Hello, I hope you’re having a great week.
This is my first time posting in this lounge, and I have a question I’ve been genuinely curious about for a long time.
How do children younger than four learn to act? And how do directors guide them on when to laugh, cry, or react with wonder?
At that age, they still seem too young to deliberately produce those emotions on command, and I assume producers cannot just wait for those reactions to happen randomly and capture them… right?
SCIFISPY
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I began my acting career at age 4, and I was directed very similarly to the adults in the productions. My parents enrolled me in classes at a renowned Children's Theatre. I think the fact that I was already reading and speaking articulately at such a young age is why I was cast in my first several stage productions. I had an ididic memory, so that also helped. The directors would come down to my level to converse with me, but they treated me like a professional, and I was taught how to be one in my classes. I worked as an actor from age 4 - 36, then gave it up after losing my young husband. At 67 today, I would give anything to be back on stage or on a set. I would also be very good at working with children, since I've been a teacher for the past 16 years. To answer your question, "it depends upon the child."
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Thank you very much for sharing your journey. It is truly fascinating. I hope you find your way back to the stage and also get the opportunity to work with children. Good luck Elizabeth Thomas
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If you have a few kids, you find out that some/most can be readily coaxed to act as they consider it play. Add professional guidance to that and innate talent and voila.
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Yeah, I see my students trying to act while playing, so they already have the seeds of acting within them David Taylor
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This a great question Meriem Bouziani I have wondered how they get really young children to act. Though imagine to them it's make believe.
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I think it is like David Taylor said: they mimic what they have seen. I also think it is about feeling comfortable and happy in the acting environment.
I remember a scene from Maleficent, where Angelina Jolie wore the black dress and crown. They said many children cried and refused to act with her because the costume looked so scary. Only her daughter did it, because she knew her and felt comfortable around her, even though the dress looked frightening Suzanne Bronson