Author Will Offer Tips for Stage Parents

The author of a how-to book for potential stage parents will speak Tuesday night at the second local author’s night at the Calabasas Public Library.

Peter Berk, coauthor of “Launching Your Child in Show Biz: A Complete Step-by-Step Guide,” will discuss practical guidelines ranging from securing an agent to recognizing signs that a child does not want to be in the business.

The discussion will begin at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the library, 23645 Calabasas Road. Berk also will offer tips on maintaining a balance between a working child’s personal and professional lives and attracting the attention of casting directors.

The Calabasas resident wrote the 250-page book with actor Dick Van Patten, the TV father on “Eight Is Enough,” to walk parents through the process of involving their children with television or films.

The book contains interviews with former child stars, focusing primarily on those who became well-adjusted adults, unlike their better-known counterparts who made headlines by getting into trouble.

Berk also will teach parents to pass their own auditions--he cautions that parents must appeal to casting agents and producers as much as their children must appeal to those doing the hiring.

The discussion, the second in an occasional lecture series sponsored by the Friends of the Calabasas Library, spotlights one or more authors who reside in Calabasas and adjoining areas.

For more information, call (818) 222-8888.