{"id":20313,"date":"2014-03-23T11:37:39","date_gmt":"2014-03-23T15:37:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=20313"},"modified":"2014-05-23T11:37:46","modified_gmt":"2014-05-23T15:37:46","slug":"question-why-theater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2014\/question-why-theater\/","title":{"rendered":"Question: Why theater?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

I am constantly asked, why theater? Why not film? Why choose such an impractical major? Do you ever want to be employed?<\/p>\n

Why theater at such a small school? Of all the places to study theater, why EMU?<\/p>\n

While I used to be annoyed by these questions because of my own doubts, I now enjoy answering these questions with confidence.<\/p>\n

Theater may not seem practical in the sense that I will leave college and enter directly into a money-making field with a defined career path, but I am absolutely certain that theater has gifted me many more practical and applicable life and career skills than many of my peers.<\/p>\n

Simply having a theater education provides many useful, practical and empowering skills.<\/p>\n

An answer I often provide to the question of why such an impractical major, I list the many skills I have thanks to my impractical major: budgeting, time management, problem solving under pressure, creative problem solving, the ability to carry out a large project start to finish, collaboration, creating a friendly and professional work environment with a diverse array of personalities, and the ability to clearly and effectively communicate.<\/p>\n

These are skills not limited to the theater, but skills applicable and necessary for any career.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, I am assured theater has given me the tools to empower, educate and create positive change and that is why I chose EMU Theater.<\/p>\n

Many people are shocked when I tell them I am not looking for a career on Broadway, but want to use theater to create good in the world.<\/p>\n

To this I often hear, \u201cHow can such\u00a0an impractical thing make a difference in the world?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

My answer: theater is a way to empower, educate and create positive change when used well.<\/p>\n

Augusto Boal, Theatre of Oppressed theorist and practitioner, writes \u201cTheater is the training ground for the revolution!\u201d<\/p>\n

Boal writes this because theater has the power to educate and empower the oppressed and marginalized of the world.<\/p>\n

Good theater is essentially good story-telling; while there are an infinite number of ways to tell those stories, essentially good theater tells the story of the human condition.<\/p>\n

By sharing stories of oppressed, marginalized and under-represented people groups, audiences feel validated and empowered to tell their own stories.<\/p>\n

Sharing these stories is also a way to create community, teach skills and most of all, share stories with those who need to hear them most.<\/p>\n

Theater is more than a performance, more than a skill set or a resume builder.<\/p>\n

Good theater is a way to question, to learn and strive for truth, to ask difficult questions, a place to start difficult dialogue, to try and chip away at the human condition.<\/p>\n

Theater is about building community, empowering both theatre artists and audiences alike.<\/p>\n

I want to continue to use theater as a tool for learning, empowering, bearing secrets of the human soul in intimate and unconventional spaces to fully recognize the power of theater to create community, empower under-represented voices, and tell stories that need to be heard and create change.<\/p>\n

I leave with one of my favorite quotes about theater, again from Boal:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe theater is a weapon, and it is\u00a0the people who should wield it!\u201d<\/p>\n

Courtesy of The WeatherVane, March 23, 2014<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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