Life Lessons from Theatre

In all honesty, this is a bit of laziness on my part.  I'm too exhausted to write anything more right now.  So, you're getting a ramble from my theatre-saturated brain.  Don't thank me too enthusiastically. 

I've learned a lot from my six years of acting.  Life lessons, acting skills, and many other things.  It's been one of the best things I've ever participated in, and I can say without a doubt that acting has changed my life and helped make me into the person I am now.  That said, I'd like to share some things I've learned.

1. Trust
This is one of the most important things I've learned.  When you act, you willingly place yourself in a very vulnerable position - you have to be willing to try new things and pour your heart into your character.  If you don't trust your fellow actors, it's almost impossible.  But when everyone trusts each other, amazing things happen.  The first step is the hardest - in a way, you're giving other people an advantage over you.  However, most of my closest friends are from acting; we already have a deep connection with each other.

2. Courage
This point ties in with the last one.  It takes a lot of courage to get up on stage, even just in front of your fellow cast members!  Add an audience in, and . . . well, my hands still start shaking before performances.  But I still take that step through the curtain, because I know it's worth it.  Oddly enough, acting has helped me gain courage in other areas of my life - presentations and debates come to mind.  If I can conquer my fear and perform in front of an audience, I can do ______, I tell myself.

3. Teamwork
Have any of you ever seen people completely fail at working together?  It's not pretty.  In theatre, the whole cast has to work together, or things will not go well.  Everyone plays off each other, and every part is necessary.  If someone messes something up, someone else will jump in to get things back on track; if someone is missing and their cue is coming up, people go dashing off to find them; you can always find someone to help you button up your costume and give you feedback on your makeup.  As one piece of a team, I've learned to do my part and also let others do theirs.  

4. Diligence
One word: memorization.  I'm a fairly quick learner, but it's still work.  Acting isn't just going to rehearsals - I do a lot of practice outside of rehearsal.  Without commitment, the show isn't going anywhere.  You have to show up, be memorized, know what you're doing and where you're going.  

5. Leadership
I'm one of the founding members of our theatre group. One of four still around, actually - not that it doesn't feel like the others have been around forever.  As one of the older ones, I also have more responsibility, and that's been very important in helping me to develop as a leader.

6. Makeup Skills

All right, this one's not very serious.  But it's still one of the things I've learned from acting.  Normally, I don't wear much in the way of makeup - eyeliner, maybe some mascara and blush.  Thanks to acting, I've learned how to: not stab myself with eyeliner pencils, apply makeup quickly, blend eyeshadow, and avoid making myself look like a ghost (that first foundation was not a good color.)

7. Friendship
This ties back to the first point - trust is a strong basis for a friendship.  Almost all of my closest friends are from theatre, and we are a crazy group.  We also have more inside jokes than anyone should.  These girls (and guys) are the friends who stick with you through everything, and I am so grateful for them.  If any of you are reading this, you're amazing people, and I love you all so much.  Thanks for always being there for me!

8. Attentiveness
One of the worst feelings in the world, for me, is being distracted and missing something important.  As an actor, you cannot let yourself zone out.  During rehearsal, it's so important to listen to the director, and during performance you must listen to the rest of the actors (or else, disaster!)  The importance of listening has been minimized by culture, but it's one of the most important skills you can have.  James 1:19 says that all of us should be quick to listen and slow to speak - it's usually the other way around, isn't it?  Acting has taught me to pay attention to those around me and take my cues from them (see what I did there?)

9. Organization
You're responsible for your props.  So, before and after every rehearsal and performance, I check to make sure my pipe and matches are there, as well as my safecracking kit and hammer.  I have to organize my time around rehearsal, not to mention my classwork.  Before performance, I have to make sure my makeup and hair are done, which means keeping track of time and getting things finished.  Without proper organization, the set would never go up, the show would be a jumble of random lines, and props would never be found.  So, keep things in order!  (This point still needs to be applied to my room, in all honesty.)

10. Confidence

This is probably one of the best things acting has taught me.  Believe it or not, I was a fairly shy young one.  However, over the past six years, I've gained a lot of confidence and poise from acting.  Every year has taught me something new, and every part has helped me grow as a person.  (Yes, even Gollum.)   Every time I walk out on that stage and play someone else, I discover new things about myself.  And the knowledge that I can conquer my nerves and do a good job has given me confidence in so many other situations.  The entire experience - every part of it - has been a major factor in developing self-confidence.  Acting is great at teaching you to be confident in yourself and poised when things go wrong.  

Well, there we have it!  A lot of theatre-related rambling about life lessons from me.  Hopefully I wasn't too scatterbrained.  It's been quite a week, I must say.  But wonderful all the way!

So, which part was most interesting to you?  Any other theatre people out there?  If so, what have you learned from it?

Till next time,

Brianna