One-Man Show: Final curtain for local acting school?

Charles Ascello has been teaching acting for 18 years. His small acting school off of Industrial Road attracts between 16 and 20 students that go on to help Ascello produce shows he has written.

Today, there are just four.

The Chas School of Film and Television has been a leading acting school on the peninsula for nearly two decades. But the economic downturn has affected Ascello, 56, and the arts just as it has impacted nearly everything else in San Carlos. Ascello has been searching for students on Craigslist. In his spare time, he teaches acting workshops at schools and colleges for extra income.

"It's been slow. The economy has not only hurt me," said Ascello. "There was a huge San Jose stage with a million dollar budget that went out of business. Companies a lot larger than me have gone under.

Ascello has a long career in acting, having earned his degree from University of San Francisco and experienced acting beside John Lithgow, Charlie Sheen and director Brian DiPalma.

His school is one-of-a-kind for San Carlos, offering acting classes for stage and video. He offers workshops and has been a leader in theater acting and coaching for nearly two decades throughout the Peninsula. But Ascello has worry in his voice when he discusses the future.

"The arts in this economy have really been hurt," he said.

All school productions have been halted. "Earthy Spirits," a show written and produced by Ascello, is about a little girl who continues with her art of dance against all odds, in the face of extreme adversity.

As Ascello discusses the play's premise, he acknowledges the similarities between the play and his own struggles to stay in business despite the financial hardships.

"It's been a one-man show," he said. " And I just hope we can make it through this."

Ascello said the classes will go on and the school will try to survive through this difficult financial period. But Ascello's dream still remains.

"I hope to someday produce a show in a larger, legitimate theater that holds 300 or so people," he said. "I'd just like to have an ongoing theater for the peninsula."