How to Perform in Children's Theatre Productions

Community theatre is a lot of fun, but there are extra bonuses to performing in a children's production.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A love of children
• The willingness to look silly, if that's what it takes

1. The Advantages of Performing in Children's Shows
   Aside from the fact that it's just plain fun, there are several reasons to consider performing for children.
   
   * Getting over stage fright. If you have a fear of public speaking and you want to take steps to get past it, there's no place like the children's theatre arena. They're not going to care if you stumbled over your lines; they’ll be having too much fun seeing a live performance.
   * Contributing to children’s enthusiasm for learning
   * Getting a taste of the spotlight. If you’re curious about community theatre, this is a good way to try it without feeling like you’re diving into the deep end of the pool.
   * Creative expression

2. Finding Opportunities to Perform for Children
   Besides the suggestions in my article "Get Involved With Local Theater", there are a few more sources to find out what groups in the area perform for children. Talk to local libraries and schools to ask them what area groups perform for them.

3. Add Enthusiasm and Mix Well
   When you are performing for younger children, make sure to present yourself energetically. Involve the audience as much as possible. If there’s an opportunity in the script to “ham it up”, go for it! For instance if the script calls for you to beg for forgiveness (and the director allows it), you can get down on one knee to plead with a teacher in the audience. Elementary age kids will eat it up!

4. Reap the Benefits
   One of the greatest perks to performing for children is the reaction that you see afterward. If the group does "Meet and Greet" after performances, the kids get a real kick out of meeting the performers. And every once in a while, teachers will have children create drawings of the performance, along with a thank you note, to send to the group. It’s a lot of fun to look through pages and pages of these charming thank you notes.

Tips & Warnings

• I can't say it enough when it comes to children's productions, ham it up! The kids will love it and so will you!!
• Make sure that you can fit rehearsals and performances into your schedule before you commit.

Resources

• How to Get Involved With Local Theater

[AllFYB]

on 4/28/2009 Great Information for Confidence Building and local theaters for children.

[Coach4U]

on 4/27/2009 Acting is so creative and fun. Children's theater would be an enjoyable experience to participate in. "5"