Choosing between fun & becoming an actor is easy when you choose both.

Last year, Kami Kurisu felt a little nervous about her first day in South Coast Repertory's Summer Acting Workshop.

Kami, a junior at Newport Harbor High, had acted in plays at school, but she'd never taken an acting class before: "I didn't know what to expect."

It turned out to be a lot of fun.

"There were people of all different types of talents. Some people flew in from out of state for this workshop, while others just took it to have fun. Ilearned so many new things about acting, and I made tons of new friends."

More than 300 students go through SCR's two-week acting workshop every summer, but classes are kept small. Kami's class of 20 was small enough that everyone got individual attention on their voice work, movement exercises and character development.

One of the most helpful techniques Kami took away from the workshop is called CROW: "CROW is something you should always be thinking about when you're acting in a scene. C – who is your Character? R – what is your Relationship to other characters in the scene? O – what is your character's Objective in the scene? W – Where is your character, both physically but also in relation to the plot?"

After the workshop, Kami realized that some of the things she'd learned had benefits beyond the stage and have been especially helpful when it comes to class presentations.

"It helped me develop my social skills and also my presentational skills. I learned to project, enunciate and improvise."

"Overall, I would recommend the Summer Acting Workshop to anyone who wants to have a fun time or is thinking of becoming an actor one day. It confirmed my choice of wanting to become a professional actor."

Now she can start her senior year with a confident career choice.

More information about Summer Acting Workshop