seeking advice about admission

kb239bells
Fri, 26 Jul 2013 13:39:01 +0000

I’m the mother of a ten year old girl who wants to ‘get into acting.’ She performed in a Shakespeare play last year, did well, and really enjoyed the experience, so now she’s decided she wants to act. I have to admit that my first inclination was to say that everyone wants to act (or get famous) and she should consider doing something else (I know she’s only ten and may change her mind), but then I thought that if this is something she really wants to do, I should try to help her accomplish it. You can’t plan to ‘be discovered,’ but you can prepare to have a career in acting–there are lots of actors out there that aren’t ‘well-known,’ but they make a living in the business and who knows, maybe with training and some luck, she can do really well at it. There are Arts middle and high schools in our area that I’m going to try to get her into, and I have contacted one of the drama/acting coaches in our area to get her into some of the workshops they offer throughout the year. My thought was that if she prepared to get into Juilliard, even if she didn’t get in, she would be well prepared for most any college drama program.

I guess my question is, what would any of you do differently if you could start over at ten years old? Are there things that she should really make sure she does or studies? If not Juilliard, what other school(s) might you consider? I’ve just started looking into the whole thing, so any help or advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks