Ages 7-18 · Book 3, Confidence · 4,299 places
Theater and Auditions
An audition is a public verdict. This is how a child walks out of one holding a count instead.
Built on Ellis Abel and the Magic Triangle — “Turn fear into confidence, one step at a time.” A character series, not a curriculum with a worldview attached.
The five sessions
- Session 1
Read the story and find the wall the child is standing under
- Session 2
Commit out loud, before anybody feels ready — that is step one
- Session 3
Do the reps, count them, and expect them to be ugly
- Session 4
Name what got better, using the count and not a feeling
- Session 5
Confidence is the last step, and it is earned in front of them
Questions leaders ask
Is theater and auditions in your area a religious program?
No. Ellis Abel is a character series. Each volume carries one named core value — this one is confidence — and the story does the teaching. There is no doctrine in it, nothing to opt out of, and it is used in public schools, libraries and secular programs as readily as anywhere else.
What ages does this work for?
Ages 7-18. The story is read aloud, so a child who cannot read yet is fully in it, and the discussion prompts are written in two bands so one adult can hold a mixed-age room.
Does this fit around rehearsals and lessons in your area?
Yes. It is designed for the ten minutes before a lesson or the week of a recital, which is exactly when the nerves are real and the teaching lands.
Is this about performance technique?
No. Technique is your teacher's job. This is about what a child does with the part that has nothing to do with technique.
The rules that make it work
Confidence is earned, in that order, every time
Commitment, then competency, then confidence. Almost every adult teaches it backwards by trying to install the feeling first, and children can tell.
Ugly reps are the work, not a warning sign
A child promised that practice feels good quits on the third attempt. Say in advance that it will look bad, and the bad-looking part stops meaning anything.
Praise the count, never the talent
"You're a natural" is a compliment a child cannot use and cannot rebuild from. Sixty reps is a fact they own and can do again.
Nobody is compared to anybody
The count is against last week's count. A room where children are ranked teaches the ones at the bottom to stop starting.
Adults commit out loud too
A coach or a parent naming a thing they are bad at and are practising anyway is worth more than any session on effort.
This is a character story, not a performance program
Technique belongs to the coach and the teacher. This handles the part that has nothing to do with technique, and never scores a child on either.
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Northeast
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Midwest
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South
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West
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- Theater — Great Falls, MT
- Theater — Casper, WY
- Theater — Lewiston, ID
- Theater — Walla Walla, WA
- Theater — Carson City, NV
Cities and all 3,143 US counties are covered too — every place page is live. The campaign sitemap lists every one.
