Essay On Acting

As Stella Adler so aptly explained, “the word theatre comes from the Greeks. It means the seeing place. It is the place people come to see the truth about life and the social situation”. Its where people come to exit reality, and enter reality in the same breath. Most theatre is not so farfetched as to be unbelievable. Even that which is has commonplace roots and themes that are applicable to everyday life. I will catalogue three different aspects of this alter-reality. I will define, explain, and elaborate on the aspects of acting, playwriting, and directing. I have chosen these aspects because I believe them to be the most integral parts of theatre. While the other aspects play a crucial role, these three stood out to me as the most important.

Acting is what makes the wheel turn. Without acting, you don’t have theatre. Take away the stage; take away the scene; take away the lighting, the costumes, the seats, the tickets, and you still have actors performing a show.

An actor is defined as someone who tells a story by portraying a character. One of the first actors is thought to be Thespis. In Greek tradition, he is said to be the inventor of tragedy. Very little is known of the man and his works. The day he stepped away from the chorus to become his character is one that has changed theatre, and possibly the world forever. Prior to his coming to the stage, the chorus would narrate the actions of the characters. They would simply state what the character was doing or saying, not physically act it out. More like story telling than acting. As the story goes, one day Thespis stepped out of the chorus and began addressing the audience as a character. Thus began the art of acting. (This is also where we get the word thespian from.)...

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...yle is through mis-en-scene, or what appears on the screen. Lighting, costumes, props, camera movements, and backgrounds are all part of mis-en-scene. There are infinite ways to develop a film based on the same script through changing what is on the screen. Adjusting these techniques generates meaning and features similarities in the film.

William Shakespeare once said “All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts.” This quote exemplifies what theater is to the human condition. It helps explain who we are as people. We go to the theater to see the human condition exemplified, not to escape it. Theatre is important to our history, our present, and our future. Actors, playwrights, and directors help mold this idea for our generation, and for those yet to come.