Theatre is a difficult word to define. A multitude of components go into making theatre what it is. Theatre is not a place, it is not a person, it is no one thing. Theatre is a collection of thoughts, ideas, people; it is an art form meant for good and for change. I believe theatre is integral to any society in any time period. Theatre has been used for millennia as entertainment, as means for change, and as a way to express new and possibly controversial ideas. I wish to explore the concept of theatre and push its boundaries as I continue my journey as a theatre artist. Theatre is a wonderful thing that has the capacity to change lives and incite change. As such, I feel as though I am meant to partake in this celebration of ideas.
As a theatre artist, I want to connect with my audience. In a capitalist society where emotions and feelings are ostracized, I wish to make my audiences feel. I want to challenge them to connect in a space with other people, free from social media for an amount of time. Further, I wish to make them feel different than when they entered the performance space. That is what brought me to theatre in the beginning-was the way it made me feel after seeing a work of art performed. With each performance I experience, I feel the change within me for the better and I wish to be that catalyst for others. I wish to shake their emotions out of them in a constructive way so they can further connect with the people and the world they inhabit. I aim to challenge their ways of traditional thinking and allow themselves to be open to transporting into new worlds and spaces.
I wish to use the body as a storyteller in my work. Our bodies do so much for us, but we live in a world where we become disconnected from them. I aim to challenge myself and my fellow performers to use our bodies as communicators. As a dancer, I’ve found that dancing has opened my heart to the wonder and feelings trapped inside me before. Allowing our bodies to assist in expression and storytelling is a tool each and every individual has access to. Not only does the body tell a story, but it heightens the experience of the story to everyone witnessing it.
I believe that theatre can do amazing work in our world. It brings people from all walks of life together, living in the same moment. I wish to allow the script to serve as the catalyst for us all, performers and audience, to be present in one singular space. The script itself is stationary, and its wonders are unknown to the general population. I aim to breathe life into the script and make its words on the page come to life. I wish to allow my internal energy to become my external energy that diffuses into the surrounding air and into the audience as well.
Experiencing the quarantine and social distancing brought on by COVID-19 has made me ponder about theatre and its containers. Theatre is normally performed on a stage, but we need to rethink how theatre has been performed. Forgive me for sounding cliche, but the world is our stage. To create theatre only requires imagination and innovation. Theatre can be made outside of a theater-it can be created on a bus, sidewalk, in a home-wherever the artist desires it. We can create our own stages wherever we want to. I wish to create theatre in any space, not confining myself to any one container.
I also look at theatre as a healing art form. It has the capacity to heal, bring people together, and create new relationships and bonds (whether that be between people or between one and one’s self is up to each individual). Theatre is always changing and evolving to the world surrounding it, and as such it can be utilized for many things. Theatre can heal a broken heart, stress, an aching soul, even if for just a moment. Laughter is the best medicine, and one can always find humor in theatre. Humans use humor as a coping mechanism, finding funny moments in even the worst of circumstances, and theatre is no exception to that.
