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During the first meeting of a new Upper Marlboro drama class, acting teacher Jamila Odom handed 10-year-old Jabari Ferrell, who lives in Upper Marlboro, a card with the word "cold" written on it.

He thought for a moment and then, without speaking, began to shiver, rubbing his arms and chattering his teeth.

The nine other youngsters gathered Feb. 24 in the cafeteria at Melwood Elementary School shouted, "Cold!" and Jabari, a fifth-grader at Excellence Christian School in Upper Marlboro, sat down. One by one, the students took turns acting without words, with Odom coaching them through more complex emotions like "confused" and "grumpy."

Odom, 35, who lives in Clinton and studied communications and theater in college, said she came up with the idea to start the Act Your Best drama program after realizing there weren't many options around Clinton and Upper Marlboro for her own daughter, Jada, 10, who is interested in pursuing acting.

"There's really no outlet for kids to be creative ... in the general area," she said, adding that most of the classes she found were either in Washington, D.C., Montgomery County or farther away in Prince George's County, such as the Drama Kids International programs in Mitchellville and Glenn Dale. "Theater, to me, brings a child out of their shell."

Teaching drama was an unexpected career move for Odom, who up until recently was a real estate agent. When the market collapsed, she began volunteering more in her community and looking for other career opportunities.

"[Act Your Best] is a project right now, but I have so much fun that I want to transition and do it full-time," she said, adding that she is in the process of applying for nonprofit status.

Although the recent snowstorms delayed the program's first class by almost a month, Odom had students who had already signed up to practice monologues while they were snowed in. Now that weekly Wednesday night classes are finally under way, Odom will spend the next few months teaching her students the fundamentals of acting, from how to pantomime to tricks for memorizing lines, such as reciting them in front of a mirror or recording them on a tape recorder and listening back.

The program will conclude with a full-scale production of "Alice in Wonderland" to be performed in May for family, friends and the community. Odom said she is still considering possible venues, including Melwood Elementary School, Harmony Hall in Fort Washington and several high schools.

About a dozen students from communities around Clinton and Upper Marlboro are registered so far, and Odom said she hopes to expand the program in the future as word gets around to other local families.

Brandywine residents Mike and Tina Jackson said they were excited to learn about a local drama class for their daughter, 10-year-old Autumn Jackson, a fourth-grader at Brandywine Elementary School.

"I think she'll be great ... getting to know how it works, learning different parts, jumping in," Tina Jackson said.

Jabari said he has acted a little in classroom plays but hopes to learn more about how to act out emotions, learn lines and conquer stage fright.

"I enjoy acting," he said. "Sometimes I get nervous [and] I just take a deep breath."