Parenting : Acting Out the Pain of Growing Up : Improvisation classes for the young offer tools for building communication skills and facing the world.

Improvisation exercises have a venerable history as a tonic for restless or troubled children. During the 1920s at Chicago’s Hull House--a famous center for experimental social work--kids from the city’s poorest neighborhoods learned improvisation to help them deal with their difficult lives.

Today “improv,” as it’s commonly known, is a major strain in American dramatic training. But its therapeutic roots haven’t been forgotten. In San Fernando Valley acting classes for children, professional coaches use improv exercises as antidotes to shyness and tools for building communication skills.

Actress Karen Getz, who instructs youngsters 10 and older at A.C.T. Workshops in Burbank, reports that the psychological benefits of improv for teen-agers are striking. “At this age,” she says, “kids are very concerned with being ‘cool’--putting up a front and hiding their vulnerability. Improv work demands reaching inside and expressing their first thoughts on any idea, a terrifying prospect when you’re rushing headlong away from your inner self.”

In her classes, Getz explains: “I make it plain that we are not here to impress each other. It’s a safe space. So when kids drop their poses and find out that their real selves are accepted and valuable, it’s a tremendous relief to them.”

She recalls one self-effacing 17-year-old who thought he was “geeky” until he took part in an A.C.T. performance and was so brilliant during improvisation that he stopped the show. “You could practically see him grow 4 inches up there on stage,” says Getz, who has been teaching A.C.T. workshops for three years. She adds that the boy’s self-esteem rose even higher when he was offered a movie role by a producer who saw the show.

Judith Doty Morse, director of the Joy of Acting in Studio City, has been coaching young actors ages 6 to 18 for 20 years, and she, too, has witnessed the benefits of improv.

According to her: “Some of the work is about creating imaginary situations and letting fly with your associations. The kids risk exposure and put their uniqueness on the line. When they find they really do have something to offer, they’re overjoyed. It can change them profoundly.”

Morse was particularly gratified when one painfully shy 8-year-old girl with a speech problem not only began to sparkle in class but lost her speech difficulty as well.

At the American National Academy of Performing Arts in Studio City (for students ages 3 to 9), director Dorothy Barrett enrolls many youngsters sent by parents who want to build their children’s self-confidence. “The conventional route to helping kids build self-esteem is through team sports,” she points out. “But parents with artistic leanings often seek out acting classes.”

Director Elizabeth Brooks of Act Now: the Acting Workshop in Van Nuys (for kids ages 4 to 16) confirms that improv is often the bright child’s team sport. “In one of our exercises,” she says, “the children sit in a circle and tell a story. Each child tells a little bit, then passes it on. There’s a lot of fast mental reflexes and a sense of working the ball together to the finish line. The difference from team sports is that the verbal skills involved contribute to the kids’ abilities as communicators.”

Some children are enrolled in improv because they can’t play team sports. Brooks once taught a Sherman Oaks girl who had asthma. Not only did the classes develop the girl’s imagination, Brooks remembers, but they also helped her overcome her fear of an audience. As a result, when she later became adept at gymnastics--the one sport in which her asthma didn’t bother her--she was able to perform easily.

Such dramatic benefits don’t necessarily come cheap. Children’s improv classes--which last from an hour and a half to several hours, depending on the maturity of students--cost $30 to $160 for a four-, five- or six-week session.

Many feel it’s worth the price, however, since children are naturals at improv. “They’re not shut down and armored like adults,” suggests Lynda Goodfriend of the Young Actors’ Workout in North Hollywood (for students 3 to 16). Goodfriend says preschoolers, “who spend a huge amount of time playacting anyhow,” are especially good, and she believes that exercising playacting muscles via improv can keep children from developing inhibitions.

“Even if you don’t want your child to enter show business,” she advises, “improv can keep them loose and spontaneous. Entrepreneurs, sales people . . . there are so many fields where an open, spontaneous personality works in your favor.”

Brooks considers improv to be excellent training for writing too. “The biggest difference I notice in kids who take improv and stay with it for a while is in their talent as storytellers,” she says. “We tell lots of stories off the top of our heads in class. When they start with me, children are usually good at openings and middles but bad at endings. After a while, the whole story seems to flow out of them.”

Filling the Role of Improv Class

* L.A. Connection, 13442 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks, (818) 784-1868. Ages 5 to 14. Ten-week sessions are dedicated solely to improvisational acting skills. 1 to 3:30 p.m. Sundays, maximum 15 children per class. $200.

* Young Actors’ Workout, 4735 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood, (818) 985-0731. Ages 3 to 16. Six-week sessions offer a variety of acting techniques with 50% of class time devoted to improv. Saturday morning and early afternoon classes last 1 1/2 hours and are taught in age groups. During July, special weekday programs also available. Class size: 10 to 12. $80-$160 for six classes.

* The Joy of Acting, 3260 Laurel Canyon Blvd., Studio City, (818) 766-5424. Ages 6 to 18. Four-week acting classes are two-thirds improvisational. 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Monday or Friday. Class size: 6 to 12. $50 for four classes.

* Act Now: The Acting Workshop, 4454 Van Nuys Blvd., Suite 207, Sherman Oaks, (818) 995-4441. Ages 4 to 16. Four-week sessions devote half of class time to improv. 5 to 6:30 p.m. Mondays, for 4- to 11-year-olds; Saturday classes for 4- to 11-year-olds and 12- to 16-year-olds. Class size: 10 or less. $80 for four classes.

* American National Academy of Performing Arts, 10944 Ventura Blvd., Studio City, (818) 763-4431. Ages 3 to 19. Four-week sessions consist of general classes or drama classes, which spend half time on improv. Noon to 5 p.m. Saturdays, for ages 8 to 19; 3 to 5 p.m. Wednesdays for ages 3 to 7. Class size: 20 to 30. $30 per month for 3- to 7-year-olds; $45 per month for ages 8 and older.

* A.C.T. Workshops, Screenland Studios, 3800 Burbank Blvd., Burbank, (818) 955-6533. Ages 10-18. Five-week, Sunday afternoon sessions run for three hours and teach a range of acting skills, including improv. Class size, 10 to 15. $100.