Why theatre was the most important class I ever took.
“All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts…”
The most important class I have ever taken, I took only last semester. It was not economics, nor was it history. The most important class I have ever taken was Intro to Theatre, 101.
Every day we spent at least 15 minutes looking into another student’s eyes, no facial expressions or body movements allowed, just feeling the other’s presence and projecting our own.
“How lame,” I thought, “How artsy.”
Then something strange happened. I first noticed it during my walk back to my dorm after the fourth or fifth class, as I met the gaze of other students in transit.
I didn’t look away. Even more strange, I had no intention of doing so. I just wanted to look, to feel their presence and gauge their strength. It was exhilarating.
Class continued and we learned how to create and strengthen our presence by internalizing feelings, and “being present” in those feelings. Example: Have you noticed the difference between when you are feigning anger compared to when you are actually angry? When you are faking being upset, you are thinking “act upset.” When you are genuinely upset, you are “feeling upset.” Which of those would you say is more authentic? Obviously the “felt” anger trumps the “thought” anger.
Essentially, by identifying and magnifying the many feelings already below the surface, we slowly learned how to be “present” instead of acting.
Suddenly the people in and around my life, the ones who were acting, became obvious:
- The girl walking past me thinking pretty rather than feeling it.
- The professor dressing a student down for using improper grammar.
- The friends who refuse to look me in the eye when revealing something about themselves.
This is especially intriguing because if you train your entire life at “thought-acting” you do eventually become quite good at it. You can even fool most people – I know, I was a thought-actor.
I made some small changes, like being entirely honest about how I felt in trying situations. I continue to practice being present and can honestly say that I am better for it.
Unsurprisingly, parallels emerged between start-ups and presence. To summarize:
- Presence is a reflection of internal factors, such as the confluence of feelings that contribute to confidence, and competence.
- Companies that are corrupt internally may overcompensate on the surface to attempt to prove themselves reliable or trustworthy, just as a person who is thought-acting will frown to show that they are upset, or smile to show that they are happy.
- I realize now that often the best start-ups are the ones that have magnified the good aspects of corporate or personal culture – they have a competent, confident presence.
It blows my mind that I have already learned so much, especially considering how much more there is to know. People spend their entire lives acting, putting on a charade for others, without taking the time to look at themselves.
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I read a few topics. I respect your work and added blog to favorites.
Hey Brendan,
Great post, I never looked at it from this perspective.
Especially with the gazing and not looking away, I tend to do that a lot since I`m always curious and focused on getting to know people better, but also look at it as a little “challenge”. Of course nobody should do that for a long time, thus avoiding getting punched… etc.
I gotta agree that the there is a direct path between startups and presence, however I think that it begins with the people behind it.
Going to a lot of startup meetup in nyc I tend to meet a lot of founders ( 80% dev) that lack inter personal skills. I don`t want to generalize, but they tend to talk quietly, look away or stand slouched over. This may be because my generation spent their times playing video games and sitting in front of a computer thus avoiding interaction with others and not developing any social skills.
I don’t want to go as far as saying that Theater and Speech should be required classes in schools, but highly considered by CS and BIZ students allowing them to have a strong and confident presence in future endeavors.
Once again, thanks of the great post!
@WesleyRoss
very true. presence and authenticity give you enormous power. Most of us spend a lot of time conforming to society’s demands or what we perceive them to be instead of living in the moment and doing the things that can truly make us happy.
you might find meditation and eckhart tolle’s The Power of Now to be of interest. all these things are the but looked at from different directions
Wesley,
You are absolutely right about a start-up’s presence having a direct link to the people and habits behind it. It’s a wonder for me to stop and consider a world without either video games or the ability to check your facebook status from your iPad on a deserted island.
I strongly believe in always having an ace in the hole or some sort of advantage over your competition, and that one theatre class gave me a clear idea of how much difference one small investment of your time can make.
From your site I see you’re picking up rails experience, let me know if you want a site to hack around on a bit when you’re ready to rumble.
Thanks for the comment!
By the way,
It’s really cool that you just left a comment on my last post.
I read this post, and really liked it. I should have left a comment then, but given that you did, I figured I would check out your site and saw that you were the guy that wrote that interesting post about theater that I really enjoyed.
You keep up the good work too!
Oh! This was you first post about the theatre class right? I’m lost sorry. Anyways, I super like your article. Keep it up!
So true! We are all in one circular stage where in no one has the edge to escape from it. We have similarities but we often thought that we are in differences.
Feeling is more powerful than thinking? I guess. But your class make me sad. How I wish I could attend class of this kind. By the way, it was a nice post.
Spot on with this write-up, I really suppose this web site needs way more consideration. I’ll most likely be again to learn way more, thanks for that info.