When the Great Depression hit the world, many businesses and people struggled to survive. One of the businesses that hurt the most were the theatres. The government saw this lack of culture and decrease of theatres during these times, and so Hallie Flanagan became the director of a new Federal Theatre Project (FTP). The FTP’s goal was to help bring actors, playwrights, and theatre owners back from the brink of bankruptcy. In theory, this was a good idea to bring some light to these dark times with plays and the spread of culture.
Theatre can help children overcome their fear of public speaking, make them socialize with others, and teaches them to collaborate and work as a team, to be able to troubleshoot and think quickly in order to save a scene. Another thing Gunderson’s article said was that theatre can make young people feel empathy. In my opinion, this is completely true. Theatre has the capability to make you feel all kinds of different emotions by telling a story. Theatre can make anyone laugh, smile, weep, groan, get angry, and feel empathy all because we make the audience fall in love with the characters and the story.
“Don’t be afraid to explore, ask questions and take chances,” my dad would tell me. You see, my dad, an engineer, tried to get me to question everything. He is never afraid to learn a little bit more about something he already knows and is always eager to learn something new; I take after him. I love to learn, and figure out how things work. It's not surprising, then, that I plan on majoring in engineering; what is, perhaps, surprising, is that these same habits of mind led to me developing an interest in and passion for theatre.
The Juilliard School removes an actor’s previous knowledge of performing and starts from the beginning, following a planned out intense four year actor training curriculum. Juilliard’s drama division faculty in 1968, created the school’s four year drama division curriculum. Andrea Olmstead, writer, affirms in the novel “Juilliard: A History,” that the “Drama Division of the Juilliard School could only develop originality in acting if it could train its own actors from the very beginning” ( Pg. 217). When accepted into the prestigious school, students have obtained speech and movement habits trying to recreate other artists.
“There’s no business like show business!” Musical theater is a type of performing art that all kinds of people can participate in. The book “Acting and Stage Management” written by Biane Bailey and Bethany Bezdecheck, is a book about how to improve your acting skills and how to be a stage manager. The author attempts to educate the audience on the details of theater. The organizational style, author’s purpose, intended audience, and major points all help the author inform the reader about musical theater.
The toxic environment created by such tales transform the happy, little bubble of Arizona theatre into a ruthless dogfight. This depressing metamorphosis holds especially true in youth theatres. I primarily perform at two theatres in Arizona: Studio 3 and Actor’s Youth Theatre. Recently, a few bad seeds who defected from Studio 3 to AYT planted ideas of wrongdoing and unfairness at Studio 3 into the AYT students heads.
This allowed me to act with people of different ages and experiences; understand the importance of rehearsal and get used to using unfamiliar theatre spaces when
As a member of and leader within the International Thespian Society, there is a saying from Alexander Pope that drives me every day to meet my goals both in and outside of theatre: “act well your part, there all the honor lies.” As my time in high school theatre comes to an end, I think of what these words will mean to me in the future and how they will continue to shape me, as they have done so for many years. I would not be the kind, compassionate, and outgoing spirit that I am today without the experiences that I obtained from working with my fellow thespians and friends. What carries me through even the darkest of times is my passion and love for performance, as this motivates me to solve problems in new and unusual ways, create a sense of community with others, and grow as both a student and teacher to others.
Years ago, my theatre classes contained overfill students who did not truly care about acting or technical careers, and therefore my course requirements fulfilled the bare minimum regarding fundamental skills and practices. While I have learned different techniques throughout monologue training or from directing scenes, I further wish to push myself in a rigorous environment that cares about my education. As a senior, my school’s courses do not criticize my acting in a manner which helps me move forward, and instructors focus more on the younger students who will be in shows for several years. I have not received individual attention for several years, as I now work with younger classmates to help them with my knowledge. Even though I know I positively impact other performers, I wish to have a place where I can experiment with different acting styles and receive effective feedback.
Finally although i was never professionally an actor, I have learned that my discourse community has taught how to channel my emotions not only in my work and on the stage but in my writing. It has taught me how to use the vocabulary needed to express my ideas and feelings on paper. My discourse community has taught me so many lessons that I will use throughout life, I’m sure I would have no learned them
In 2016 I was hired as an Educational Apprentice at the Lake Dillon Theatre Company in Dillon, Colorado and I spent my summer working with local children. This small regional theatre gave me more than just credits towards my program required internship, it allowed me to travel west and fulfil an internal manifest destiny that had been growing inside of me. A huge factor in my decision to attend Russell Sage was that I would receive an education that taught using hands on experience. Like Sage, The Lake Dillon Theatre Company offered me the chance to learn from practical experience by hiring me to direct two of their Summer Youth Theatre Workshop’s musicals. Colorado also offered me the opportunity to meet new people, artists, and friends who
I stood before my class, legs knocking together as if the earth were about to open underneath them. I tried to dry my hands, but they skidded off my pants, seemingly of their own mind as I opened my mouth. As I spoke the words I had been rehearsing for days, I was soon enveloped in a cloud of words, protecting me from the anxiety I had felt but moments before. My first experience with theater was much like other children when at 10 years old I auditioned for a role in my elementary school musical, at the age where hearing squeaking of voices onstage is “adorable”, rather than annoying. When I was onstage underneath the gentle caress of the spotlight in my first performance of the Granny Awards, even in fourth grade I realized I had found a
Imagine you are an actor arriving at an audition. You enter a waiting room and see all these people who talk like you, look like you, and are auditioning for the same part as you. Would you still have what it takes to show someone how you are different? Theatre has been apart of education in schools since 1965. It has helped guide people and it has given the world great entertainers.
For each of these reasons, theater has become very special to me, but the most defining experience for me was at the end of my sophomore year. While I had dabbled in theater before, this was my first real chance to compete and I was lucky enough to have an experienced partner who showed me the ropes. It was the Spring Team competition of 2016, and I was determined to do the best I could. In the beginning I was a timid girl, afraid of everything, including (ironically) my drama coach. Our scene was a cut from Trojan Women by Euripides, and I was to be Cassandra, a beautiful young prophetess who watches Troy crumble around her.
Theatre was able to lessen and just about cause my self-doubt to vanish. I have come up from a dark place of feeling my work is not good enough, as if my ability is lacking potential. Over the course of my final year in high school, theatre has showed me where my true home is. I find that I belong in a setting full of imagination, diversity, and of course, lighting. My skills in the field of lighting design and control are far beyond satisfactory and I am able to believe that.
