Tuesday, April 05, 2016
Why Theater Majors Are Vital in the Digital Age
The Chronicle of Higher Education: The study of theater has always been a slightly odd fit with higher education. Theater’s departmental needs are so different from the norm: Where other programs require smart classrooms, desks, and Wi-Fi, we seek vast, empty spaces with sprung wood floors and natural light. The inner life of a chemistry major should not affect the outcome of an assignment; for theater majors, the inner life is the assignment.
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6 comments:
This article is a nice piece of counter-programming to the popular argument that theatre is one of the most useless majors. I mean, granted, there are a lot of epople that go to college for theatre that will never get cast on Broadway, and will be forced to take day jobs just to stay afloat, but those people aren't necessarily the most driven to make it happen. The argument that theatre is communal and rids us of cellphones is a particularly important one, as theatre is a significant (in the scheme of things) investment of time on the audience member's part, in this age where everything moves so fast. Sitting down and just watching something that isn't on a screen is a hard pill to swallow, especially for the generations that are growing up with tablets and cellphones before they can even walk. It's also interesting how quickly a group of theatre-goers will verbally assault someone who has their phone out, as it detracts from the point of the piece they are watching. On the other hand, this article deals mostly with acting, and how getting in touch with yourself can help others distance themselves from screens, but I think designers also play a huge part in immersing audiences in this world and separating from phones. So Design education is just as important as acting education.
Because I was required to take acting - an aspect of theatre with which I have not always been the most comfortable - my freshman and sophomore year of high school, I avoided a deeper understanding of it for quite some time. It wasn't until about halfway through sophomore year that I really started to understand how it applies so far beyond the stage. Once this happened, I fell in love with what a well-rounded education in theatre has to offer. I'll never forget my acting teacher looking at my class one day and just saying, "We all have to find what we're struggling for." Not "what our character is struggling for." This was just about what we as humans were put here on this earth to do, and that was when I finally understood what she'd been telling us from day one about "living truthfully." The ability to find what we are putting ourselves through all of this for is essential to those who work in this crazy field, and in my opinion my own search for the answer to that question continues to make me a better, more aware person and artist every single day. An education in theatre - acting, designing, directing, dramaturgy, what have you - is an education in living. I couldn't imagine my education any other way.
As with most articles that deal with either the usefulness of theatre or the uselessness, they focus only on the acting side of the issue. There is (usually) so much more to theatre than simply acting- sets, costumes, lights, sound, sometimes media. These things all create a believable world for the audience to fall into and learn something new about life or human nature. I do, however, like how this article talks about the importance of acting in the digital world. While there are many more variables to consider when it comes to technology consumption by people today than simply their own desires, having the ability to understand oneself, and to be able to be oneself completely, is an incredible ability that you can get by acting. However, this article doesn't consider the production side, with directors and designers and dramaturgs etc, which can be just as important in contributing to understanding people. You have to do a whole lot of learning about humans before you can design to the fullest degree.
I enjoyed the majority of this article, although I did find it a little dreary and dry to read. I think the idea that we have to prove the legitimacy of an entire major is a little sad but I understand that many people think that way. I have two major problems with this article, however:
1) I am very tired of assuming all Theater majors are actors. The entire article is about actors and their ability to empathize and what their dramatic training can bring to a situation, which is awesome - but the author refers to them as "Theater majors" rather than "acting majors" and I'm just a little tired of people assuming that I am an actor when I say "I am a student in the School of Drama".
2) I am also very tired of the assumption that cellphones are ruining the Millennial and Generation Z generations. The two examples the author gives - of a student literally having no concept of what to do while sitting alone at a park bench without a cellphone and of two actors having no concept of what flirting it - is extreme and should NOT characterize our generation. Do I love my cell phone? Yes, 100%, it's one of the most useful tools.... Ever. Do I know how to hold a conversation? Do I know how to be alone and think? Do I know how to flirt? Definitely, if anything, I feel my cell phone and online presence has improved my social skills as I have the ability to interact with more people than ever.
I also found these examples very strange in an article about how actors are better at empathy - the two examples basically say they are not. I found them confusing and not fitting in well with the rest of the article. Otherwise, it was alright.
It's hard to imagine that there are young acting students today who struggle to maintain eye contact or are unable to conceive any kind of "waiting" that didn't involve having a cellphone. It's easy for us to forget that many kids today never existed in a world without iphones/ipads because we did. Especially in a world where technology is becoming more indispensable in more and more professions, I can definitely see how theatre plays an important role in helping us take a step back. This article reminded me of the movie Her, which is a great movie I think wouldn't have existed if we didn't start to rely on technology so much. I'm curious to see if plays themselves will start to evolve and involve more technology and less interaction between characters. I also think the benefits of studying theatre in such a technological era doesn't only apply to the actors. As designers, even though we might interact with and use technology more, we still need to bring ourselves into the world of the play.
I realize there is a huge difference when talking about the technical aspect and the acting side of theatre but most people still associate them in the same category and it is interesting to read an article about it. The way I look at it is drama school is a place where you get an assortment of skills. These skills can be transferred to many different fields and industries. For the longest time even people like my parents didnt know what I was doing in school. But after that had a chance to see the work I was doing it became more clear as to what they were paying all this money for. I think why people have this mentality is because of the amount of people in the industry that continue to be successful without additional schooling. What you have to understand is that not only are you learning more stills and being able to experiment as an artist but also you are able to make connections that can lay the groundwork of you career. One of my professors told us that he only used his resume once and all the other jobs that he’s had over the years has been from the network he made for himself. I think you can see this transfer across every field but it just so happens to be very important in the theatre industry.
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