HODGDON – Acting, Suzanne Costallos reflects, is about shedding.

The process of unlearning, of stripping away old ideas and embracing the new, is something that the veteran actress and singer knows a lot about. She has spent the last quarter century performing around the globe, and now she wants to share her knowledge with others.

That is why Costallos is poised to launch The Doorway, a series of theater workshops aimed at providing training and insight to teens in southern Aroostook County.

“I have taught before, and I love teaching,” the Hodgdon resident said last week. “I loved passing on the training that I had, and I saw how powerful a tool it can be for kids. I wanted to find a way to teach again.”

A graduate of The Juilliard School in New York, Costallos wants to use theater as a vehicle to enable youth to tap into their strengths and help discover who they are. The workshops are not intended to make the students professional actors, but that can happened.

“That’s the way that it was with me,” she said, laughing. “I was in the eighth grade when I got introduced to acting through a teacher, and that’s when I got bit. … These workshops are really about training from the ground up.”

On Saturday, March 5, Costallos will hold the first of seven sessions at a rented space in Houlton. Students will learn theater basics such as movement, speech and improvisation. Collaboration also will be a focus. The workshops are not just open to teens interested in theater, but also to those who are “open to something new.”

Costallos, who also has a masters degree in social work, has performed in plays, musicals and films, and directed and taught at the National Theatre Workshop of the Handicapped in both New York City and in Belfast. Attracted to the rural setting of Aroostook County, she moved to Maine to live year-round a year ago. She threw herself into renovating the old farmhouse that she purchased, stripping floors and repairing worn insulation in the walls.

“It has been great,” she related. “Inside the walls, I found old potato sacks and men’s pants. I felt like I was on an archeological dig.”

That kind of searching is something that she would like to pass on in her workshops.

“I want the participants to explore all aspects of themselves because that is some of what acting is about,” the actress explained. “It is not about pretending, it is about uncovering the truth. You get to uncover different aspects of yourself – some of which you may not like – but some things that you find out might really surprise you.”

The experience, Costallos predicts, will be beneficial for everyone who participates.

“I am passing on the stuff that I know, but I’m also learning from them,” she said. “It is one of the rewards of being a teacher.”

The workshops will be held at 106 N. Main St., Suite 1, in Houlton. For more information, call Costallos at 532-6567. Jennifer Lynds can be reached at jlbdn@ainop.com.