This is followed by two scenes worked on by adults, in which one actor portrays a detective while others play people being interrogated. The previous week, a real-life police detective had come to class to discuss how law enforcement officers interact with civilians.
In one, Twila coaches Brad through a scene in which his character tries to get a reluctant witness to admit that her brother committed a robbery. In another, a muscular young construction worker named Corey Cannon plays a cop trying to keep order during a domestic dispute.
The rest of the evening is taken up with an improv exercise called “The Complaining Desk,” in which actors take turns portraying a complainant and someone trying to help solve a problem. For the latter, the actors are encouraged to use problems from their own lives. Susynn Yates, Tony’s wife, uses the opportunity to complain that her daughter Kaylee won’t clean her room. When her scene partner suggests a reward system, Kaylee, watching from the audience, emits an audible “Yes!” and laughter follows.
However, when a boy named Levi comes up empty in search of a problem, Barnett tells him this approach won’t do. “If you’re worrying too much about what people will think, it’s going to come out in your acting,” she says. “The audience will know that you’re holding something back.”
In that spirit, another boy uses the exercise to disclose — reluctantly and harrowingly — that a girl in his class has e-mailed him to say she is regularly cutting herself on the arm with pieces of glass. A friend of hers had died, and she was angry at God.
This elicits a number of responses from both the kids and the parents who are there to observe. Many of the comments are insightful — another boy offers that the girl may be inflicting physical pain on herself to block out the deeper pain that she’s feeling over her loss.
Barnett interjects that trained personnel need to come in to counsel the girl and that while the boy should try to contact the girl’s parents (whom his family doesn’t know), the girl’s school may also need to be informed. Cannon calls for and leads a group prayer, and most of the kids and parents join in.
This is not unusual. In fact, outside the front door is a lawn ornament with the text, “With God, all things are possible.” Barnett cites her Catholic upbringing for seeing her through rough times and for keeping her family from the same burnout that sometimes plagues child actors when they grow up.
She stresses, though, that her school encourages students to use drama to understand other people’s points of view. She points out that Gemini is now a Baptist youth pastor. She gets teary-eyed describing the disputes among her children about religion, which, she says, get heated but are conducted in a loving spirit.
While most of the heads are bowed, I look around and find one girl who’s staring straight ahead, like me. I wonder what she’s thinking.
Twila’s approach is appreciated by Linda McAlister, a North Texas-based talent agent who figures she has signed 15 or 20 actors out of WACT so far, including Makenna Clark.
“The school “records commercials and demo reels, and instead of seeing a live showcase of their talent, I get to see [the actors] on camera, which is the best, since that’s the kind of jobs [children] audition for, either TV or film,” McAlister said. “In this industry where there are so many scams and illicit groups trying to take advantage of young children via their parents, it’s good to know we have organizations like WACT.”
Hollywood is taking notice. Besides Yates, the school’s alumni include Chester Rushing, who made his film debut in the Christian comedy Believe Me, which came out last summer. He has five other films in various stages of production, including My Father, Die, a revenge thriller directed by Pierce Brosnan’s son Sean. Brothers Dakota and Cory Buchanan are child actors who both turned up in Derek Presley’s short film Stryngs, and Dakota recently had a guest shot on TV’s The Mentalist. Gabrielle Elyse became a regular on the Nickelodeon TV series Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn during its second season.
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The talk around WACT these days is of a new venture, a feature film that they’re hoping to launch through the school’s newly formed production company, Chicken in the Gate Productions. The Long Run is a drama with a script written by Barnett herself. Set in the 1970s, it follows three biracial children who try to cope after their father is murdered.
She hopes to start filming this year in Weatherford and Fort Worth locations. Both Bug and Gemini are slated to take part.
“This project just tackles so many things — bullying, depression, racism. It’s a lot,” she said. “We hope we can use it to send a positive message.” The project is still in the fund-raising stage.
Her favorite part about running the school, Barnett said, is teaching the person as much as teaching the actor.
“You can preach all you want, but kids learn when they’re playing a character. It gives them a thought process to help them learn” how their behavior causes others to react and why other people behave the way they do, she said. “The glamour of Hollywood gets them into WACT, but the tricky therapy teaches them.”
