Theater—or "theatre" for all you Brits, and Americans aspiring to be Brits—is one of the most underrated forms of communication today. While the naïve would associate theater with the geeks and the flamboyant, it is, in reality, an art that deserves more respect than it earns. Long weeks and months of rehearsal, set construction, costume design, and coordination pour into producing a single stage production. It's the process and the results that make plays and musicals such a joy to watch. As someone who has loved theater her entire life I can think of at least 5 solid reasons why you can learn to love and appreciate it, too.
1. Theater builds CONFIDENCE.
GiphyWhether you're the loudest person in every room you're in or the person who prefers to be seen and not heard, everyone has their insecurities. On stage, those insecurities come out whether you knew about them or not. Everything is open, everyone is vulnerable. Performing on stage gives you the opportunity to address and work through those insecurities with a cast family. As an introverted, shy high school freshman, theater gave me a way to express myself in front of a large audience in an indirect way. I'm still introverted and avoid speaking in front of people when I can, but theater made me more aware of my weaknesses and provided solutions to overcoming them.
2. Theater equips you with LIFE SKILLS.
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In life, we act a lot more than we think we do. We fake friendships with people we don't know how to drop, fake laughter at jokes from uncles we see once a year and the list goes on. In fact, sometimes you need to put on a certain front in order to navigate a given situation. In the same way, stage acting requires you to sell a character to the audience, and you learn techniques to garner a desired reaction from the audience or other characters.
Acting can help you sell a product, control a classroom or audience, ease social tension around you, and so on. The more you get used to slipping into a character on stage, the more experience you will have dealing with tricky situations in your life. A certain situation may call for you to be more authoritative than you personally are, or more outgoing and friendly than you're comfortable with. The skills you learn on the stage prepare you for the bigger stage of life.
3. Theater allows you to BUILD COMMUNITY.
GiphyIn my opinion (and I think many fellow thespians would agree), the best part about participating in theater is the people you interact with. As an introvert, it feels ironic saying this but my favorite part of performing on stage is the relationships I build along the way. The final product is, of course, satisfying when you finally reach it, but what makes the experience worth it is the journey you took with your castmates to produce something truly wonderful. No, that's not cheesy. It's the best feeling in the world.
The theater world is wider than you may realize. It is full of people who have lived lives, multiple lives if you know what I mean. They've picked up interesting habits and stories and connections along the way, and you'll do yourself a great favor by getting to know them.
4. Theater offers you a NEW PERSPECTIVE.
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Playing a character that is (usually) different from yourself allows you to see the world through the skin of someone who thinks differently from you. Whether it's a villain, a jokester, a mute, or even an inanimate object that you're portraying, you'll get some fresh perspective. If your director is any good, they'll also tell you to come up with a backstory for your character on your own—how your character got to where they are in the play or musical, and how it continues to affect them on stage.
I was cast as the bigoted Juror 10 in a high school production of "12 Angry Men". While I initially hated it, the character showed me the logic—if you can call it that—behind racism and how prejudice justifies itself. I ended up learning more about that side of the spectrum, more than I could have anywhere else.
5. Theater FOSTERS CREATIVITY.
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No two productions are the same. Never will you see the same Sandy from "Grease" in a show in New York City or in Chicago. Every actor brings a new addition to the character they're playing. From building your character's backstory to creating their mannerisms and interactions with the set, stage performance demands creativity. In life, creativity is the key to innovation. It's the ability to apply your experiences thus far to a given situation. Everyone is creative. You have something only you can bring to the table and if you don't know what that is yet, there's a good chance theater will show you.
