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I need advice, real bad…

Question:

The following article is a chapter from my new book, The Complete Book of New School Acting, which I hope to have ready in about three weeks.  I’d be interested in any comments those on this list might have. It is quite long and while it is about acting, it takes its time getting to that point. If you have curiosity and patience, I believe any actor will find it time well spent. We must recognize that regardless of all the romance and creative mystique wrapped around it, acting is a field of study the same as math, history or language. Student actors are just that, students. They are not exempt from practical pedagogical principles. Any advance in teaching styles applies to them as much as it does to any science major. The following essay should establish that powerful advances have been made. Unfortunately for students they are not being applied with the zeal they deserve. In fact, these advances are patently ignored by far too many educators in general and in the area of acting instruction they seem to be completely ignored. Hopefully what follows will help create a dialogue on this extremely important subject. CHARTER SCHOOLS, LEARNING STYLES & NEW SCHOOL ACTING If you haven’t heard of Charter Schools yet, you will very soon. It is the most explosive movement in the history of education. Public schools have been one of the last great state monopolies.  Charter schools, are in one sense, the deregulating of education, the field is now open to all.  They are alternative schools which can be started by just about anyone. Accountability is high but these schools are free of virtually all rules and regulations which govern ordinary public schools.  Generally they are started by teachers, parents and students who are disgusted with the low level of education in the Public School System.  They are proven to give a higher level of education than conventional public schools.  They have to, it’s part of their charter. Scores go up or they go down.  Students are flocking to them because of the advanced educational philosophy and teaching techniques they embody and employ.  Some of the existing charter schools have waiting lists of over five hundred students. The independence of Charter Schools from the rigid bureaucracy which has made a shambles of the public school system in America, inspires teachers and students alike. How popular are they, a few statistics relating to their astounding growth should sake the dust off of even the most addled brain. I think as a quick lead in to those numbers it’s interesting to look at how people inside this movement saw it a few years ago. I picked this up on the net, while dated, it certainly bears out the prediction. (Nov. 15, 1996) Jeanne Allen, president of the Center for Education Reform, today announced the release of the Third Edition of the Center’s National Charter School Directory, the nation’s only comprehensive listing of America’s charter schools. Six additional states are included in the third edition of the directory: Alaska, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana and Texas, all of which opened schools during 1996. "It’s been a challenge to keep up with the growth of charter schools," Allen continued, "which is a real indication of the strength of the move toward charter schools as an education reform option. In 1996 alone 214 schools have opened in nine states, and with new charter school laws having been adopted in five states and the District of Columbia (DC) since the beginning of the year, an ever-growing number of children can look forward to having the opportunity to learn in charter schools." (During 1996 Connecticut, Illinois, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina and DC enacted charter school legislation.)    From there it’s been a straight up rocket. These numbers are from the US Department of Education’s National Charter School Study. In 1993 there was one Charter School in Minnesota. In 1995 there were 93 Charter Schools operating in 5 states. In 1996 there were 214 charter Schools operating in 10 states. In 1997 there were over 800 Charter Schools operating in 29 states. Today, early 1998 there are over 1000 and many more are soon to open. This last figure was provided to me by Asst. Director, Gail Meister of Drexel U. Foundation for Technical Assistance to Public Charter Schools.  These are spectacular numbers and it should be a wake up call to the government and public education that something is wrong with the old school style of teaching. This is only the beginning of this movement. It will grow at an even more phenomenal rate as parents, teachers and students realize that they don’t have to put up with second rate education’s from the public school system. You will note that the number of states involved virtually tripled last year alone. Adding 19 States in one year has to be an indication of how popular this new approach to teaching is  becoming. They could not do that if they weren’t getting the results. The kids scores are up! That is the bottom line in this game, the students are learning more. Where did this idea of Charter Schools come from, what caused this full scale revolt against a seemingly unchallengeable foe?  