5 Reasons Why You Should Do Theatre
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Why enrolling in a drama course will make us better people
Theatre changes lives.
Now, whether is for the better or worse it depends on the user, so here is the “user guide” that will hopefully point you in the right direction and make a lasting, long-awaited, good change.
Change can be scary. I was afraid to change when I was in Middle School. I have always been a shy kid with a problem with stuttering, and I mean a REAL problem with stuttering: I could not read, talk in class, do oral exams, make phone calls, share my opinions, and pretty much anything that has to do with social interactions. Classmates used to make jokes about me, so the problem got worse and worse until the fateful day in High School when I told myself: “I can’t take this anymore, I want to find my voice, I want to share my views, they will HEAR me!”
“Take me for what I am, who I was meant to be”
-from Rent
So I started reading and studying about acting and at 17 moved to London to enroll in a drama course at the “Drama Centre”, and from then on to 6 others. It is one of the best choices I ever made, and now I am going to reveal to you why.
1. Theatre will force you out of your comfort zone
This is probably the most important thing that will lead to all the other benefits I am going to list later. Theatre school will challenge, brace, and toughen you and your beliefs. When I first started out, I was TERRIFIED to speak or read any line from a play especially in front of 20 people I have never seen before. But I was there. And I decided to prove myself to leave my little city in Italy by going to Big London. I had no choice but to do it.
So how did I do it? I fake it! The cliché quote “Fake it till you Make it” is actually pretty true. I went there knowing I had nothing to lose but everything to gain and started proposing myself, standing in front of the class (to make things worse, they were all ladies oof) and talking with confidence. After 3 months in London, I can assure you I completely lost my stuttering problem.
Miracle? No, I simply changed my mindset and my beliefs.
“It’s time to trust my instincts, close my eyes and leap!”
-from Wicked
2. Theatre will develop your self-awareness
Taking on different characters and developing them will broaden your understanding of human psychology: why we do what we do (objective), what stands in the way (obstacles), and how we achieve it (action).
Knowing this triad made me more empathic and understanding of others. It made me realize that people are not bad, they just have different objectives that sometimes trouble us, our obstacles. It also fed my self-forgiveness. I now know what my triad is and where I am going. Thanks, Konstantin.
Another essential skill that will master is the ability to breathe and center yourself, becoming aware of your feelings at the present moment and, why not, change them using Sense Memory.
3. Theatre improves social skills
Okay, so I’m gonna be honest with ya here. Before my experience on stage, I did not how to talk to people. As I said before, I was a shy kid (and still am) with no ability to talk about anything.
Since my first acting class, I developed several social skills that made me a better speaker. Those are Listening (acting is reacting), Clear speech (no mumbling, no stuttering, just breathe), Concentration (the ability to focus simultaneously on your body, mind, and voice), and Confidence (knowing yourself, your intentions. “Conquer your Mind and Conquer the World”). You will learn to be a storyteller and to communicate with or without words.
“The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return”
-from Moulin Rouge
One of the best things I learned about acting is to get out of your head and just act. Just be.
4. Theatre will engage your critical thinking
Working on plays, characters, and yourself will make you learn a lot of new things. I was “forced” to study historical figures like Julius Ceasar, Richard III, John Wilmot, and John Osborne. I also had to know different techniques from pioneers like Stanislavski, Chekhov, and Strasberg, not to mention the hundreds of lines I had (and still have) to learn for a performance!
I can say without a doubt that my mind is more engaged than ever. Working with your fellows’ actors to develop a scene at its best is a challenge of its own, and you will be encouraged to combine your problem-solving skills with the director’s idea and bring the play to life.
5. Theatre will make you work under pressure
That’s right. Being out of your comfort zone is definitely hard, but you will take it to the next level by putting yourself out there for judgments. Actors are always judged about their performances, be it at an audition or in front of an audience, and to bring them your best self you must dare to be vulnerable.
Vulnerability is something that an actor should have and at theatre school, you will learn to use it in the right way.
When job interviewers will ask you if you are a risk-taker, you can simply say: “Sir, I performed a 10 minutes monologue in front of 500 hundred people memorizing it the same afternoon, does it count?”
As an actor, you will simply have more experience managing stress than the majority of everyday people.
Love art in yourself, and not yourself in art.
-Konstantin Stanislavski
Great, but where do I begin?
So now you know a few of the MANY benefits of studying acting with a group of motivated, open-minded people. But where to start?
I would suggest you try some weekly acting classes in your city (some drama schools offer a free audit so you can get an idea about the type of class it will be before enrolling) and see how it goes. Only then, if you realize this is the life for you, I advise you to start a full-time drama school.
See you on stage, actors!
Great theatre is about challenging how we think and encouraging us to fantasize about a world we aspire to.
-Willem Dafoe
