I definitely can’t (and won’t) deny this, but I’m an extremely emotional person. It comes from a lot of things. My mental illnesses. Being an empathetic person. Things just hit me in a way they don’t hit most people. I don’t think that this is a bad thing. It’s just a part of who I am, the same way theatre is a part of who I am. And the two go hand in hand sometimes. For me, a show can bring out emotions in a way nothing else can. It doesn’t matter if I’m watching a show or working a show, it will bring out so much emotion in me.
From the very start of a show to the very end, there’s usually something stirring in me. I have definitely teared up at the start of shows because of excitement and anticipation. There have been shows where I feel like I haven’t blinked through the whole thing because of what it’s making me feel. Honestly, I think those shows are the shows that I love best. I want a show to bring that out in me. I want to be that moved, or cry that much. For me, and the person I am, it’s one of the most important aspects of theatre.
Most of my favorite plays and musicals are shows that get me to that point. I’ve both seen and worked on/acted in, The Laramie Project. I sobbed through the whole thing when I was seeing it, and definitely teared up working on it, and even while performing. Angels in America moved me in ways very few shows, or anything in life, really, have. I’ve seen Spring Awakening six times, and I still sob like a baby. And I thought I could make it through Next to Normal, only to start crying halfway through act one and continue through the rest of the show (I even called my therapist at intermission). We need shows like this.
Of course, not all emotion is about crying, or experiencing heavy shows. There are great comedies out there that bring out joy, and happiness. A really famous comedic show is Noises Off. I’ve seen it…and I laughed a lot. Joy is a really great emotion to feel, of course. If I’m watching The Importance of Being Earnest, I absolutely want to be feeling good feelings. Everyone knows the range of emotions, and all of those are going to come out in one show or another.
And there really is such a range. Agatha Christie shows are going to surprise us at the end. August: Osage County is going to make us cringe. It’s going to make us cringe a lot. But the important thing is that these shows are making us feel something. We all go to see different shows for different reasons, and we’re all going to enjoy different shows for different reasons. I guess some people prefer some types of shows over others, but I really like a range…as long as it’s going to bring something up inside of me.
Sometimes I go into a show knowing what I’m getting into, and sometimes I don’t. That’s okay. If I’m just seeing a show, going in as a blank slate, I’m definitely hoping to get something out of the show. And I think a lot of the time, I do get something out of a show. Of course, some shows have more of an impact than other shows, but in theatre, there’s always something to be found. It’s one of the beautiful things about theatre. I’m sitting in an audience with so many other people, and we’re all getting something different out of a show. It’s all about emotions.
When you think about how many people see shows, especially big shows, Broadway shows, etc, it’s almost overwhelming what we all experience. It’s so true that my emotional experience is going to be different from other audience member’s experiences. And what a lot of people don’t necessarily realize is that the audience is affecting each other during a show. We’re all getting a read off of each other’s emotions. I think that’s something I really feel as an empathetic person. I can feel what’s going on in the theatre around me. We all laugh, we all gasp. It’s a shared experience.
I definitely don’t think I’m alone when I say that theatre effects emotion in ways nothing else can. Seeing people live onstage hits us in a way no other media can. I’m certainly not saying TV shows and movies can’t evoke emotion, because they definitely do, but it’s not the same. Think about everything that goes into a show. We may only see the actors, but there’s the stage manager in the booth. There’s everyone who designed costumes and lights and sets. There’s a director who guided it all. Down to the playwright that had a vision. I think we’re getting a bit of all of that leading into the emotion a play should inspire. It’s all about the magic of theatre, and those emotions.
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