What I've Learned from Theatre

Subject: Besides the technical language that is associated with this art form I have learned to see theatre in a new light. The depth and intricacies of theatre and how people manipulate it to portray a certain image or complicate it for a viewers own interpretation. Reading Joe Turner's Come and Gone, I learned that identity and collectivity are some of the themes for plays with such sensitive social aspects. Also, the intricacies of stage direction and how a director can take multiple perspectives in a play and decipher and disconnect all these view within one another. In Fires in the MirrorRENT I learned that life portrayed in the way of song can have a profound meaning because the melody is meant make the meaning more powerful. After watching Looking for Richard I discovered the importance of authenticity and realism in the process of interpreting text, as well as the diversity in the nature of theatre. All the plays we studied this semester have placed entertainment in a new light, no longer will I just watch a show or a movie absent minded, but I will think about the work and interpretation that put in to create the mise-en-scene that I am watching.