Well the seeds were planted over four decades ago, when some very astute educators started to question why so many kids were slipping through the cracks in an aging and outdated educational system.  They didn’t take the easy way, the one still used by old school defenders, blaming the parents, blaming the kids. Nor did they blame the teachers, who are also fingered by a worn out out dated system. A system so desperate to preserve it’s privilege that it looks anywhere to put the blame, any where but at the bankrupt state of it’s own condition. There is a lot of money at stake as I will point out in a minute. No, they didn’t take the easy way, the pioneers of Learning Styles went looking for root causes and they came up with answers. They went to brain science and they went to the most basic pedagogical assumptions.  They labored for decades.  The intensive scientific research and testing of theories coming out of that research started to yield some very startling results.  The problem was indeed at the root. A root that was at least a century and a half years old, in actuality it goes back much farther than that.  The problem stemmed from the fact that the style which teaching had always used, made the information much less accessible to large numbers of students.   Researchers discovered that different students preferred to access information in different ways. They named these "ways"  Learning Modalities and the over all study of these ways, Learning Styles. In any new field of endeavor, opinions of those involved are bound to vary, but it is essentially agreed by many in the field that there are three basic learning modalities. Extensive experimentation showed that certain students/humans learned best when the material to be learned was presented in an auditory fashion, others when it was presented visually and the rest when the learning situation had a tactile/kinesthetic dimension.  In short, hearing, seeing, or by touching/moving around.   Many other factors were seen to have an effect on learning. One of the most obvious was the learning environment itself. Modern classrooms don’t look anything like they did when I was in school.  The rows and rows of neatly aligned desks, with the teachers big desk in the front, are gone.  They have been replaced by various arrangements. Some are modular spaces where various learning activities take place, a variation is the group table shared by small numbers of students. The permutations are as varied as the imagination of the teacher and the students.  When progressive teachers started to bring Learning Styles into the classroom, they ran into a stone wall.  I can just hear some principal saying, "What the hell do you think your doing", after the shock wore off of course. The teachers saw a better way to teach but were being constantly rebuffed by administrations who could only mumble, the curriculum, the curriculum, we can’t fit that into the curriculum. The kids were the ones paying the price and teachers of conscience walked out and now Charter Schools are springing up like the flowers in my garden. I was curious as to how many Charter Schools were actually using a Learning Styles paradigm in formulating their curriculum. I called various state Charter School organizations and was told those figures were not known to them. More than a few times I was told to contact Dr. Joe Nathan. He is the Director of the Center for School Change at the U. of Minnesota’s Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs and a pioneer in this field.  He has authored many books and papers on this subject.  I posed that question to him in a phone conversation a few days ago. He said that exact figures wern’t available, so I asked him his personal opinion and he said, " Wise Charter Schools will use Learning Styles research because it is a powerful and effective tool to aid student achievement."  Learning Styles is having it’s greatest success in the K-8 area of education, but we can see in the rapidly increasing numbers of Charter Schools for jr. high and high school students, the growing dissatisfaction of teachers, parents and students at this level. They are fed up with the government and old school bureaucracy failing to bring these improved techniques into the class room. Many of us already possess a major key to understanding the value of this new approach. Talk about left brain/right brain has been in the popular press long enough, that most people have heard of that idea.  Decades of brain research has proven that we have two spheres of influence, these were once called the, left brain and right brain, though they are now referred to as the left and right hemispheres. Very basically, left hemisphere rules business type functions and controls the right side of the face, ears etc. … read more »

