Last year Jasmine Gish decided to give acting class a try.
Although she had an interest in acting, she had only participated in school drama classes until she and a friend decided to sign up for a course at First Step Actors’ Workshop in North Vancouver.
“It’s always been something that I thought about and I know that I really enjoyed doing when I was younger but going and doing the program just totally brought it out of me,” says Gish of her acting experience.
Tuesdays (when she has her class) are now her favourite part of the week.
“It’s a lot of fun,” she says of the program in which participants explore TV and film acting through various exercises, scene study, a bit of improv, and cold readings.
The 17-year-old Rockridge secondary student attends a youth class, and says she wasn’t nervous when she started because of the group’s supportive and positive environment.
That’s important too because acting can leave a person feeling exposed, she notes.
“A lot of times you really have to put yourself out there,” she says, adding she doesn’t feel nervous or self-conscious when in class because all the students there are in the same boat.
When asked to describe how they learn to act, Gish says participants learn not to act. Instead, they learn to get to a point where they’re really not acting but feeling.
“You really put yourself into your character and you just sort of become them and you actually feel the emotions,” she explains.
Owner and program director Russell Porter agrees.
A successful actor for many years, his credits include The X-Files, Arrow, and hosting Urban Rush, among many others, Porter says his goal as an instructor is to give participants the tools they need “to develop and realize a new level of self-confidence and ability to be in the moment.”
He says he’s not teaching students how to be actors. Instead he’s giving them the opportunity to discover why they love being an actor.
“What we’re helping people do is to know it not necessarily to show it,” he says.
Participants are not there because they want to be a star, they’re not there for what they can get tomorrow, he notes. They’re there to be in the moment. “This is where acting becomes its own reward,” he says.
In its 16th year on the North Shore, First Step Actors’ Workshop offers classes for people from eight years old and up. Two summer programs include one for kids ages eight-12 and one for teens ages 13-18.
Acting experience is not required, just an interest in trying something new.
“The only real requirement is the desire to be involved in something real, an adventure, share a journey with others, that’s who this is for,” says Porter,
For more information about summer and year-round programs, visit firststepactors.com.
This story originally appeared in a special section of the North Shore News that was focused on local summer camps.
