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Building Better People Productions was started because we see kindness as a tool in the fight against darkness, with theater as our vessel. Because we know that people start forming their world views when we are young, and because young people receive things in open, less-jaded ways, we focus our message towards kids. Kindness and understanding don’t exist in a vacuum. They help to dismantle hate. Our company’s debut show, “We Got It!”, is about empathy. A key part of the play was based on our inability to see each other across racial lines; our inability to see other people’s pain as valid as ours is; and our devaluing of other’s lives because they aren’t like us.

The events last week in Minneapolis, and those before, and some of the reaction to them, are a perfectly sad picture of the refusal to see people different than ourselves as human.

We are sad. We have some fear. But we have not given up hope.

I know that some of you might look at this message and wonder why a theater for kids is addressing racial issues. You might think that kids don’t need to know about these things, and that the mere mention of them is divisive. But your kid probably already knows. My son could verbalize differences in color at age 3, and by the time he was 5 he could understand that there were differences in how black people and white people were treated, based on nothing other than the color of their skin.

So why I am saying this? By writing this, does this mean that we only care about black kids?

No.

What I am saying is that we see your children in all of their beauty, with their different skin, and different abilities, for who they are. And we want to be a place that honors them, and is a safe place for all kids For all humans. Not in spite of their color. But in full recognition of it, and of who they are.

We are here for you and your kids if you all have any questions, or just want to be silly.

We’re here.

And we see you.

All of you beautiful, different YOUS.

-Miss Lynne Founder and Artistic Director, Building Better People Productions

Lynne recently sat down with Emily Stamets, host of the Find Your Light podcast, to discuss her theatrical journey, caring about what you do, and the open ears, eyes, and hearts in her young (and young-at-heart) audiences. Check out the interview!

Building Better People Productions has been teaching classes to kids in our area since February of 2016, and all of our classes offer our brand of kindness and understanding through both the things we teach, the student shows we produce, and the way we conduct our classes. We’ve taught classes at cool places Maryland Hall of the Creative Arts, Chesapeake Arts Center, and Monarch Academy- Annapolis!

Here are some of the exciting things we have offered:

Improv for Homeschoolers

Creative Drama Classes for 4-7 year olds

Theater Sampler Classes that introduce students to different aspects of theater

Shakespeare for Homeschoolers, which gives students a chance to perform at the Folger Shakespeare Library Secondary Student Festival

Play Production Classes, which teach kids about what it takes to put on a show by doing one in 12 weeks! We’ve done fun scripts like The Quest for the Pixie Dust, found on Dramanotebook.com  and The Adventures of Awesome Boy, found on DramabyGeorge.com.

Building Better Artists, our audition-only teen acting troupe

Join us this Winter/Spring, as we present even more opportunities for your kids to learn drama and character-building skills all at the same time! Here is a link for our upcoming classes at Maryland Hall, and stay tuned for more details about our classes at Chesapeake Arts Center, and for students at Monarch Annapolis!