Cindy Díaz is a renowned Peruvian film, theater, and television actress. The movie “A Girl Knocks on Your Door” (“La niña”) recently premiered in theaters, marking her first leading role in Peru. In this interview for the 3Love blog, we talked about her experience as a theater teacher for children, the value of teaching them to work as a team, and the importance of arts education in developing children’s potential.
You recently led a workshop for children called “Playing at Acting.” Tell us how you combine theater and play in your classes.
For me, it’s very important that children understand that this isn’t a rigid or structured class. Usually, kids come in with the mindset they get from school—taking out their notebooks, memorizing things, or following a set schedule, and so on. And they usually also think that when they come into my workshop, I’m going to hand them a sheet of paper and say, “Memorize this scene, you’re this character, and that’s it.” So, they need to understand that acting means playing and creating as a team. They start with exercises that bring them together and help them get comfortable, and then we form groups where, through exercises, they begin to create their first scenes. Those scenes gradually become a little more complex until the final class, where everyone puts together a single play, a story—whatever they want. In every class, they create their own stories. By the final class, they’re already used to it, because they’ve been creating since the very first class. So, I see how they arrive—scared, a little insecure—and how by the last class, they already feel like experts. I’ve had children with ADHD and mild autism whose mothers have called me to ask me to be more patient, to encourage them to talk, and I’ve had to tell the mother, “I don’t see anything unusual about your son. Your son acts, your son talks, your son interacts with everyone.” And the mother is amazed. As a teacher of children, I don’t impose anything on them; I ask them questions all the time so they can discover their character on their own, and if they don’t have something, it’s no big deal. We work with what we have. I don’t make things complicated for them in the sense of making them feel like something is missing, but rather that they create with what they have. So, I like how they finish the workshop feeling empowered because I continue that process with the parents. The parents come up to me at the end and say, “Thank you,” and I tell them, “No, thank you. First, for trusting the workshop, and second, for trusting them—they know more than you think.”
How does theater help children develop their communication skills, self-confidence, and self-esteem?
It’s a space where they feel free to speak, to be heard, to not be judged, and to tell their own stories. It’s a space where they arrive without homework, leave without homework, and the only thing they have to do is play and tell a story. So, they come with various ideas and are listened to; they’re challenged in the sense of, “And now tell it this way.” And then I make the dynamic more complex. So, they feel increasingly capable because they feel they’re overcoming something, and I believe that if, as a child, you develop the ability to feel that you’re achieving something, then later on that’s fundamental for overcoming obstacles—it stays in your subconscious. There’s something inside you that says, “I’m capable, I can do it, because I did it once.” That’s how you develop people capable of solving problems.
Why do you think arts education is important from an early age?
It’s the time when human beings are most vulnerable. I was out in the countryside recently, and there was a cow that was pregnant. And I said, “Yes, but right now she’s giving birth, and the little calf will stand up and go eat some grass or go ask its mother for milk.” Humans, on the other hand, need an adult for a long time. So, starting from that vulnerable stage, we need to give them a safe space where they can discover themselves and learn, because theater and art are also ways for them to get to know themselves. And that’s how they’ll become more capable human beings.
In your case, when did you discover your passion for acting?
When I was 12, I decided to do it while I was in school. I had already acted before in a scene from Don Quixote de la Mancha; I was Sancho Panza’s wife, and the scene was about Sancho Panza returning home with Don Quixote after one of his adventures, and my character appeared to yell at him, to scold him for being away while I had to do everything alone at home. From that point on, they started giving me more substantial roles. I remember they loved it, because we performed it in front of the whole school, and everyone told me, “Way to go, Cindy.” That was the turning point that made me say, “Yes, I can act.”
What challenges have you faced as a children’s acting teacher?
The first time I was asked to teach theater to children, I said, “Oh, no,” because people tend to think—and it’s not far from the truth—that kids are noisy and that they all want attention. I remember that in the first workshop I taught, there was a girl with behavioral issues; she would hit her classmates. I felt I lacked the tools to handle the situation. So, I talked to a colleague who has much more experience than I do teaching children, and he told me, “Art is a great opportunity for these kids,” because often parents enroll their children in the workshop just to keep them occupied, to have them stay there for an hour. So, that hour is an opportunity for them to find a space where they aren’t scolded, where they aren’t bullied, or where someone listens to them. When my colleague told me that, it sparked something in me. I saw it from a different perspective. So, I stopped seeing it as, “Ugh, teaching kids—what a drag,” and started thinking, “OK, let’s work with them.” And once I shifted my mindset, that’s when I saw all the potential they had, and I felt proud of them. It’s also very important to project confidence to the kids because if they see you calm and confident, they’ll be too. I also believe that the way you use language, words, and strategies makes them feel like they’re the ones making the decision. If they want to practice, it’s their decision. If they want to do a good job, it’s their decision. That way, you take away the child’s excuse to say, “No, my mom told me, my dad told me, my teacher told me,” and instead make them feel like they made the decision themselves.
And on the other hand, what has been the greatest source of satisfaction for you as an acting teacher?
The greatest satisfaction is seeing the group come together. Getting them to unite to create a single scene isn’t easy. I feel like I learned along the way, as an adult, how to create collaboratively. It’s not something they encouraged me to do in school, because in school, it’s all about grades and test scores. So, I use the theater space to help the children see the importance of listening to their classmates, of creating together, and how they can do something well as a team. So, I take away this idea of, “I got a higher grade, the other person got a higher grade,” because I believe that ultimately, as adults, we carry that mindset into the workplace, and we don’t learn how to work as a team—and I believe that the most developed countries are the ones that have learned to be a team.
