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<\/a><\/p>\nImage Credit: \u00a0http:\/\/www.springawakeningthemusical.com\/wp content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/066-kqkrya3-783×1024.jpg<\/p>\n
The world has been viewing theater for hundreds of years.\u00a0 It started with the Greeks and the goal of teaching their communities life lessons.\u00a0 As the art form grew the goals shifted.\u00a0 Theater was a mode of entertainment; a place to go for a few hours to forget about the poverty that awaited you back home in 1500\u2019s England.\u00a0 The goal of entertaining a crowd of people has continued into the present.<\/p>\n
Today, we still wish to be entertained when we sit down in the theater but we are also prepared for more.\u00a0 We want to feel emotions and connect with characters who are different from ourselves.\u00a0 This idea has been utilized by some artists as a mode of change within the world outside of theater.\u00a0 I\u2019m not exactly sure when the shift began but we are just starting to see its ripples.<\/p>\n
For me it began with the musicalRENT<\/em>.\u00a0 RENT<\/em> brought a spotlight onto the issue of HIV and AIDS in a way that had never before been done.\u00a0 People were able to sing along with the songs and connect with these characters.\u00a0 We may not be diagnosed and dying of AIDS in the early 1990\u2019s but we can certainly imagine we are and realize how important the issue is.\u00a0 A dialogue was started.<\/p>\n Then came Next to Normal<\/em>, a musical about a family coping with a matriarch who has delusions of her dead son and is bipolar.\u00a0 This show paved the way for a discussion about mental health issues and the toll they can take on a family.\u00a0 There were conversations about whether or not people should be medicated in order to deal with the issue.\u00a0 The children of these parents were also focused on and questions about whether or not it is healthy for them to live with a parent that has a diagnosed mental illness.\u00a0 These questions and concerns didn\u2019t just disappear when the show left Broadway.\u00a0 Every time the show is performed around the country these questions get thought about by the communities that see the show.<\/p>\n Currently on Broadway there are multiple shows continuing the idea of theater starting conversations and making impacts.\u00a0 The play The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime<\/em> speaks to autism.\u00a0 The musical Fun Home<\/em> deals with LGBT issues and suicide.\u00a0 Matilda<\/em> is a musical dealing with abusive adults.\u00a0 Spring Awakening <\/em>is a story of teens learning about sexuality in 1600\u2019s Germany.<\/p>\n On a recent trip to New York City I was able to see Spring Awakening<\/em>.\u00a0 In the current production of the show, originally staged by Deaf West based in California, the deaf culture has been incorporated into the show\u2019s storyline.\u00a0 The entire production is done in American Sign Language and has selected certain characters as deaf.\u00a0 This adds a new dimension to the show because not only is it discussing young people discovering their sexuality in a world that tried to hide them from it but it also deals with being a deaf person, particularly at that time in history.\u00a0 It allows for conversations about sexuality, deaf culture, and the ability to be inclusive of all people who want to go to the theater.<\/p>\n Community Psychology is all about working towards addressing issues of social justice but that can only happen if conversations about those issues are started.\u00a0 Theater is no longer a vacuum where the viewer simply goes to be entertained.\u00a0 Viewers are being force to look at themselves and the world to find meaning in what they just watched.\u00a0 In order to find meaning those dialogues occur and may be begin working towards fixing the issue.\u00a0 Sure, some people will continue to go to the theater just to be entertained and to forget about the world for a little while.\u00a0 It is my hope though that more theater will be created that forces the viewer to think critically about an issue and potentially lead to positive change.<\/p>\n #commpysch<\/p>\n Jackie Marcoux is\u00a0a graduate student in the Community Social Psychology program at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Jackie Marcoux Image Credit: \u00a0http:\/\/www.springawakeningthemusical.com\/wp content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/066-kqkrya3-783×1024.jpg The world has been viewing theater for hundreds of years.\u00a0 It started with the Greeks and the goal of teaching their communities life lessons.\u00a0 As the art form grew the goals shifted.\u00a0 Theater … Continue reading