1 Why Theatre?
Kiara Pipino
Theatre has been an integral part of society since the dawn of time. Performance is ingrained in human nature, regardless of social or economic status, ethnicity, and age. We all perform, even in our daily life. That doesn’t mean we lie, but rather that we consciously try to present ourselves in the best light possible in order to achieve something we really care about.
Think about a job interview. If you want the job and if you think the job is the right one for you, you will try to positively impress the interviewer. You will “rehearse” your interview in front of a mirror, or you will enlist the help of a friend. You will carefully select what to say and how to say it; you will pick an outfit that you think best suits the expectations of the job and your personality. This isn’t all that different from what an actor does.
Theatre allows us to immerse ourselves in a story as it happens live, right in front of our eyes, with real people going through it. It gives us the chance to put ourselves in those people’s—the characters’—shoes and almost feel what they feel. The proximity to the action and the shared space makes for an intense experience. Hence, theatre encourages us to develop empathy and to care for other people.
Theatre fosters a sense of community, as well. The audience and performers are all together in the same time and space, witnessing the action and going through a common emotional reaction. While it can be argued that movies achieve the same objective for audiences, movies don’t reach the same level of engagement that a good theatrical performance obtains from its audience because the action is more removed from the viewers and only allows a more conscious and superficial connection. A recent study1 has proved that students who see a production of a play are able to better understand the story and the plot, significantly improve their vocabulary, and develop greater empathy and tolerance as they understand and value the characters. Theatre teaches us how to behave in social situations by providing examples and the opportunity to use them.
By demanding an immediate reaction, theatre forces us to have opinions and exercise our critical thinking, which is one of the reasons why theatre is part of the Liberal Arts—from the Latin Ars Liberalis2—and is present in most colleges and universities in their General Education curriculum. Theatre represents life and human nature, encompassing a variety of subjects and issues through a wide perspective.
What is Theatre?
What do we need in order to have theatre? For something to be considered theatre, you need to have an actor telling a story and an audience, even if it is just one person, listening to it. That is the bare minimum.
The story itself is crucial, but it doesn’t have to be scripted. In fact, several theatrical traditions that survive to this day rely on improvisation. Over the centuries, scripts have been developed and playwrights have become famous; scrip