Skip to main content

Psychological Health Through Theater

I came across the following post:

http://www.onstageblog.com/columns/2015/7/28/theatre-saved-my-life-from-depression-it-can-save-others-too

And am aware of the positive effects of theater in general, but am recently becoming more aware of the larger pattern that it seems to create.

I've noticed positive effects & strange parallels in sports, military, computers and social health in the elderly.  I think this is something that can be further explored across many disciplines.

Furthermore, I think that the general perception is about "theater people", with all the accompanying stereotypes of qualities of being dramatic or theatrical.  In actuality, the population is more of a collaborative effort, requiring several different personality types to interact consistently to produce a live event.

The art is often a byproduct of the larger psychological experience.  The "Art", in fact, is based on the altruistic notion of creating an experience for strangers, for a few hours at most. Whether they respond emotionally, psychologically or monetarily (by returning and recommending to their friends) is also notoriously badly tracked.

A "sold out" show is often based on a variety of other factors, scheduling, venue, advertising, reputation, previous theatrical experiences, tour packages, especially when it comes to Broadway.  Personally, the least emotionally moving shows I have seen have BEEN on Broadway.  And the most memorable experiences I have had have been in tiny independent theaters for a VERY short run.

I believe there is also a HUGE application for the attitudes of creating software.

Hmmm.  More to come.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Easy Moments

There are moments in everyday life when you want to tell someone something. I was on a shuttle bus and wanted to apologize to someone sitting in front of me. It would have been easy to tell him when I first got on, but I was distracted finding a seat. It would have been easy to get up at the first traffic light, when the bus was stopped. Or at the second.  Things were quiet enough for conversation too. We were about to head into the countryside, so I knew there were not many more moments. When I approached him, it was not the person I thought it was. I did feel better that I had tried. And that there was one more traffic light than I had expected.

Mark Twain in the Azores

I've been doing some research on Twain's visit to the Azores. He stopped in Horta on his way to Palestine-a series of correspondences that would become his book,  Innocents Abroad. Most of what he wrote about the Azores in that book was not kind, he was trying to create jokes-and also created a cynical sense of the superiority of the American traveler. He made himself the joke of an ugly American-especially viewed from the perspective of today. In the Book about the Dabneys, there is evidence that he was in their house. Below is a quote from one of the female residents. “At 10 the parlor was quite full….One young man had his note-book out all the time and remarked as I gave him some verbena,’I am taking notes as I am a correspondent of a paper’.  ‘Horrors;, writes CPD, “how we may appear in print,’

The World Has Stopped-Coronavirus

Broadway shut down on March 12 and the rest of NYC and MA on Friday the 13th.  People began hunkering down, schools closed, colleges, businesses. Staying home in quarantine is now the new norm, and it just got extended from Easter, to April 30 to May 4. Some theaters are trying to go online-AEA is stopping some productions bc they don't know how to frame it in a contract. ALSO-Jericho Hill Forest is going to be torn down (maybe?) I'm trying to fight against it, using every trick I know how to use.  Yesterday, I sent emails to the City Counsel Members-asking if I could walk the trails with them, only one said yes. Indeed, I'm resorting to being NICE-although I can't tell you how much my blood boils when I see how they've already begun destroying things to measure it all. Henry DThoreau was a surveyor, he felt guilty. I've started an Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/jerichohillforestwaltham/  for pictures and am posting on Twitter, Nextdoor and FB.  Th...