Greetings,
How has your "Drama" and "Acting" studies benefited you with your children's shows?
Any tips for those who had no formal training?

I am very blessed to have had a formal training in theatre, and I could recommend it to any children's entertainer or even an adult magician. However, without a three year training like I had, there are many drama classes that are offered by community colleges and other outlets. You could even join an amateur dramatic society. My biggest criticism of children's entertainers is that so many know nothing about acting skills. The can't speak properly, the don't know how to move around the stage, and they are unable to connect with their audiences. A show for children is in essence a little "playlet". The main difference between a kids show and a play is that you are delivering a monologue rather than playing off other actors. The script should be very loose, because the kids who help you on stage are all going to react differently. I am a huge fan of improvisation, and I do a lot of it in my shows for both kids and adults. If you could take a class in improvisation to hone your skills in this department, I would highly recommend it! Entertaining children has very little to do with the props you use. It is all about you, and your personality! I hope that helps!

Jolly,

I agree with you 100%. I am a believer in "scripting" your show. In other words, I have the same basic "lines" and actions. However, when I have a child on stage, I DEFINITELY am ready for improv. Several times now, when doing Kandu's Comedy Carton, I have had my helper's dang near pee their pants because they got to giggling so hard at what was going on. So, I just rolled with it and kept it going. Pretty soon, the adults were rolling, the other kids were rolling, and I looked like the star!

On another occasion, I was doing Robert Baxt's Comedy Mouthcoil routine (which I also improvise on). The young lady I called up to help, a 14 year old singer, was an absolute natural on stage. She played along, hammed it up and almost stole the show. Again, I rolled with it. As a result, I got probably one of my favorite live-action photos of my show. I'll try to attach it here:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=......&theater