Tom's River High School South

Toms River is a "village" area with which most people associate "downtown" Toms River. Today its focal point is the area around Main, Washington and Water Streets and Hooper Avenue. The village is home to most of the Ocean County and Dover Township offices. Yesteryear it was a major trading center bustling with activity along the riverfront. Only a few thousand people reside in this area today. Tom's River is on the Jersey Shore in Ocean County.

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Class Action Soap Opera Digest, April 15, 1997  By Karen Swanson

(Above: Enacting a scene with a  Toms River High School South student.)

ONE LIFE TO LIVE'S Thorsten Kaye, who puts poetry in motion as the romantic hero Patrick Thornhart, brought the classics to the classroom when he was Teacher-For-A-Day in New Jersey.

"I expected a 'soap star' to walk in, but he wasn't. He was so genuine and real," enthuses Jamie Scalese, a theater student at Toms River High School South. Scalese was one of 18 teenagers who spent an afternoon with Kaye learning about Elizabethan theater, acting techniques and some hard truths about the profession.

Foremost on the students' minds was how to get a job on daytime. "I told them it's a way to make some money, but you should still learn your craft," reports Kaye. "I said that if you have a chance to learn about the classics and classical theater, you should do that first and then go to the soaps, so you'll know what you want or don't want."

Kaye, a one-time teacher, who holds a master's degree in theater, tried to convey some realities along with his philosophy of acting. "[The kids] may have thought they had an opinion of what acting should be, but I think that now they have a better understanding of the work involved," Kay reflects. "Daytime is not a good example for that, because a lot of people slide by on the way they look - and I told them that, too."

Kaye was invited to the school by Nancy Enrico, a volunteer teacher who had seen him on OLTL. She met the actor at a charity event and asked him if he would be interested in teaching a workshop. "His eyes just sort of lit up," she says.

The students were entranced by Kaye's teaching abilities. "Every one of them was literally on the edge of their seats," remembers Enrico. "He talked for two-and-a-half hours, non-stop. Kaye did scenes with the students and showed them how to connect with each other. "Basically, you have to listen to the other person and see what it is they're trying do to you. I said that acting has nothing to do with you, it has to do with the other person."

The workshop made such an impact that the students instantly put pen to paper to thank the actor for his advice. "They went on and on about how what he said to them changed their lives and changed their outlook on an acting career," says Enrico.

Returning to the classroom also had an impact on Kaye, who laments his short stay. "One day is not enough; it takes years to train somebody," he says. "I don't think I'll ever have kids, so if I have my own class someday, that's where I'll do my child-raising."

How would you like to have Thorsten Kaye (Patrick) as your teacher? A lucky class of kids at in New Jersey recently had just that pleasure! Thorsten taught a one-day acting class there, thanks to Mary Enrico, a teacher at the school. Mary, who met the OLTL star at a fundraiser, got in touch with him and asked him if he'd like to teach a class. He accepted - and the students were thrilled. "We did a workshop," the actor reports. The agenda included acting tips and exercises and then doing portions of a Shakespeare play. "We also just sat and talked for while - and it was great," says Thorsten, who points out that teaching is nothing new for him. Not only is his character a teacher on the show, but Thorsten himself taught in England before becoming an actor.