Response:

Ed, Thanks for calling me a bright kid.  Both my parents were genious’s.  My dad was like the number 9 guy in the White House for most of Clinton’s first term.  Anyway KB, that post had a quite a bit of information.  I called up Sag/Aftra and they have five places around here.  I’ll check everything although I’m sure it will take a lengthy amount of time. Thanks for the help. Ezra I would suggest getting some formal training.  Classes for youth are offered through several local companies, such as Adventure Theatre in Glen Echo, The Theatre Lab, and even The Shakespeare Theatre. …. Wow!  What a terrific and informative post for Ezra.  I’ve been chatting with him in private e-mail.  Bright kid.  I wasn’t able to give him the kind of specifics you did though.  Nice going.<g Ed Hooks

– Where have all the cowboys gone? Not that I’m looking, I’m just curious.

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Hi, My name is Ezra Moses Galston.  I’m 13 years old and I live in Washington DC.  I am very interested in film.   Thanks, Ezra

I would suggest getting some formal training.  Classes for youth are offered through several local companies, such as Adventure Theatre in Glen Echo, The Theatre Lab, and even The Shakespeare Theatre.  If you are serious about being available for professional level work, consider participating in the League of Washington Theatres annual cattle-call audition, which takes place at Arena Stage in July (sign-ups are in early June).  Check The Guide to the Lively Arts feature in the Washington Post, on Fridays in the Weekend section and on Sundays in the Arts section, for audition notices and classes.  Ask questions about any class you are considering taking–they can get expensive, and you should be discriminating in your choices.  We don’t really have a large network of SAG franchised agents in the greater DC area, but we do have several casting companies, including Central Casting in DC (202-547-6300?), Carlyn Davis in Falls Church (703-532-1900), Capital Casting in DC (202-797-8621), and BHK Arts Consultants.  They may or may not keep files on young people, as the majority of their work is casting for industrials, and the occasional feature film that rolls through town.  But call anyway. Call the Actors Center in Arlington (703-413-3270) and see if they can offer any suggestions–they are a membership organization and reserve most of their information for members, but they can give you enough information to decide whether you want to consider joining.   I just remembered Linda Townsend (I think she’s in Oxon Hill?), who is a manager who does alot of work with young people and sends her clients to auditions both locally and in New York.  If you’re not quite ready to go pro, just keep on practicng, and look into local community theatres, there are many in the metro area.  Even if your main desire is film work, experience in the theatre is invaluable.  Get involved. Have Fun!!  The business can be difficult, so do your best to enjoy what part of it you can.  Keep believing in yourself.  Be patient, but not complacent. Beware of scams.  Have Fun!!  Sorry I don’t have more of these phones numbers right in front of me, but most of them are probably listed.  Good luck.                                                         –K

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I would suggest getting some formal training.  Classes for youth are offered through several local companies, such as Adventure Theatre in Glen Echo, The Theatre Lab, and even The Shakespeare Theatre. ….

Wow!  What a terrific and informative post for Ezra.  I’ve been chatting with him in private e-mail.  Bright kid.  I wasn’t able to give him the kind of specifics you did though.  Nice going.<g Ed Hooks

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Hi, My name is Ezra Moses Galston.  I’m 13 years old and I live in Washington DC.  I am very interested in film.  I have done stuff in theater with the lead a few times (lately because I got better.)  Acting really seems easy to me.  Whatever I try to do I can always do.  I’m always writing scripts so that I can practice.  I also practice on other people’s scripts, which I find off the net, and I can do them all and it’s really not all that hard for me.  I’m not the most gorgeous kid you’ve ever seen, but I look better than avereage.  I kow that looks is half of hollywood, but I guess them I’ve got 35% of the first 50%.  My problem is that there’s not all that much film going on in DC.  I’d love to get an agent to help me, but I don’t even know where to get started. I’d love it if someone could help me. Thanks, Ezra — Where have all the cowboys gone? Not that I’m looking, I’m just curious.

Response:

Hi, My name is Ezra Moses Galston.  I’m 13 years old and I live in Washington DC.  I am very interested in film.

I don’t think there is much film action in D.C., Ezra.  You can find out if there are any SAG-franchised agents in D.C. by visiting the Screen ACtors Guild web site.  It is, I think http://www.sag.org. Have you been to Arena Stage in D.C.?  It is a full Equity company that does professional plays.  They might need a kid your age sometime.  Why don’t you arrange to go to the opening of whatever play they are doing next, and take along a photo with you.  After the play, seek out the director, who will surely be there.  Introduce yourself.  Also, try to meet the Artistic Director of the Arena Stage.  I’m not sure if the Arena has a resident casting director but, if so, meet that person, too. Not many plays require kids, but some do.  You never know.  I didn’t act in any plays at Arena Stage, but I first became exposed to professional acting there back in the 1960’s. Ed Hooks

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    I can’t help you much with names and numbers because I live in the U.K but you’ll find lots of helpful people here who can, one thing I can say is about your ‘Looks self assessment (35% out of the 50%); obviously the ‘look’ of an actor is quite important when casting a character, especially in Hollywood! but for now I would concentrate on you acting and not what you look like.  I make no reference to you personally and don’t take me the wrong way but there are just as many parts for the shall we say not so attractive?     As we all know film  pays far far better than theatre(notice the spelling!!)but at a young age enjoyment in doing something that you like best is of utmost importance.     As far as agents are concerned, over here the first thing to do is get some good (not necessarily expensive) head and shoulder photographs.  There is a book available containing useful addresses and telephone numbers of agents and production companies, I’m sure there will be a similar publication available to you; ask someone who’s more local, like on your side of the world and I’m sure they will be able to help.

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I gave you the wrong URL for SAG.  It is http://www.sag.com/ Sorry. Ed Hooks

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