Teen Podcast, Episode 3: Trust Is Contagious, the Hard Truth at Nine, and Life Without the Phone

This is the Dearing Acting Studio Teen Podcast, where we discuss the connection between life and acting. Hello, everybody. Welcome to the Teen Dearing Acting Studio Podcast. I got my brother, Joey, here with me, and we have two of our teen students. We've got Riley, and we've got Barbro. Oh, that happens sometimes. There we go, there we go. Okay, okay. How are you guys doing? Good, how are you?

Oh, fantastic. Riley? Good. Good? You guys excited to be here? Yeah, yeah, definitely. Is this your first time, both of you, behind a mic like this? Yeah, yeah. What was that like, standing behind it, hearing your own voice? Kind of trippy. Trippy? It's pretty cool, honestly. Yeah, it's fun. You guys mentioned earlier, it's a little hard to keep close to the mic and speak into it, and it is.

It's one of those things that's weird at first, and the more you practice something, the better that you become at it. It's cool, because Barbro, you've only been with us here for a month, right? Yeah. And we got excited about bringing you on here. Joey is an extreme sports guy. Well, you know, I've been around the block a few times. No, like extreme. Okay. Like, specifically football. Football specifically.

Yeah. So, I thought it'd be pretty cool for you guys to talk a little bit about your favorite teams and just what you love about football. Oh, man. All right. You go first. Who first? I'll let you go first. All right, all right. I mean, obviously, I'm a Cardinals fan. Yeah. All day, every day. Okay. This last year was a fun, fun year for the Cardinals, even though we did not make the playoffs or get close.

It was fun watching the team develop in a brand new state. I think one of my favorite things about Football Sunday this year was watching the games with Brian. And Brian never knew where Kyler Murray was. No. So, he never knew where the football was because, like, there were literally plays where Brian would, like, cheer for the running back. Yeah. And Kyler had the ball in the backfield.

And Brian was like… Those trick plays tricked me consistently. Every week. It was so, so funny. Now, Joey's big on stats. Are you a big stat person? Uh, not really right now. I want to get more into it because, yeah, but I want to get more into stats. But right now, I just kind of, like, watch the games. But I do look at, like, the yearly who's on top and everything.

So, what is it that you love about sports? I don't know. I just always loved playing sports all my life. And I've always loved football. So, I just started watching it more and more. And I've gotten really into it. And, of course, my team's the Cardinals, too. Oh, okay. They're the best. Yeah, yeah. Well, there you go. There you go. That's awesome. Okay. So, favorite Cardinals player ever?

It's kind of obvious. It's Larry. Larry Fitzgerald. Okay. I mean, some people say Kurt Warner. Some people, like, there's a couple out there that are questionable. You know. Patrick Peterson was a fan favorite until this last year. Yeah. But, yeah. I mean, it's fun. Yeah. And, well, what's cool for me is for our studio, it's all about bringing different people from different walks of life. And we're not an acting school specifically.

We're about personal development. And we sort of use acting as the vehicle to do that. Right? And so, what was so interesting to me was hearing from you the reason that you came connected to sports and wanting to do this. Would you mind sharing a little bit about that? Yeah. The reason I joined Dearing was because I really wanted to get into sports broadcasting and someone that used to be here, they told me that it could help, like, make conversations smoother and I can ask questions and, like, just come up with things at the top of my head.

So, I thought it'd be fun. And I've acted before, like, when I was little. But I thought it'd just be really fun. It just… Awesome. Do you feel like it's starting to help with some of those things? Yeah, I do. I feel like conversations, like, even when I'm at school, you can kind of tell a little. Even four weeks in, like, a month in, you can kind of tell, like, you kind of think of things faster and it's kind of like a smoother conversation.

It's really nice. That's awesome. And Riley, you're on the other end of the spectrum. This is Smiley Riley over here. She's smiling pretty much always. And you can see that if you're watching live or on our YouTube. So, basically, Riley's been here for five years, right? Yeah. Since you were, like, little. Yeah. So, tell us a little bit about when you first came here to now. I mean, you've grown so much.

