Education Matters | FST’s Commitment to Kids: The Children’s Theatre

By Ryan G. Van Cleave | May 2022

While our area is rich with live theatre options, Florida Studio Theatre (FST) has been here since 1973 and has grown with the community. This contemporary theatre has expanded to become the largest subscription theatre in the state and among the largest in the entire country, serving over a quarter of a million people through its various programs and offerings each year. Physically, too, it’s hard to miss because FST now consists of five distinct theatre spaces that take up almost two downtown blocks. 

Associate Director At-Large, Kate Alexander, has spent most of her professional career with FST. “I’ve been here since we were in a hut,” she says with a laugh. “The education program, which I founded within my first five years here, has been integral to the theatre’s mission from the beginning. And, to quote Zelda Fichandler [a pioneer in the Regional Theatre Movement in the 1950s], ‘A theatre isn’t worth its salt unless it has a mission.’ And part of that mission was that you weren’t just there to produce or present theatre, but you had an education mission that went deep into the community. That was there from the inception of FST since Richard Hopkins took over as Artistic Director in 1980.”

When she worked with Hopkins to create the educational programming, they decided it had to be similar to what adult acting programs offer because the principles were the same. “If you’re going to play Juliet, you have to remember what it’s like to be in love when you were just a teen and had that overdriving passion,” she explains. “So, for children, you’re given a monologue from Shel Silverstein or Judith Viorst, and they’re going to be child appropriate. And you’re going to imagine—what was it like when my best friend moved away? What was it like when my mom was late, and I was afraid she wasn’t going to come to school? What was it like when my grandpa died? It’s the same training. It’s using your memories and then having the courage to cross that threshold and show emotion.” Fundamentally, it’s a safe, effective version of the same training Alexander experienced in New York when she studied at the American Center for Stanislavski Theatre Arts. 

These days, one of the ways that FST makes good on their commitment to education is through its Children’s Theatre program which is more than just a performance where kids sit and watch. Preshow activities and post-show Q&As with cast members ensure that kids understand and engage with the experience. To accommodate the widest range of young audience members, FST keeps ticket prices low.

For those who want to go beyond being an audience member, there’s the Florida Studio Theatre School, which offers year-round classes for students of all ages and experience levels. It’s more than just acting training, too—they also learn music, dance, improvisation, and theatre writing. 

Alexander points out that there’s a large difference between dress up and acting. While it’s important to put on your Superman cape and run around the house, it’s just as valuable to participate in a school pageant. “All of those experiences are important to child development,” she says. “But fear is the same for an adult or for a child, and with acting, you’re crossing a threshold, and that threshold is the stage. You have to have the courage to create and show who you are as a human being. It reveals the ability of your five senses and your heart.”

Unsurprisingly, the interest in theatre didn’t wane even when COVID was raging. “The children were so grateful to be able to come to the theatre. Even when we had them stand six feet apart with a mask, and they couldn’t touch each other. Parents brought them because the children needed a way to express what they were feeling,” Alexander explains. “Theatre is not about being fed by film or television. It’s about engagement. That’s what acting is.” 

FST’s no-cost VIP Performing Arts Program—which is for students with physical, mental, emotional, or behavioral challenges—continued throughout the pandemic as well. Because of the logistics of gathering this population, they moved fully online where they recreated the same safe, supportive space for these students to express themselves, gain confidence, and develop social skills through the art of theatre. “Each week,” Alexander reports, “those amazing students put on their FST T-shirts and showed up on camera.” They needed it. More than ever, they wanted to be part of something.

During the year, FST runs classes in 8-week sessions, while over the summer, they run full-day, multi-week sessions starting May 30th. No matter the level of expertise or skill, the offerings are designed to meet students exactly where they are to nurture individual creativity. These summer sessions culminate in a final showcase, where each student gets the chance to perform a specially chosen monologue, a meaningful song, or a scene with a partner. The students rise to the occasion, too, in ways that are impressive. 

One of Alexander’s favorite stories is how one boy in their program was “simply the shyest kid” for more than two years. He brought a puppet with him, and most days, he sat by the wall and let the puppet handle most of the talking. “Yet he just blossomed in the program, and he later ended up attending Julliard to study acting.” While most students don’t end up going this route, the skills they learn at FST prove invaluable in whatever futures they imagine for themselves.  

While Alexander loves working with young actors, she has a range of teaching colleagues who all use the same building blocks and methods of training. “The older person brings the wisdom and the knowledge,” she says, “while the young person brings a great deal of enthusiasm, joy, and relatability. Children love to express emotion. They’re simply waiting for an opportunity to show it. FST gives it to them.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION about Florida Studio Theatre or its Children’s Theatre programs, please visit www.floridastudiotheatre.org or call 941.366.9000.