World Theatre Day: 5 Ways Theatre Can Impact Your Life

It’s World Theatre Day!

Annually on the 27^th of March, World Theatre Day celebrates all the ways theatre brings connection, expression and joy in our lives.

To commemorate World Theatre Day, we’re sharing the top five reasons theatre can make a difference in your life, with a little help from HIT participant Rebecca and her mum Emily.

 

1. The Power of Expression:

 

 

Theatre gives you a space to try new things, including new ways to express yourself. At a HIT workshop, you can try expressing yourself through acting, dancing, singing – even coming up with your own ideas for scripts and performances.

Sometimes, people come to a HIT session because they’ve struggled to find a club where they can be themselves, but as HIT parent Emily says of her daughter Rebecca’s time at HIT,

I never have to worry that Rebecca is having to explain who she is because it’s not really – as far as I can see – a high priority for HIT to force any child to explain who they are. It’s simply to embrace exactly who they are.

We want all our participants to use the magic of theatre to find their own voice and embrace themselves fully.

 

2. Building Confidence:

 

 

To stand up on stage in front of an audience requires a whole lot of bravery! But with many weeks of workshops and rehearsals before the end-of-term performance, sessions at HIT can develop your confidence so by the time you’re heading up on stage, you’re ready to take on that challenge.

HIT parent Emily said she saw big changes in her daughter, Rebecca after she started attending HIT:

Her ability to […] have confidence to speak out loud, these are all active skills that HIT has developed.

Confidence can be applied to all areas of life – whether giving a presentation at school, talking to new people, or even taking on a bigger role in your next performance with HIT.

 

3. Community and Collaboration:

 

 

At HIT, we think it’s so important that everyone who comes to a session feels like they belong.

Theatre naturally creates a community – as we work towards a common goal, theatre builds trust and friendship through shared memories.

Emily felt that community is one of the key reasons why HIT sessions work:

Everyone is valued and valuable and has a part to play and you actively go and find the role that is needed for the child or young person in your group rather than try and, you know: audition and cast and make it competitive because its collaborative rather than competitive and that’s the environment that we need.

 

4. Connecting Cultures and Perspectives:

 

 

Theatre allows you to see new perspectives. By playing a character, you can step into the mind and life of someone else – whether a child in the Victorian era or a mouse in a magical forest. By using our imaginations, we can discover empathy for the ways others lives.

At HIT we think that discovering new perspectives is so important for cultural diversity. By getting to know other participants, we can broaden our own understandings of different cultures, something that Emily felt was important for her daughter Rebecca.

I want her to be aware of the beautiful, diverse community in which we live, and HIT is all that.

It’s not just disability and neurodivergent diversity, it’s also all kinds of cultural diversity and that is all of huge value to me as a parent, that there is, you know, there are things that bring us together – common goals – and this is a particular kind of path of life where seeing everyone supported in the right way is really modelling what we should want in society.

 

5. Bringing Joy

 

 

Theatre is all about fun – it’s getting to play and use our imaginations.

Whether it’s a drama game, a workshop or a performance, theatre can bring so much happiness.

I would say 99% of all sessions, regardless of being in person or online, Rebecca has come out happier than she went in.

HIT participant Rebecca, when asked what happens at a HIT session, had this to say:

What happens is fun!

 

Celebrate World Theatre Day with us!

 

World Theatre Day serves as a great reminder of how theatre can enrich our lives and bringing communities together. Through Rebecca and Emily’s stories, we’ve witnessed first-hand the influence of theatre on growth, community building, and cultural exchange.

If you want to get involved with theatre after reading this post, head to our What’s On page to see what’s available.