Breaking Walls: Getting a Reluctant Actor to Come Out of His Shell by Stephanie Muller

I’m sure that in most cases, the idea of a “shy actor” doesn’t come up too much.  Typically kids who audition for productions love the limelight and attention that comes with being onstage.  But on occasion, teachers are left to deal with a kid who just plain doesn’t want to be there.  He may be in your show or class because his pushy parents made him do it or just as likely because of a graduation requirement in the arts.  But nonetheless, you as an educator are left in a precarious situation.  How do you best serve a kid who would rather be in a tank of sharks than in your class?

As a college theatre major, I actually see this come up quite a bit!  Since my college offers a broad degree in theatre, actors have to take tech classes (which terrify me) and techies have to take acting classes (which petrify them).  Here is what my acting professor did to help the students in her class who were not actors, not interested in acting and not enthusiastic to be trapped in her acting class for a semester.

First, my professor established why it was important for everyone to take an acting class at some point in his or her life.  Acting is not just an art, it is a way of life, she explained.  It helps people to live in the moment and be “present” rather than spending their time dwelling on the past and fearing the future.  It helps to provide insight about yourself and your inner truths that you never knew before.  For more practical people, learning to act serves as a means to build self-confidence, improve vocal skills and conquer the common fear of public speaking.  Giving students the big picture worked out really well for my professor, because suddenly the class was not about getting onstage and being silly, but about bettering themselves and conquering fears that might thwart them in the real world.

Another method my professor used which was particularly successful was to not focus so much on trying to get reluctant students to “act” but rather to encourage them to “get out of their heads.”  She encouraged improvisation and spontaneity.  We often were given activities that required so much focus and concentration that we forgot we were in front of a class.  This was particularly effective because it applied to more experienced, albeit self-conscious actors in the class as well (like me) and ensured that both the actors and non-actors in the class could be on the same level for awhile.

Next was an interesting tactic.  Instead of focusing on how to make a shy actor live up to a more enthusiastic, experienced scene partner, my professor insisted that the experienced actors in the class play to their inexperienced partners’ strengths.  It was, she insisted, never an actor’s place to make their scene partner look bad.  Therefore, just as a shy actor needed to step it up and break free of nerves, a more traveled actor needed to do whatever possible to bolster the confidence of his partner.  This worked in such a way that when the loudest kid in class was partnered with the meekest, their final scene together was beautiful because both had to make extreme adjustments in their temperaments to make the scene look polished and balanced.  I love this strategy because it doesn’t antagonize shy actors and make them feel small.  Rather, it puts the pressure on your more enthusiastic students to take their skills to another level to help their partners.

Teaching acting to an unwilling student is actually a great opportunity to change a shy kid’s life.  They will gain newfound skills that will help them immensely in non-theatrical settings such as business presentations and job interviews.  Even in their everyday lives, they will benefit from being present, getting out of their heads and complementing the strengths of their partners.