I've been working with ART as faculty on children's theatre programmes both short-term and long-term. I've dealt with tantrums and prodigies, starry-eyed, pushy parents and painfully shy participants. It's a different world out there in kids' theatre!
And you know what- it makes a world of a difference, too. Kids come in, self-conscious and bored, and leave confident and disciplined. Their minds fly with imagination, and their bodies learn to use space and voice like they were born to it. And they go out into the world stronger, happier and so much more creative.
This time I am taking on the youth bunch. I work with young people regularly, but I've never done a full length workshop with this age group before. I look forward to it with excitement, fully anticipating the challenges of dealing with teenagers. I'm also looking forward to trying some unusual theatrical devices with this group, including non-script-based theatre, and the theatre of real life, so that they can create their own stories using their own experiences and the issues that are important to them.
April Kids Workshop Trainer - Samta Vij:
“THEATRE” is more than stage, lights, curtains and shows….
For me, Theatre is an experience difficult to put in words or to explain so I wouldn’t even try to do so but yes, it’s an experience which I would like to share with my little friends and take their experiences as my learning. It is not necessary to have theatre workshops merely to make actors, do a performance or have a play during an annual function, theatre has more to give.
A journey… to a world created by the children’s own imagination, where they can play with their dreams, share their own ideas and express their feelings, thus enriching them with an experience which is going to develop them as fulfilled, positive human beings. It brings out of an introvert child a world within him of which he himself is unaware and directs the energy of the hyperactive child in a direction of magnificent creativity. Thus building an inner confidence in the children and making them sensitive to the subtle things of life which one is missing in this so called “techno world”. It is very important to be good human beings before being “intellectuals”!!
