Denver Center Theatre Academy, located at 1101 13th Avenue, in the Robert & Judi Newman Center for Theatre Education, is a sharp looking place, inside and out with an entire floor dedicated to education. There are 14 studios on the third floor, just waiting for willing kids and adults to let down their hair and learn a great craft. I appreciated the fact that the elevator had sheets with each class and Studio Number on it. After leaving the elevator, a map pointed the way to the classes. Very helpful for someone who had never been in the building.
As children aged 10-12 entered the "ACT Class", Crystal Verdon, welcomed them into a circle of chairs. After a few quick announcements, Crystal got everyone moving, doing a series of acting “games.” The idea here was to get the students moving and reacting almost without thinking. These activities progressed into “picture” poses and story-telling. I must say, it was marvelous to watch and I wanted to play too. (I’m sure that would have gone over well with my daughter
).The second part of the class focused on scene preparations. It was the mighty Shakespeare and a small bit out of Midsummer Night’s Dream. In order to help the kids “take on” Shakespeare, Crystal started with a “101” sheet. Then she told the story of the scene while several acted it out and then the students read through the scene and helped to “translate” the verbiage.
And just like that, 90 minutes were gone. My daughter begged to come back again.
Class schedules rotate through the year with quarterly offerings, generally starting in October, January, April with weekly classes and June, intensive summer courses, one to two weeks for five days a week from 9am-4pm.
What I learned:
• This is a professional atmosphere, with approachable, knowledgeable and fun teachers.
• I felt comfortable in the building with plenty of resources to let me know where to go.
• Parking is do-able, just plan a few extra minutes to find a meter.
• Students should wear comfortable clothes they can move in for the various acting exercises.
I would definitely recommend Denver Center Theatre Academy to any family who has young kids who are interested in exploring the art of movement and dialogue.
See you soon, JuneBug
