Cutting Through the Surface

Most people don’t realize that Theatre is the study of people. Learning what drives them. Understanding their underlying motivations is at the center of it all. One professor had us keep a journal, not of our deepest thoughts and feelings, but of what we observed of the people and world around us. What scenes did we see played out in real life? What were the situations people found themselves in? What did they really want? Why did they act that way? She wanted us to delve into others’ psyches and determine the answers or use it as an exercise to construct them for later use. I didn’t realize at the time how valuable this skill would be for me later in life.