Most students have sat in a classroom where a rowdy boy has a difficult time concentrating, frequently disrupting the class or struggling with schoolwork. Michael Orozco, 16, a Westfield High School student, used to exemplify that kind of boy. "I was hyped up all the time," he said, laughing. "I would tell the teacher I needed to go the bathroom and go to gym and not come back to class."

A lot of Hoosier kids might think they have to go to California or New York to get any real experience in acting, singing or dancing on stage. But that wasn't the case for Emmy-nominated dancer and choreographer Jeffrey Page, playwright Chrishuanna Johnson and movie actor Mario Locke. All three can trace their entertainment careers back to shared roots at Asante Children's Theatre of Indianapolis.