Acting as healing

Patsy Rodenburg, is a voice and acting coach, and has worked with some of the world's leading actors. She was named as TED.com 's best of the web, in March, 2010, for her speech "Why I do theater".

In her speech, "Why I do theater" Patsy Rodenburg, shares a lot of knowledge with her audience. She talks about how the actor should "be in the present, be engaged, be in the moment, and be connected ."  She also states that: "playwrights and actors are needed more than any other time, because they are the healers of society, and have witnessed the truth." Rodenburg goes on to share with her audience a story about an encounter with a man she met in Australia.  He tells Patsy  Rodenburg, that he and his wife didn’t like theater. The reason they did not like theater was because they saw a play called The Women of Troy. There was an actress who made a sound that was very embarrassing. The sound was made because she loss her son. It was the same sound that he made, when it was discovered that his daughter, a year later, had been raped and murdered. It was that actress that he didn’t like, because she played with truth and feeling.

Patsy Rodenburg’s  speech helped me to develop a deeper understanding of her topic: “Why I do theater”.  As a director, I will be sure that potential actors are able to relate to that character and play it truthfully. When an actor is able to relate to the people that are viewing a production, they are able to connect with them. In turn, sometimes the audience will not like a certain character that the actor plays. This only means the actor has played it truthfully. Playwrights have a calling, and that is to help hurting people through their productions. It is also to reveal the truth. Rodenburg says in her speech that playwrights are the healers of society. This is true. Sometimes, if you try to share the truth with someone verbally they will not listen. But if it is performed on stage, or in a film, and it is acted out truthfully then people are not as reluctant to listen and take it in the truth that applies to them. Rodenburg has given me clarity on why I am called to be a playwright and screenwriter. People are hungry for the truth and search for it in plays, television, and film.