Coaching creativity

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- When Debbie Baldwin and Angela Howard were girls, there weren't special theater companies designed to spark children's imaginations. A starlet was on her own.

So Baldwin and Howard did what most budding young actresses did in those days. They transformed their parents' garages into stages and agreed to appear in plays written by neighborhood playwrights.

How else was a star to be born?

Today, the women hope their new theater company will help open doors to more children eager to find a place to unleash their creativity.

"We are solely about the child," Baldwin said. "We are not a community theater company with a children's program. We are just about educating kids through drama education and nothing else."

PACE, which stands for Performing Arts in Children's Education, is a theater company with a mission to provide educational and hands-on learning experiences through classes, public performances and staged readings, as well as mentoring and community-outreach programs.

The company is overseen by a 12-member board of directors, including Baldwin as youth program director and Howard as business manager. Instructors include several eager theater majors from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

"How many college students do you know who will give up their Saturdays to teach kids?" Baldwin said. "These students are wonderful."

PACE is open to children in kindergarten through 12th grade, and offerings range from simple dramatic exercises to courses designed for older students aspiring to careers in theater. Ninety students attended the first set of classes in late January at Benton Elementary School.

'Civilized civilization'

Not bad for a program that was nothing more than a dream shared between friends just a few months ago. But that's what theater is about -- taking something imaginary and bringing it to life.

Baldwin and Howard know that as well as anyone.

"The arts make for a civilized civilization," said Baldwin, who teaches speech and drama at Smithton Middle School. "But I think drama teaches us something more because in drama you have to take on another persona. It's all about walking a mile in another man's shoes."

Theater encourages creative problem-solving and forces children to use their imaginations, which Baldwin fears many young people are afraid to do. She said computers, television and other media provide children with instant gratification and robs them of chances to be creative.

Theater can restore those opportunities.

"It provides children with a safe place to express themselves," Baldwin said. "I'm a huge advocate of theater."

She's proved that with a life devoted to the arts. Baldwin received a bachelor's degree from Stephens College and a master's degree from Lesley College and plans to return to school this fall for a doctorate in theater at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Since 1979, she has been teaching youth theater and working as an actress. In 1980, she took over as director of the theater school at Columbia Entertainment Company, where she worked for 17 years.

Most recently, Baldwin and Howard were instrumental in helping to form TRYPS, another children's theater company in Columbia that puts on productions and teaches classes. The two left TRYPS late last year to begin PACE.

Jill Womack, artistic director of TRYPS, said that with state budget cuts in arts programs, offering children in Columbia another opportunity to experience theater will only benefit the community.

TRYPS involves the use of professional adult actors in its children's productions, which Womack said is not only a source of inspiration for the young actors but serves as an example of what they can strive to become. TRYPS also offers school outreach programs that teach acting, playwriting and other theater arts.

"We really try to get the kids with as many professionals as possible to inspire and mentor them," she said.

Baldwin and Howard said they were interested in starting a theater company devoted solely to the dramatic education of children, with productions that cast only child actors. PACE's first production, "The Hobbit," will be presented in late April and early May.

John Berkenbosch of Columbia said he can hardly wait for the show. The "Lord of the Rings" fan's son Seth, 9, has been cast as Oin, a dwarf, in the production. Last weekend, Seth and his brother, Mason, 6, were attending their first acting classes at Benton.

"I was never really involved in theater as a kid," John Berkenbosch said. "I handled spotlights for a high school play once. I think this is a great place for them to express themselves in a non-threatening environment and to build some self-confidence."

Besides that, he added, "It's a great place for them to burn off some energy."

That was evident in the flushed faces of students in Maggie Killian's class as they danced around the classroom, interpreting music through body motions. Killian, a senior technical theater major at MU, shouted out emotions, and the fourth- and fifth-graders moved accordingly.

"Show me scared!" Killian said.

Danielle Mann, 9, cowered under a table, shielding her face with her hands. Her body trembled with fear.

"Show me happy!"

Danielle popped out from under the table and twirled merrily around the room, her face bright with happiness. The fourth-grader from Columbia Catholic School has been in a number of local theater productions and said she finds acting liberating.

"You get rid of all your shyness," she said.

Stephanie Logan, president of PACE's board of directors and a mother of five, said her two oldest children, ages 9 and 8, are involved in theater, an opportunity she believes has helped them build confidence.

"By learning lines and dances and then pulling together as a group to put on a show -- it's a wonderful experience," she said. "I believe it's worth every penny I invest in my children's artistic education."

Megan Quick, 11, a fifth-grader from Fairview Elementary School, said her favorite part about theater is pretending to be someone else.

"That's fun!" she said. "You can be as wild as you want in acting class. You can't do that in school."