BATON ROUGE - A theater professional who isn't teaching in her classroom because of the coronavirus, has opened a free online drama class for various ages.

Claire Clinkingbeard teaches through the Talented Theater program at Central Community School System and works with Central Community Theater. After seeing parents post online looking for at-home activities for their children, Clinkingbeard made a post, inviting school-aged children to a virtual drama class.

"I kept seeing people post about how bored they were and how their kids were doing a whole lot of nothing at home," Clinkingbeard said.

The post quickly grew popular and a Facebook group was born. The virtual drama classes started this week.

"We've got kids all over the U.S., yesterday we had kids from New York, Alabama, Louisiana, and Minnesota," said Clinkingbeard.

Students receive instructions through the Facebook group and meet at a designated time through various apps. Lesson plans vary from trivia, to travel, and improv. The group currently has more than 130 members.