Kaz Matamura, owner of the Secret Rose Theatre and head of Fire Rose Productions in the NoHo Arts District of North Hollywood has a secret to teaching acting to kids on Sunday Mornings. Like many other theatres, Secret Rose/Fire Rose has had programs come and go. However, their Kids’ Performance Workshop formed in 2000 has been so popular in order to expand Matamura recently founded a Youth Ensemble.

“Every Sunday morning when I come to the theatre, I consider it my playtime,” says Matamura. “My goal is to let them be children and allow them to go wild with their imaginations. We measure the success of each class by how much the kid’s laughed and how much were their brains stimulated.”

Matamura and her team of instructors approach theatre for children in a different manner. They believe that theatre is about communication of ideas, and that children understand advanced ideas and think about them critically. As the children learn the techniques of acting, observing and communicating, they also discuss the social issues of the piece on which they are working.

Most recently, the class production was “Twelve Angry Children” and where that may sound a little tongue-in-cheek, the students got so into the examination of the justice system and social classification that the show was under rehearsed. However, according to Matamura, that was okay. “We are not here to create the next stars. We want our kids to develop analytical thinking and good social skills.”

“Our goal is to let them figure out things on their own using classic plays and the performing arts as a platform. It is not about what is good or bad but about broadening their horizons.” Sometimes children leave the theatre quietly, with big questions in their heads, but cannot wait to come back to the class the next week to let Matamura know they discovered the answer.

With a wonderful staff of instructors who believe in the same approach, Matamura is expanding the Youth Ensemble programs to include a Musical Theatre Workshop and classes for poetry and creative writing. “We achieved the goal of becoming the kind of teachers we always wanted to have. We are exited to be able to get to know kids and become part of their growth.”