The Five W’s
The Five Ws form of analysis pre-dates the 12th century (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Ws.) At Gary Spatz Acting Conservatory we teach our young actors to be able to look at a script and come up with the answers to the Acting 5 Ws, which differ slightly in that the “Who” is who you’re talking to in a script, the “What” is what you want and the “Why” is why you want it.
(There are a few additional items in script analysis that I’ll choose to leave out for simplicity’s sake.) We also teach our students that two of the most important things to figure out is their WHAT and WHY. What does their character want. and why is it important?
After a recent class, a parent approached me to talk about their child’s progress in class and it inspired me to “breakdown” the 5 Ws as they pertain to my life.
WHO: Lee Sherman, Acting Teacher, Private Acting Coach, Teaching Artist
WHAT: Effectively, compassionately and patiently teach acting for film/television/stage to children and young adults.
WHERE: Gary Spatz: The Playground, various schools throughout Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD)
WHEN: Mon-Sun
WHY: This, for me, has evolved over time. I swell with pride when my students or private coaching clients get an agent, manager or book a job. But when a parent approaches me (thus the inspiration for this blog) and tells me that their child’s school teacher(s) have commented on how much more confident, articulate and focused that child is in school and how they’ve raised their grades – well, words can’t express the elation and feeling that above all else, that child has gained great LIFE SKILLS.
This conversation has happened from the start of the Playground in 2005 and we’ve seen the emails sent to Gary from grateful parents and I’m pretty sure every teacher has had the pleasure of hearing that the work-play they do is having such a profound impact on their students’ lives.
Yes, achieving the dream of being on Disney and Nickelodeon or in feature films, episodics and sitcoms is what we strive to prepare our kids for at the Playground Los Angeles. Yet, in the process, we’re also helping to shape those young minds so that they can step confidently in whichever direction they choose to go in life!
