All the world is a stage... but most of us spend our lives hiding in the green room!
Why? Because taking centrestage in our own lives terrifies us.
If you feel terrified, don't worry, you are not alone. I was terrified too -terrified of being seen, terrified of being judged - until I decided to join theatre.
After being severely bullied for two years in high school, I was comfortable not being seen too much or heard too much. Getting on the stage, which once was an experience I looked forward to, would now make me sweaty.
But thundering aloud dialogues, for the whole auditorium to hear made me comfortable, once again, once I placed myself at the centrestage of my life.
In the beginning of the four month theatre batch, there were many, who would fumble while narrating on stage. But my teacher, Shilpi Marwaha, made the audience clap for the one who was fumbling. It gave them positive encouragement and on they went, tumbling from their minor mistake, and emerging stronger as warriors.
By no coincidence whatsoever, she decided to call her theatre group, Sukhmanch, which literally means the stage of happiness.
I asked Bhaktiveda Dhaul who is an expressive arts therapist, if it was actually common to see such transformations in theatre. She said, "There have been a lot of breakthroughs. People have actually been able to transform their lives." Upon my asking what these transformations looked like, she said it could be anything; from having more confidence to having important life realisations.
Dhaul also told me that if not anything, most people who practiced theatre told her they felt 'liberated'.
A paper on the same subject shows how actors, who joined theatre groups felt like they could 'dare to be visible', get rid of their low self-confidence and anxiety, and even hold themselves back from suicidal thoughts.
Theatre has also helped many to get rid of their mental health problems. Because theatre has the power to significantly impact all five of the recovery processes in the CHIME framework: connectedness, hope and optimism, identity, meaning in life and empowerment.
Speaking of hope, I am reminded of an exercise that my teacher, Shilpi would make us do. She'd make us close our eyes, rub our palms and then open them within our palms. She'd tell us to stare at our haath ki rekha, our palm's lines, first thing after opening our eyes. "You make your own lines," she'd say. No one had ever told us that before.
In one of the exercises, my teacher made us scream for our lives in a theatre. That was an outlet for all the helplessness that had gotten stuck in my body, in all these years. Perhaps that's why pyschiatrist Dr. Samir Parikh says, "Theatre gives a creative expression to your feelings. You relive a life."
Dr Parikh tells me that theatre validates our feelings. It forms a powerful medium for all kinds of emotional release.
But besides me, of course, who can benefit from this?
Arts therapist Bhakti tells me, "I feel people who are stuck in unhealthy toxic relationships, who are feeling unhappy or low , people who have a low self esteem and low body image issues, people who are just looking to be heard and people who are lacking in confidence... it can add a big positive to people's lives."
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