Well, when I first came here, I wasn't a very, like, nice person. And John Luke, he would tell me, he was like, yeah. He told my mom that if I wanted to go into the teen class when I was, like, nine, he was like, yeah, she's got to mature. And so, I worked really hard on that because I was a very immature, like, nine-year-old. And I became more mature.

And then, I… Now, that's a hard thing to hear at nine, right? Yeah. In general, right? So, what was that like to just hear it straight? Like, you need to mature. Well, I actually was like, okay. Like… Really? I knew that I wasn't a very mature nine-year-old. Well, that's cool. Because here's the thing. I think a lot of times with people, we are afraid to speak those things.

So, I see someone being immature or I notice it and I'm so afraid to tell them about it. I'm so afraid to be honest. In love, of course. Not, like, in a mean way. But honestly, be like, hey, you know, if this is something you want, you really need to do X, right? And so, that's what I love is when people are willing to do that, you want to hear it, right?

You know what your struggles are. And so, we can get away with our own stuff. But, like, when somebody opens up, it's awesome. So, go ahead. So, we've said, okay, you need to mature. What happened then? And then, I matured and I got into the teen class. That's awesome. Very cool. So, jumping sort of on that idea of just openness. We had a really cool teen class this last week.

Joey was teaching these scenes themselves. And I heard that was really awesome, right? Yeah, it was a ton of fun. Ton of fun on Thursday. I don't think either of you were in the group that I coached, though. I think they were in the first group. You guys were in the first group. In the teen group. But, like, we got to put up our scenes this week, right?

And then, Joey, you got to see, in the first part, we basically sat around in a circle and just started talking about our stuff, right? Which was cool. I mean, I love those moments. Because the biggest thing that we get to hear back from teenagers is that that doesn't happen very much in your schools and in your environments. So, tell me about what that was like. Like, having to just sit down and just, like, get real.

Like, lay it all on the floor and go, here's where I'm at as a person. Okay, I'll go. Since I'm new, it was, like, really cool to see that it kind of showed how much you guys trust each other and how the environment is, like, you can trust anyone. And it just kind of, like, it makes you feel more comfortable. And it kind of takes you out of your shell where you can be able to talk to people, like, more about yourself.

Like, everyone really opened up into their personal lives. And it was really cool to see. And it just, like, you felt welcome in the environment that, like, you were in. That's awesome. What about you, Robbie? Well, that day I wasn't having the best day. And I just needed to get things, like, off my shoulder. And it really helps because I feel more, like, validated and, like, welcome.

And so being able to talk through that and everyone just giving me a warm welcome hug and, for some reason, singing happy birthday to me. And everyone just, like, tries to cheer you up. And it wasn't your birthday, right? I mean, it wasn't your birthday at all. And that's the beauty of sending love to somebody. Like, just random. Like, I don't know why my gut's telling me to do this.

I'm just going to start singing happy birthday. We had another moment like that where everybody started singing the high school musical song, like, we're all in this together. And didn't you literally ran out from the lobby, right, to try and get in and die? Yeah, because it was so cool. Like, I heard it. I was at my laptop at the front desk. And I heard it. And I was like, ah, I want to go sing.

That sounds, like, fun. And you guys were all in the circle when I got. So I was like, dang it, I wanted to sing with you guys. But that's, like, the power of it, right? So when you decide that you're going to do the hard thing, which is to be vulnerable and just have fun, it's contagious. Like, you literally got Joey to leave his work for a second because he's like, that sounds so fun.

I want to be a part of that. And so now the challenge becomes, like, how do we do that, take that, and not just take it for ourselves, but share it with other people, right? So in your schools and, like, dealing with those environments, how do they differ from a place where you're feeling really open? Do you feel like it's a struggle right now in the time we're in, or is it, like, not that way?

Share with me a little bit about, like, where you're at, what school you go to, and what that's like. Either of you? Just hard, just hard stuff, like? Yeah, I guess. I go to Chaparral High School, and, like, no one, I feel like, is, like, that they trust everyone. Because it's, like, there's so many kids in our, like, there are, like, 600 in our freshman class. So it's, like, so many people, and you don't know, like, half the people even in your class, and it's kind of, like, it's crazy.

