It is well accepted that drama activities are fun for young people and that many children and adolescents love participating in plays and drama workshops. They can spend time with their old friends, make new friends, and work on a project that culminates with their performance on stage and enjoying the applause. What could not be loved?

But what are the real cognitive, physical, emotional, and social benefits for our youth participating in theater arts activities? How does your participation help you become more responsible and responsive adults?

The opportunities for cognitive growth in theater are many. Just the amount of reading needed to rehearse a play is a good case for that claim! But it doesn’t stop there. Students must memorize their lines. To do this, they must first organize their time to meet the line memorization deadlines and then they must keep practicing over and over to make the words their own. This involves repetitive and diligent work and is sometimes the only work of this kind that a child is willing to do. Studying spelling lessons is one thing, but memorizing your lines for a play, while it is true that it is the most boring and tedious part of the job, is an unavoidable task. The toughest multiplication table learner will have to work on those lines, strengthening their memorization skills as they prepare to shine on stage.

Imagination is also exercised during play rehearsals, as the young actor is encouraged to try new and interesting ways of interpreting his role. As you interpret your lines and develop your character, you will develop your problem solving skills. Your manager will ask you “Why does the character do that?” “What do the characters want?” and “How do you think the character came up with that answer?” “How would you say that to give us a different impression of what the character means?” These questions and more will run through your child’s mind as he rehearsals, prompting him to use his powers of metacognition as he tries to uncover the mysteries behind the motives of the character he is playing.

Concentration skills are also exercised as your child actor has to learn to multitask on stage. You will have to have your lines flawlessly in your head while remembering where and why you are supposed to move through the boards. You will also have to be vigilant because this is a live theater performed by living human beings, and human beings make mistakes! Someone could drop a line. It could be your own child. The power of quick thinking made available to him through his keen approach will help him smooth out any flaws on stage that he or his fellow actors may experience and cover them up smoothly.

Your communication skills will grow as you find yourself prepared to speak to other actors on stage and find that you have to turn and look at that other person for the line to ring true. And listening is often touted as the most important skill an actor can have. You must listen to the director, the other actors, and the central action on stage. Listening even comes into play when the actor is off stage, as he must hear his signal to return! As your hearing improves, your observation skills improve. And when you say your lines on stage, your child will be encouraged to project his voice clearly and enunciate well so that what he is saying can be better understood by the audience, thereby increasing his verbal articulation skills.

Emotional development is also enhanced as your child has no choice but to learn to cooperate with his co-stars and production staff. Unless your 7-year-old is doing a one-man show, you will need the other people on the play to be on your side and to be a good team member for them as well. The old saying, “there is no” me “in the team,” also refers to theatrical production teams. The catharsis provided by drama games and improvisations, as well as rehearsal and acting by their very nature, allow students to express a wide range of strong feelings. They provide a safe outlet for stress and aggression relief in a controlled environment.

Your child will develop a greater sense of empathy as he learns and represents a wide variety of characters from different cultures and times in history. You will also be more in tune with the feelings of your fellow actors as you carefully monitor and support them through your performances, providing kind encouragement to your frustrated fellow actors, as well as praise for a job well done. And as a recipient of this kind of reassurance, your child will learn about trust. You will learn to trust your fellow actors, and you will learn to trust yourself and your responses.

Physically, your child will benefit because he will learn to trust his body sense in the performance space and to carefully monitor the movement required of him during his theatrical work. You will learn warm-up exercises that will help you stretch and release physical tension and improv exercises that will improve your physical coordination as you learn how your character moves through the world that is being created. There is a lot of physical acumen required to creating a role, from the timing of the comedic snippets to the on-stage combat that needs to be choreographed down to the smallest movement, and it all contributes to the physical confidence your child will gain by participating. in a show.

The social rewards your child will gain through participation in theater activities will be rich and numerous. The long-lasting friendships that are so commonly made in a cast that works well together are a fabulous asset to the young actor, but they are only part of the development opportunities available during the creation of a play. Whether your child has been diagnosed with a learning difference that makes social encounters particularly challenging for them or not, all young people can benefit from the myriad of social growth opportunities available to them in theater.

An actor has to learn to imitate real life and real conversations to represent human truths on stage. If maintaining eye contact is a problem for your child, it will be taught to do so. If your child is having trouble understanding the give and take of the pace of conversation, dialogue in a script provides a template from which to learn this skill. The physical movements should match the text on stage, providing training for your child in the nuances of human body language.

Ultimately, your child will be immersed in an art form that is ancient, knows no cultural boundaries, and will bring joy to himself and to those around him. You will learn to bring humor and pathos into the lives of others, find joy in your work, and ultimately discover that we are all a community on this planet as you discover the similarities in the tales told from the beginning of the times and from all over the world. world.

From the smallest part of the choir to the most important singer and dancer in the show, you will learn that no role can be overlooked as important and that you must respect everyone involved, from backstage to center stage. For your child, these experiences will ultimately result in his growth into an adult who more clearly understands the value of collaborative work, the inherent pleasure in creating art, and the value of that precious human treasure: the ability to communicate by counting. stories.