Ben Hyland - Marley & Me

Monday June 30, 2008
Seriously, it cant' be summer already! I gotta tell ya - the years go by fast - but even faster when I spend it with kids!! We had our end of the year performance last Thursday (a videos will be up soon). That should have been a clue that summer was almost here - the whole "end of the year" title would have been a sure give away to anyone else - but not me!
So here I am. Next week starts the camp and I can't wait. I love the camp. I get to work with the kids for 3 1/2 hours straight!
This summer is busy for a couple of reasons. Jen Chen, from China will be coming and observing the classes. It is her first trip to the United Staes and I can't wait until she gets a load of the kids!! We may also have someone from Singapore coming to observe!!!
And to top the summer off, three of my former students will be assisting Brooke (the other teacher) and myself at camp. I think it's so cool that they come back - as Sally Feild once said and totally humialted herself - they like me they really really like me - it's either that or else their parents are making them get a job - who knows!

I wanted to take a minute to thank everyone for the nice comments about the blog. Once classes start there will be much more about the kids and not so much about me (as if!)

Me and My Big Ideas!

4 1/2 years ago, January of 2004, I was a stand up comic, and commerical actress about to make the big leap to prime time. It was pilot season in New York and I was on fire! I was up for supporting roles in 3 new TV shows (all of which have either been cancelled or not picked up at all!- coincidence - I think not!) Producers were calling to see if I was willing to move to LA. I was cocky - oh I'm willing to move if they're willing to pay. Hahaha - (that's old school for LOL). I was on the phone with real estate agents in Los Angeles - I pretty much knew where wanted to live, I just wasn't sure if I wanted to spend 2 or 3 million on my house in the hills. I was wondering if I would look fat on TV - since I looked that way in real life - or was there some magic camera that would make me look thinner. How would Molly, my daughter, like it in LA, would she become a blond the minute the plane crossed over the state border? That was Mid February. Then - nothing. Radio silence - deadly! I called my friend at the network where I had the auditions - since my agent was not taking my calls. He was all - "Oh you didn't know. You didn't get the job. You didn't get the job because you had no TV credits - You have never worked on a TV show, so we went with actresses who have. Seriously that was the only reason". I belevied him. He had no reason to lie to me since people in show business never sugar coat bad news. Actually they make it long and dragged out even when they are good friends.
It took a full day for it to sink in. Not only did I not get the job - I didn''t get all three of the jobs - ouch!Those dopey credits! If I had them I would have had the job. Maybe not all three but at least one.

It took a day for me to realize that I needed to do something - but what? Here is what I knew.
1.I loved acting and I loved kids.
2. The reason I had no credits was because when I was a kid there was only musical theater and I couldn't sing - seriously when I would try to sing, people would ask how I made those "noises".

I figured there had to be a couple of kids out there who were like me.
I picked a name for my school; went to a local church asked if could rent a room( on credit) took out an ad in the local newspaper (also on credit) and the actor's garage was born!

I wanted to make a class that actually taught basic acting technique and worked with improving self-esteem, positive self image gave some life skills and was not scary for kids. I took everything I knew from being a working actress, a person who once struggled with low self esteem, bought some books and began to write a lesson plan.
I opened the first actor's garage in April of 2004 with 8 wonderful girls. I realized after the first class that for the first time in my life, I had more energy at the end of my working day. I was hooked!! This was my new career.
Fast forward to today.
the actor's garage is an international company with franchises in New Jersey, California, Maryland and China - I know! China? long story - they found me on the Internet! the actor's garage participates in over 60 after school programs in the New York area and has begun bringing our lesson plans to the inner city schools in the hopes of teaching some much needed life skills.
Apparently there were allot more kids out there like me than I thought.

The next step was to start a blog.
So, here for my first blog - I would like to introduce you to some of those kids. Some of those wonderful, loving, funny, unedited by life kids that totally crack me up and keep me young (welll sort of young)!!!

The Actor's Garage Video

In all of our classes, we teach the actors through positive reinforcement and encouragement. Our hope is that in addition to teaching young actors the basics, we will also help improve their self-esteem and their ability to believe in themselves.