So, and there, you just don't, like, I feel like it's harder to trust people in such a big environment. I don't know. Yeah, no, that makes sense. Because, again, it goes back to that thing, and, like, I, I can't imagine, I, I came, uh, just at the tail end of, like, the social media era out of high school, but I can't imagine what that's like nowadays because it, it can feel like you're, uh, you're stuck in one place, um, with the way social media is.

And people, people don't, like, call each other anymore. And, and, like, it's such a different dynamic where, like, liking somebody's photo ends up being your relationship with them nowadays. And, and, and, like, I, I just can't imagine, like, what that's like. Yeah. So what is that like? Is that challenging? I mean, I guess. You guess? Just what you know, I guess? Is that kind of just, like, it's just a part of things, so you don't know what the, what it's like without it, or?

I mean, yeah. So I kind of separated myself. I don't have social media anymore because I just, even when you're back at school, you just see all these people having fun. And I was always taught, like, never post about who you're with because it can make others feel bad. So when you're on that end, you know how, like, it hurts your feelings. So I just kind of deleted it and all because I just feel like it wasn't doing me anything and it took me away from, like, homework.

And I just was like, it's just a distraction. I don't need it. So I deleted it. That's awesome. And I've had one time where there was, like, a little period where I took away my phone completely because it was broken. I had, like, a couple days without it. And I was, like, freaking out a little, guys. It was, like, so hard because it's such a, you forget about everything's on there.

I'm not just talking about social. Like, all my contacts are in there. Like, my schedule, my account, like, everything, right? And the cool part was it was such a reminder of just the things that really matter. So, yeah, it was, like, weird. But then I was, like, wow, this is pretty cool. Like, this idea of just, like, connecting to just the people I'm with. And can I look at my calendar on my computer?

Yeah, I can. Like, it's going to be fine. And if you need to see somebody, there's a way to get a hold of people, right? And so I think it's great for people to disconnect in certain points to just get a feel of experiencing life without the phone, without this thing. And so I would encourage anybody to do that for a small period of time, at the very least, just to get a feel of what that's like, you know?

Yeah, for sure. Um, I was thinking it would be kind of cool. I just thought about this, uh, to have them answer something that Matt always asks in Dearing Stories, which is, uh, like, why would you recommend, like, what makes this place special to you? Because, like, we find, depending on the student, everybody has a little bit of a similar, uh, relationship, but a different reason for why they come here and why it's special to them.

And, and for me, like, I grew up in the program, so for me, it was, like, maturing. It's made me who I am and, and totally changed who I am as a human being. And, and I, literally, my whole life revolves around this place. So I wanted to hear from each of you, like, um, what's so special about coming here, you know? Well, for me, it's that it's a really, like, environment where nobody seems to really judge.

And they just, like, walk on me, and they're like, hey, we get that you're going through, like, this deep pit, and we're here to help you out. And it can help you, like, Shea and Brian, whenever I have, like, a tough day or anyone here, that I'm like, hey, I need you. I need to talk to you. And they're like, yeah, I got you. And it's just, like, you have a lot of support, especially even with the, like, with the other kids or teens in the class.

And you can always talk to everyone. And it's, like, a really non-judgmental. And I feel like that's what really makes me, like, love this place. And I've only been here for, like, four weeks, as I said. And it just feels so welcoming. Like, like you said, you, the first day, I went up, and I was like, everyone's going to judge me. But, like, when you go up, it feels like no one is.

And everyone's just having fun. And no one's, like, thinking or judging about you. You just, like, you feel accepted in the environment. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Well, thank you guys so much. Because that is, that's our goal here. Like, again, we're not, we're going to make you better actors. It's going to happen. But our goal is to help you become the best version of yourself. To help you realize how wonderful you truly are.

And learn how to attack the self-doubt that is a part of all of us. Like, there's no point in life where that thing goes away. And so when you can learn at a young age to start battling against that and letting the good thoughts win, you're going to find a whole amazing life set before you. So, thank you guys so much for sharing that. Well, I think that's about the time we have.

Yeah. Yeah. So, thank you guys so much for being here. We are so excited to have you. Thank you for sharing your stories. And I can't wait to just keep progressing with you and helping you both reach your goals, both in acting and in life. Thank you for having us all. Yeah, thank you. Have a dearing day, everyone.