Choosing an Acting Program with your Teen – The Developing Brain and Stage

Acting in the teen years can be an incredible experience. Otherwise, I never would have created the LATTE Theater Company or the Empathy Movement Method to help young actresses and actors thrive. So let’s take a beat and talk about why teens need additional safety around their stage experience and character creation.

Teens are exploring and defining who they are. Trying to do this hard enough in this age of tech and social media. When you are on stage you are creating a character that has its own separate emotional responses, physicality and personality.  That is complex to any age, let alone when the brain has not hardwired (till the mid to late twenties).To make things all the more challenging, often acting schools teach method acting or fail to teach the teen to approach character development as a healthy exercise with aesthetic distance.

Look at the cautionary tale of Heath Ledger and how he lost himself in the character. Look at actors and actresses who fall in love – with each other’s characters, unaware in that moment that they aren’t falling in love with each other. If adults easily have fallen into these pitfalls, don’t we owe it to teens to give them a safe and nourishing framework to thrive on stage – and off?

Thoughts to percolate:

As you choose a program that will in influence your teen, ask how they help the teen grow on stage and off. How do they protect the psyche of the teen as they bring a show to the spotlights?

~ Felicia Pfluger, Pfluger Empathy Movement Method, (c) 2023

THE JAVA JIVE: Acting Means Inspiration!

You are surrounded by “Inspiration” every day. And that inspiration, channeled, can make you INCREDIBLE on stage. Inspiration is the “verb” of Inspiring. It’s NOT the idle dream of making it big. It’s the lifeblood that allows you to craft your character and bring it to life with nuance, honesty – creating magic.

INSPIRATION allows you to eloquently craft a story as a stage ensemble, because you are developing a wholistic micro and macro world view – not drawing from a single source, but from an ocean of learning and understanding. In short, inspiration EMPOWERS you to be a spherical, unlimited powerhouse.  

Rule Two – Where’s Your Inspiration?

So, how do you get IT? Don’t rush it. Give yourself permission to disconnect from tech as you know it and connect to life differently. Immerse yourself in every art form. Explore an art museum or different cultures. Maybe attend a music concert or a dance form that is unique to you? You will find inspiration in HOW to move differently in character. Explore nature, a zoo, or a National Geographic video. Asking how creatures interact or fight SHAPES our character portrayals.

People-watch, take pics or sketch in public. Take in a nature walk and listen to how your breathing changes. BECOME a student of the world and cultures – in a Museum. Be aware and inspired by the “different”.

Immerse yourself in different perspectives as to NOT lose your perspective. This INSPIRATION will inspire countless people to become their best selves.

Challenges to Percolate:

Devote ten minutes to nurture yourself by:

  • Thinking HOW you would describe your world and story to someone from a different time or culture.
  • Do something different.
  • Read and ACT a classic poem.
  • Make a pact with a friend to share your “people watching” stories.
  • Listen to a This American Life in podcast.
  • Think how art shapes a culture or society or how it reflects it!

© The Pfluger Empathy Movement Method