By Léa Ringeval, reporter
If you stop by the theater in the afternoon on a school day, you will see a group of students acting and singing, but above all, having fun together on stage. VHS Drama Club students are currently working on their new musical, “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” with performances on March 23-24, March 30-31 and April 6-7.
The students involved are working very hard, going to rehearsals almost every day after school. Some are confident and not afraid of performing in front of a crowded audience at all, but others, brand new to drama, are far outside their comfort zone.
Watching them perform led me to ponder a something: Does drama really help shy or anxious people to grow mentally, gain confidence and not be scared to speak in public?
Often, big-name actors will say that they started their career as shy and introverted people, and that a few months after performing their first plays, they could already perceive a difference in their self-confidence.
The transformation, it seems, is clear and irreversible. What kind of magic happened to them during that span of time? I asked English and theater teacher Stephen Floyd to find out if drama could almost be considered a form of therapy.
“Students have to work together,” Floyd said. “It helps people gain confidence, and I think self-confidence is one of the things that teenagers often lack. And learning to kind of feel good, [to be] proud of yourself, [to be] proud of your accomplishments and having confidence in your ability to do things are really important things that theatre helps people achieve. It also helps people to learn basic presentation skills.”
Floyd has many times had timid students who get scared every time they have to get up in front of a group of people. Some of them do not do plays, but instead take the drama class because they hope that being in drama will give them confidence.
Floyd says he is able to see his drama students evolve and lose their fear of public speaking. The change is even more obvious with students for whom shyness has been a major issue.
He was able to note, over the course of a few months, how they changed from barely being able to breathe in front of an audience, to being able to relax enough that they can have a good time on stage without seeming nervous at all.
To help students improve their social skills in Drama Club, the first step is helping students feel safe. In a drama class, they are all allowed to make mistakes, to sometimes fail or be wrong.
If the students feel good enough, they will realize that they are in an environment where they can express themselves without being judged. The stage is a place where screaming, crying or laughing nervously is not out of place.
If you are shy, acting can be a challenge that will not make you feel particularly good at first. Standing up in front of others and being the center of attention — this is often a timid person’s biggest fears.
“Will people make fun of me? Do I look stupid? Am I good enough?” Repeating these questions in your head is a natural step that every actor will likely experience.
Then, at some point, weeks or months later, the actor will start to forget the stress and finally live in the moment. They will forget the unrealistic need to look and be perfect. This is the point when a less constrained personality will start to show through.
Before going up on stage and performing a play in front of people, being prepared helps. That preparation includes playing games that involve expression of the body, mind, voice, or learning how to stand on stage; how to express feelings through acting.
Although drama helps student actors gain confidence, everybody, shy or not, can still feel extremely nervous before performing a show.
“It’s really terrifying,” freshman Brenna Bremen said. “The day before the show, you’re like, why did I do this? And then in the end, it’s really fun, and you’re glad that you did it. Once you are on the stage, it feels really nice. I did and I worked hard and it all pays at the end of the show.’”
You also may want to join a VHS production, but not feel confident enough to go up on stage and sing or speak in front of an audience. I asked Floyd and Bremen for some advice.
“I try to give [my students] the same advice that I tell myself,” Floyd said. “I have some strategies to calm myself down backstage before I go on to sing. I take a really slow, deep breath to help calm myself down. I remind myself, ‘You’ve done this in rehearsals a hundred times. You’ve done it right, in rehearsals, whenever you do it. So there is no reason to be so scared. You know this song, you know how to do it, people are going to like it. Just go do it!’