When I was an undergraduate in college my major was Theatre Arts. Over the years as this has come up in conversation with various people and I've been asked many times, "Why?" I didn't know what I did want to do, what I did want to major in, but I'd enjoyed doing theatre in high school, so when I had to make a choice and didn't know what to choose I thought, "Why not?" Not too much thought was really put into it, but I'm really glad that this was the choice I made because it has prepared me so much to live my life. The theatre is, in so many ways, a microcosm of real life - as Jaques observes in As You Like It, "All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players." I learned public speaking, basic carpentry, and some basic sewing. But some of the best things I learned were some of the subtlest and while I appreciated them initially on a superficial level over time I have come to appreciate them as some of the most valuable things I've learned to help me in my day to day life.
1) Public Speaking
I have been amazed over the course of my life to observe how many people there are who are terrified by the idea of speaking in public. This is particularly interesting as public speaking, in my experience, is something that *everyone* has to do sometimes. Thanks to my experiences in Theatre I was able to overcome that fear before it became a fear and this has been very useful to me and something I have been able to pass along to others to help them overcome their fear and help them speak aloud and share their voice with the world.
2) Adaptation
There are many great life lessons for non-theatrical folk in Konstantin Stanislavski's "An Actor Prepares" and I highly recommend it to everyone. Due to the idea, as mentioned above, of "All the world's a stage...", I think, like Sun Tzu's "Art of War", Stanislavski's "An Actor Prepares" is a work that is of great use in it's field and outside of it's field as well. As an INTJ type personality who likes planning and having things happen predictably the chapter about Adaptation spoke very strongly to me. Planning and predictability are important, but as Helmuth von Moltke observed, "No battle plan survives contact with the enemy." There are always obstacles in life and learning how to adapt your plans, while continuing to drive toward your goals (and the plot points required to advance through the scene towards the end of the play) in spite of obstacles is a great skill that the Theatre helped me learn.
3) Appreciating Masks
In Theatre I learned about wearing masks, both literally and figuratively, for playing a role and presenting outward appearances to audiences. I also learned how everyone wears figurative masks in daily life to project the image or role of themselves to the outside world that they choose to project - whether it is because it is what is expected, because it is not what's expected, or because that is the image or role they choose to project regardless of expectation. That mask may or may not reflect facets of their true self hidden behind their mask, and both are OK. Learning that granted a vast gift of freedom to me. I could both be who I wanted to be outwardly and be who I wanted to be inwardly and the two could have as much or little relationship as I chose. When I enlisted in the Air Force I could play the role of an Airman while protecting the me inside behind the shield of the mask I wore. In Basic Military Training I observed the Military Training Instructors doing the same thing as I had been trained to see the masks, and when on one or two rare occasions they let their mask slip for a moment and I saw a flash of what lay beneath it once again brought home the lesson that all of us do this, consciously or not, and that having awareness and conscious control of it was an amazing gift and capability that helps me everyday.
4) Appreciating "Sight Lines"
In a lot of ways this goes along with the previous lesson. When you stage a production in a theatre you always have to be aware of the audience's "sight lines" - what they can or can't see from any given seat. Can they see backstage? Can they see an important bit of blocking (movement)? Can they see something that might break a bit of stage "magic" for them? It's much the same way in real life, thinking about different people's points of view, what they can or can't see from their vantage point in the seat of their life. Whether working to help people see everything "on stage" in their life, or trying to keep the backstage of my life backstage, the appreciation of sight lines is very important.
5) Useful Practical Skills
This is a bit of a catchall area admittedly. There are so many useful practical skills I learned in Theatre that are tremendously useful to me. Basic carpentry and painting from scene construction, knowledge of different fabrics and how to care for them as well as basic sewing and ironing from costuming, Neutral Breathing to help with emotional self-control from Alba Emoting...
There are loads of things I learned in the theatre that are immensely useful to me every day of my life. I'm so glad I am a Theatre Major.
"The Road Not Taken - by Robert Frost
TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."
