What is theater?

I thought theater is a magical place living glimpses of time; it is a temporary world created plastically, being built and ended again and again. Theater in my view now, is not just a wonderland distracting people from reality, either from their depression or from their emptiness. Theater is also a tool. Using theater, people see the reality they do not normally see in real world. Theater, working as a scoop, zoom in and exposing the blindspot people ignore in the real life either deliberately or undeliberately. People like theater. However, I do not think they like it for it is useful, but people like it for it is obscure.

People like to participate in the theater because it is fake.

Actors and actresses like it because they live in it. Because every world that theater creates is way smaller than the real world, it is more real living in the small world than living in the real world; the sense of existence is way much bigger in a theater. Because worlds in theater are so small, behavior of an actor is more influential in the theater than the person is in the real world. Even if the actor played a tree in a theater production, the person can easily sense ones contributions to the production. He could be the tree Newton was under, but in a real world, he plays a role of an actor plays a tree.

Audience likes it because it is planned. A real world would not be so perfect. In addition, the audience was set as an omniscience power in the theater. People like watching theater because they know the beginning, see the progressing, and predicts the ending. The facilities such as the lightings and the musics in theater hint the flow of the story. People thus participate in the production without moving the scenes. They pay for about 2 hours of satisfaction.

Smart audience likes it because it says something but at the same time it does not.

Me as an actor like theater because I can show parts of the real of me bravely. People have hidden parts and they act differently in different situation. They are all real but sometimes more parts are shown more often. Theater is a good excuse for me to reveal parts of me that are not often shown. It is enjoyable to have an opportunity to act free without penalty. In other words, I enjoy theater helping escape the world.

In my opinion, it is important for performers to practice a blank state. Sometimes we encounter characters that we do not own or familiar with. Research and reading will help actors to sense the characteristic, and the blank state prevents actors from being influenced by one's own personality. Some people say actors should draw emotion from their own experiences, but sometimes the experiences do not fit entirely and would produce a weird outcome.

Acting is fun and satisfying, but challenges are not avoidable. Sometimes I go beyond my mind and act too much. I sometimes express my feeling in strange ways and seem unnatural. There are two reasons for the clumsiness. One is I am still nervous when trying new characters. The second is I do not cooperate well with my partners. When you see the solo performance, it might not seem weird; it is the reaction that seems strange. With more time practicing with my partners, I could react normally under the limit of script.