Reflective Essay: Theatre as an Art and a Way of Life

Your University of Affiliation Reflective Essay – Theatre as an Art and a Way of Life Your Name Your Subject and Section Professor’s Name April 28, 2018 Introduction Throughout the whole semester, I was able to learn a lot of theater the tough class lectures, video presentations, as well as attending live performances. At first, glance, what I realized was that most people (including me at the beginning of semester) watched theaters mostly for the entertainment value that it was able to provide. This is the reason why someone who has never observed or studied the art would mostly appreciate the entirety of the piece, as compared to appreciating the parts. Something which most avid viewers do. Nonetheless, as we’ve studied the specifics of theater acting and combined it with first-hand viewing experiences, my learning and fascination about theater productions started to grow. However, what stayed on my mind were three essential themes/lessons, which are; (1) theater as a way of life, (2) theater as culture, and (3) theater as art. Theater as a Way of Life In one of the exercises that we did in class, we were made to think and reflect about the difference of theater in our minds and those which are performed on stage. For the most part, we felt that both of these constructs should be similar since both of them are similar regarding their aim to create an ‘alternate reality for their viewers.’ This, in turn, provides entertainment for the readers by providing them a means to temporarily escape their reality (Schonmann). However, while this views theater for its entertainment value, I also realized that for the most part theater is a way of life. On the one hand, every theater performance requires the capability of the viewers to temporarily escape their reality, focus on the performance, and go back full circle to their lives (Schonmann). In other words, it means that the viewer himself becomes a part of the theater itself. On the other hand, the theater is always composed of people. Even though we take this for granted most of the times, what we don’t realize is that every play would also require the performer to create temporary reality to “play the part.” This is not even saying yet, that every character must exhibit harmony and dynamics with each other. In other words, one of the things that I’ve learned was that theater requires both the performer and the audience to meet halfway in escaping their reality and go back full circle to ...