A Case Study

The Shy Boy was 8 years old. He had experienced debilitating shyness from as early an age as anyone could remember. He found it hard to make friends in school. He struggled in social settings, and stuck to himself whenever possible. He was an only child, and rarely interacted with other kids. The idea of approaching another child to ask them to play, let alone a group of children – terrified him. Though he was meeting expectations academically, his teachers at school raised concerns to his mother after seeing him always sitting alone at lunchtime.

 

The Loud Girl was always a handful. She took Shakespeare’s quote “All the world’s a stage” a little too literally. Full of energy, she struggled to focus in class. Reading and writing at an early age was difficult. The words “Be quiet” were all too familiar for her. At social events, she wanted to be the center of attention, always planning a new performance with her friends to entertain the adults. She was always the star of the show though, of course. Her energy was positive, and she was well-loved for it, but finding the appropriate time and place for this energy was hard for her. Her parents ran a successful business and lived their public life in respectable circles. She followed along and took her free flowing, carefree attitude, and showtime personality with her, but it wasn’t always so fondly received.  

 

After hearing his teacher’s concerns, the Shy Boy’s mother began searching for ways to better set him up for success in the future. She found a local drama class and thought it may help bring him out of his shell. Convincing him it was a fun after school activity, he went along as planned for a trial class. He joined the class, mostly sitting on the outer edges and taking it all in. The teacher encouraged him to participate when it looked like something he’d enjoy. Seeing everyone being silly, eventually it was he that felt like the silly one for not joining in. Diving in headfirst, he found himself clucking on the floor like a chicken, along with 15 other kids laughing hysterically.

 

Loud Girl was first exposed to drama classes at her prestigious private school. She was definitely not a wallflower. She took the classes on full steam, and thrived in the spotlight. She was allowed to be her full self, and wasn’t told to be quiet once (well, maybe once). She loved the feeling of being able to play different people and act out outlandish scenarios. She could be a princess in a castle, or the wicked witch out to get her, and she could commit to either role with gusto! Best of all, when she got home after these classes, she wasn’t bouncing off the walls. She would eat dinner with her parents in quiet conversation, and before bed, her mother would read to her. Stories that excited her imagination and gave her a love of reading herself.

 

When Shy Boy was picked up by his mother from his first Drama Class, she asked how he went. Expecting him to cry and tell her – “Never again!”, she was shocked to hear him say – “It was fun. I’ll go back next week”. Full of surprise and joy, she tried not to jinx it by getting too excited, and said – “Great, I’ll bring you back next week”. Which she did for each week that year. And the next year… and the next. You get the picture. Whilst it certainly wasn’t a cure-all instant overnight fix to his shyness, it planted the seeds that allowed him to have the confidence to slowly come out of his shell. At first it was only in the class that he felt comfortable enough to show himself, but eventually it flowed into other parts of his life, feeling more free to be outgoing and out of his comfort zone.

 

Once in High School, Loud Girl had been acting in school musicals and thriving on stage. She learned about a Drama scholarship on offer at her school that if successful, would cover her tuition for her remaining years at the expensive school. Taking it upon herself, she wrote the extensive application and put it in without her parents knowing anything about it. Out of the blue one day, her parents were called with the good news that their daughter had been awarded the prestigious and highly sought after scholarship. Not only that, but the girl who had struggled so much with reading and writing only years before, had written an application letter better than the school had ever seen. Her tuition was paid for and this gift to her parents was received with overwhelming pride in their talented daughter.

 

In the same year Shy Boy started his drama class journey, the 4th grade, a representative from the city’s Dramatic Arts Excellence program visited his school asking individuals to audition for a special program only for the city’s most talented actors. When his class was asked if anyone was interested, his teacher was stunned to see one hand slowly and tentatively rise above the heads of the classroom. The shy boy was terrified, but went along with the representative who gave him a script he needed to learn. He was to practice this for a few days, then she would come back and he would perform the monologue for the 7th grade students.  Something that only 6 months earlier would have had him hiding in a cupboard, he took on board determined to challenge himself.

 

Loud girl starred in all of the school’s stage musicals. Most notably, her role as Sally Bowles in her highly acclaimed performance of Cabaret. She flourished as expected in the role, and was encouraged by mentors to audition for the Musical Theatre program at the Victorian College of the Arts. After graduating high school, she took their advice, auditioned alongside thousands of others, and was one of 25 students accepted into the renowned College. At 17, she moved state on her own to begin her studies.

 

After two days agonizing over his script, performance day arrived, and Shy Boy found himself waiting outside the 7th grade classrooms with a dozen other brave performers. As he sat and listened to the silence coming from the audience during each of the performances happening inside, he thought to himself “Huh, I thought this was a comedy?”. The silence and muttering of the older audience members was only making him more nervous. “I’m going to be bullied for this forever”, he thought, reconsidering the need to challenge himself now. His time to audition came as the representative walked him to the front of the room and introduced him. He looked out to the crowd of 60 or so kids. Only 3 years older, but at the time looking like full-grown adults to him. Hands shaking and sweating, he put the script down on the lectern and began his monologue. After his first line, the quiet and bored muttering of the 7th graders turned into a chuckle, and then into a laugh. Eventually joke after joke, punchline after punchline, he had the whole grade of older students in hysterics. At the end of his monologue, he was cheered off by them all and he left the stage a hero. Something he’d never felt before.

 

He was the only child from his school selected to attend the city’s program for Dramatic Arts Excellence. It cannot be understated what this did for his self-esteem and confidence. And would he have put his hand up to do this life changing experience had his mother not signed him up for that trial drama class only 6 months earlier? Absolutely not.

 

After finishing her Musical Theatre studies at VCA, Loud Girl, continued with her studies and graduated Melbourne University with a Bachelor of Arts. She toured Australia with multiple productions, and saw television success as a series regular on a popular Netflix series. She found a way from an early age to harness her power of performance and use it when it counts. It gave her an energetic outlet that gave her the ability to focus on her academics and even become an accomplished scholar graduating two prestigious universities.

 

The Shy Boy defied his youthful bashfulness and went on to pursue a career in acting. Later performing on main stages around the world in front of thousands of people, hosting events, acting in close up in major Hollywood blockbuster films, Netflix, Disney & Apple TV series as hundreds of crew members stood around to watch every blink of his eye. He travelled the world, meeting new people – even approaching them first! He made friends easily, he walked red carpets, made speeches at weddings and funerals, and found confidence in himself that allowed his true self to shine.

 

 

Shy Boy and Loud Girl also founded and ran successful businesses.

 

In fact…

 

They founded and run this successful business. That’s right, the Shy Boy and Loud Girl are us. The directors of this company, Josh and Steph. No this isn’t another self indulgent (well, maybe a little) “how far they’ve come” backstory of a company’s owners. It’s the reason this school was founded. It’s the “Why” this company was built on. To give all the Shy Boys and Loud girls out there the confidence to live their life’s purpose to their fullest extent. No, not every child’s life purpose is to grow up to be actors or performers or run a kid’s drama school (let’s hope not, or they’ll put us out of business), but let’s hope they find passion in themselves to have the belief they can achieve anything in life they put their amazing imaginative minds to. Now parents themselves, Josh and Steph know nothing is more important than this.

 

Every child has a story. Let’s let them tell it.

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