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“People need theatre.” These were the first three words of the article and right away I thought to myself “what a load of (excuse my language) BULL. Like many teenagers I never saw theatre as a major part of my life, in fact I’ve rarely ever even thought about theatre, so as far as I was concerned theatre had no effect on me. On the third day of Macaulay orientation when we saw the three plays by Israel Horovitz, though I slightly enjoyed the experience I thought to myself what does this have to do with college or life? Throughout my life I had seen numerous plays, which I have enjoyed, but I never saw them as anything more than a temporary means to entertain myself. However reading this book has given me a whole new way of looking at “theatre.”
This article talks about how theatre is a large part of human civilization. It talks about how humans need to watch others, and need to be watched by others. It even expanded on the definition of theatre and showed me that theatre is not just people acting on a stage. So therefore this article has revolutionized the way I think about theatre to the point that after finishing the article I thought to myself “wow now I realize that the first line of the article is actually very true.”
As this article changed my views on theatre it also brought many questions into my head about it. For example the author showed how the definition of theatre is broader than most people think however I personally still don’t understand a real solid definition of theatre, before reading this article I thought I did but now this article has shaken my surety of knowing it and now I wonder “what can theatre truly be defined as?” So as I very much liked the article maybe I just didn’t understand correctly or maybe the author really did fail in this particular task, so my only complaint is that the author helps remove the typical definition of theatre from out our minds and places certain limitations on what he thinks theatre is or is not but he doesn’t really give a solid defintion of theatre. However this again makes me wonder if maybe he did that knowingly in order to make the reader think? So therefore though I found this article enlightening, it brought more questions than answers to my mind.
“The whole art of theater is the one we must be able to practice in order to secure our bare, naked, cultural survival.”
When I began reading this article I really disagreed. I have never felt that theater has been a part of my life. But as I continued to read and understand Woodruff’s definition, it changed my mind. It made me realize that anything can actually be theater. It is merely the act of being watched. Theater is a essential part of our being and existence. Theater is a part of what makes us a civilization. It is one thing that distinguishes our culture from that of animals or other creatures. It gives us culture. Humans need to be watched and theater gives them that opportunity.
Ismail
Response to paragraph on pg 22. I agree with this because I have always thought that people love getting attention and being know by others. Every single person loves to get attention from everyone. It might be because since we are babies we get used to getting attention from our parents. People consciously or unconscious try to be watched or wish that they are being watched. Its part of being a human being. Each human needs to have attention or be known by people. If you don’t know anyone or aren’t noticed then do you even exist?