BLOG PROMPT 10

Theatre can be powerful when it is used to address major issues in our society and in the world. So much truth can be found in a theatrical event that it is harder to throw away everything you learn and absorb from a performance. After attending a performance, especially one with revelations regarding social change, there can be something powerful that digs deep into our core and plants seeds for challenging our own perceptions on the world and on the cultures around us. Even if it takes time for us to realize what those hidden messages are, they can still prove to change our everyday behavior. I personally, from the time I was young, have been heavily influenced by certain movie characters that I hold in very high regards. It is hard to watch a movie like Star Wars, and not want to imitate Han Solo, the original space cowboy, as he rescues Luke from Darth Vador and the evil Galactic Empire. It is characters like this that have a great impact on the people we hope to become, and it is in that powerful aspect that we can create a universal sense of decency and understanding. We as an audience can see a character like Han Solo or Marty McFly and find plenty of faults in their humanity, but when it comes down to it both of these characters do the right thing. And that is the most important message that theatre can bring to our time and place. I do not believe that theatre can be the only thing that will stop major issues such as genocide and war. However, I do believe there is always room for theatre, or some other form of performance as entertainment during even the roughest times. It is the most useful way to support strong morals and it is a way to present these morals in an easily digested performance. Theatre will never be the answer to ending our reliance on misery and hate, but it certainly has an important place in keeping these feelings at bay. If theatre can successfully infiltrate one mind and force it in the righteous direction, it can do so for all minds everywhere. All it takes is the proper support, the proper love that any craft should be infused with, and the right formulas to reach mass audiences around the globe.