you wanted happens to every actor who has ever lived, including the famous ones. It does not mean you are not good. Directors are building a whole puzzle, and sometimes they need a different shape. Every part is real acting. Small parts are how you learn the most.

Rehearsals are where the show gets built. You will do the same scenes over and over. That is the job. Write your blocking (where you stand and move) in pencil in your script.

Tech week is the week right before the show, when lights, sound, costumes and the set all come in. It is long, and there is a lot of waiting. Bring a book. Stay quiet backstage. Be ready when they call you.

Show day. Before you go on: belly breath three times, shake out your hands and feet, and remember what your character wants. When you are on stage, focus on your partner and the story, not on the audience.

The bow. Walk on, stand together, bow at the same time, and smile. You earned it.

• Listen. On stage, really listen to your scene partner every time, like you are hearing it for the first time.
• Be in the scene when you are not talking. If you are on stage, you are in the story. React. Watch. Breathe.
• Cheer for everybody. When someone else does well, it makes the whole show better. Tell them.
• No spotlight-hogging. Do not pull focus while someone else is talking. Their moment is your moment too.
• Backstage is quiet. The audience can hear more than you think.
• Be kind about mistakes. Everybody messes up. In a good cast, nobody laughs at anybody, only with them.
• Keep it clean. A good rule for any scene: nothing you could not do in front of your grandmother and your principal at the same time.

Try this: the compliment circle. After practice, go around the group. Everyone says one specific thing someone else did well. "I liked how your robot walked." Ending proud is part of the job.

I studied theatre at Virginia Tech and have taught kids in classrooms, camps and community shows. These are the books on my shelf that shaped this guide. They are written for grown-up actors and teachers, but if you are curious, go find them.

Book	Who wrote it	What it taught this guide
An Actor Prepares	Konstantin Stanislavski	The magic "if," and that every character wants something
Respect for Acting	Uta Hagen	Real objects, real bodies, and what is in your way
Freeing the Natural Voice	Kristin Linklater	Breath, and letting your real voice out
Improvisation for the Theater	Viola Spolin	Learning acting through games
Impro	Keith Johnstone	Accepting ideas, and why "no" stops a scene
The Upright Citizens Brigade Comedy Improvisation Manual	Matt Besser, Ian Roberts, Matt Walsh	"Yes, and," and building a scene together

The games in this guide come from my own teaching. Have fun with them. Break a leg.

Kate