Analco and Agrimonti co-founded the Green Room School, which currently has locations in Los Gatos and Campbell, in mid-2002. After working for many years teaching and directing musical theater and other performing arts programs in local churches, the two decided to throw caution to the wind and start their own school, teaching children musical theater.

"I'd been working with the Methodist camping system, programs like sleepaway camps, you teach games about God," says Agrimonti, who worked for a while at the Los Gatos United Methodist Church.

"We put on a bunch of different dramas there," he says. His program attempted to make learning about God and Jesus Christ fun by exploring it through musical theater.

Analco met Agrimonti while working at a local church. After several years in that career, Analco says she was definitely itching for a change.

"I had been working at Bay Area churches for seven years, and I was really ready to branch out on my own," she says. After a visit with a career counselor, inspiration hit. Analco decided to start her own theater arts school--and she had the perfect partner in mind.

"I instantly thought of him," Analco says of her current partner.

When Analco approached Agrimonti with the idea for their own school, Agrimonti caught her fever.

"It sounded like a great idea," he says. "I had been working with kids for a while, which is my main passion. I found that drama is a great way to teach self-esteem and confidence--feeling confident with themselves, with who they are."

It was a done deal. Not long after, the Green Room School was born. Analco and Agrimonti found a location in the Los Gatos mountains--a classroom in the Redwood Estates Pavilion on Madrone Drive.

The two partners say their goal is to offer an alternative to many other local theater camps that are short--often only one to two weeks long--that attempt to cram as much information as possible into too short of a time. She says most of these programs focus not on developing and refining general skills, but rather putting together a full show that is performed on the camp's last day.

"We offer a different approach to musical theater--casual, more for the novice," Analco says. "We're more like the local dance studio, except a musical theater studio."

The Green Room School teaches singing, dancing and theater acting games for children in the kindergarten through eighth grades. They hold periodical recitals, and learn dance numbers, scenes and routines.

"All the classes do drama games," Analco says. "For young ones, it's like pretend, make-believe games, but as they get older, they're more challenging; they have to think on their feet."

Analco and Agrimonti say the children at the Green Room School get to help shape their routines, make up characters and scenes, and even help build props.

"As we teach the kids the numbers, we like to have them help us make the props," Analco says. "It generates excitement."

The Green Room School's first summer camp session took place in last August, with 15 kids enrolled. After that first successful camp, the Green Room School had its first full session the following month, with 19 kids.

"Currently we have 33 children enrolled in the winter session," Analco says. "Our goal has been to grow by 50 percent each session, so we're excited--we've more than done that."

Sessions at the Green Room School last 12 weeks. For children of preschool age--3 1/2 years through 5 years old--the class is called "Sing, Dance and Play." Analco says it is a blend of basic movement and coordination for younger ones. They do some singing, play basic rhythm instruments like tambourines and do crafts. Kindergarten through second grades attend "Magical, Musical Theater," which learns slightly more advanced routines combining singing and movement. This session, they are doing songs from Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast and Peter Pan. "Heroes, Princesses and Monsters" is the class for grades three through five. Analco says the class was given its name because the students are doing routines with different kinds of characters from popular movie musicals like Shrek and Mulan, as well as the Nickelodeon TV show Fairly Odd Parents.

Finally, the oldest class is their middle school class, called "Youth Melodrama." Analco says she and Agrimonti cooked up something new for the class this time around.

"It's a new idea we're trying out this session. We're really excited about it. We're going to have the kids help us write a melodrama," she says.

Analco also says she feels the Green Room School's location in the Los Gatos mountains makes for an attractive setting, and is convenient for families who live in the area--it is not too far from downtown, Los Gatos and those that live up in the hills don't have to come all the way down the mountain to reach it.

"We think we have something to offer parents, something more in their community," she says. "And it's gorgeous, it's this beautiful wooden setting. You couldn't hope for a better place to be teaching, we're so fortunate."

Analco and Agrimonti say things had gone so well with the first few sessions in Los Gatos, they decided to open a second location in Campbell.

"This area is full of the kind of people we think will enjoy the Green Room School," Agrimonti says. "It's for people who want to expose their kids to musical theater, and give them the chance to shine."

Visit the Green Room School online at www.greenroomschool.com, or call 408.688.1118.