Johnathan Michael DeMonja

Sociology 1010
Professor Quinn
8/4/2014
Final Essay

Being a stage actor is a lot more than long, drawn out soliloquies and poorly done to-be-
or-not-to-be monologues. There is an entire world of knowledge and responsibility that comes
with being a thespian, as well as a necessary set of attributes and personality traits that are
required to make it in the business. An actor must be dedicated, flexible, and empathetic to be
able to allow themselves to take on a persona outside of themselves. Not to say that acting is a
faade; rather, an actor must be able to look at the world from a set of personal experiences that
they may not have in their actual life. One of the main ideas that I have been taught is that great
acting comes from a place of honesty - a place of self-understanding - so that we can make a real
emotional connection to the events of the play. More than this, there is a millennia worth of
sociological, artistic, and religious contributions that have lead up to us being what we are, and
these additions to world history have been analyzed repeatedly so that the rest of the world might
know how much of modern society has been shaped by the actions of my spiritual predecessors.
No one is entirely sure how acting came about, but there are a few theories as to how the
practice came to be. The most widely accepted theory is that the people who lived long before
written language told stories - whether myth or history - in the form of spoken language to pass
on important information from one generation to the next. Simply talking may not have been
enough, and at some point these story tellers used their bodies to help communicate in the form
of dances. In time these dances evolved in to rites and rituals which continued on into Greece,
where early Grecians would hold large, raucous celebrations in the name of the god Dionysus-
the lord of wine and revelry. This gathering, referred to as City Dionysia, holds much
relevance to modern theatre. During this festival, worshippers would put on performances of
their myths and legends. Eventually the wealthy politicians of Greece sponsored these
performances so that they could show that they not only honored Dionysus, but that they also
valued the common people. (Goats, being a symbol of Dionysus and an often-used sacrifice for
the god of sick parties, even have roots in the way we think about story telling. The word tragedy
comes from the Greek word, tragidia, which translates literally into he-goat-song.)
So much of what we understand about history and language can be attributed to theatre
and the minds that helped develop it. From the early Greeks, such as Euripides, Aristotle, and
Thespis (for whom my trade is named) to the English prime of staged theatre where we saw the
rise of writers and actors such as Ben Johnson and William Shakespeare, then on through the 20
th

century where we saw the development of absurdist theatre by Eugene Ionesco and Samuel
Beckett- through nearly the entirety of written history we can see that there have been groups and
individuals both who have been developing the art of stage acting in a world that has shifted
several times between embracing and rejecting those who have chosen to call themselves an
actor.
The world of theatre can be analyzed easily under all three of the major sociological
perspectives, each one examining different parts of the main ideas of stage acting. A conflict-
theorist might look at theatre and define it as an institution where only a certain group of people
can thrive, separating the skilled from the unskilled. They may also argue that the messages
placed into a play could be used to show a certain standard of living in which the poor are
content in their way of life and the rich have their position because they deserve to be rewarded
for their actions or for the actions of their ancestors. Although it must be stated that theatre has
historically been used as a voice of social justice more than as a tool of oppression, plays that
value the haves over the have-nots certainly do exist. As thespians throughout time have often
been oppressed, a conflict theorist might classify actors during and after the dark ages were very
much have-nots.
Functionalism could describe theatre in a similar way; throughout its existence drama has
been used to educate the masses about the beliefs of the writer. A functionalist might also find
that the group setting of both creating and viewing theatre is a way to create social standards of
behavior. More applicable is the kind of mindset that is required to put a play together. Each
individual has their role which is necessary in order to make the production function to the best
of its ability.
Out of all sociological perspectives, symbolic interactionism is the one that I feel most
closely describes the theatre community-sociological dramaturgy is derived from theatrical
dramaturgy. Sociological dramaturgy examines the way we put on certain faces based on
whether we are in a social setting or by ourselves, while theatrical dramaturgy is the art and
study of building a plays setting and themes. Both rely heavily on the way that humans interpret
certain objects or phrases based on what they know about the world, and in theatrical dramaturgy
an understanding of the context and relationship of the signifiers and the signified is terribly
important.
One of the greatest things about theatre is that actors can come from anywhere, no matter
their age, race, or gender. Unfortunately, there is still a great bit of complication for certain
groups of people to truly make it as a professional stage actor. There is an absurd amount of
competition for women in the world of theatre, and what seems to be a drought of men. Women
have to work twice as hard to make their names known in the acting community because there
are so many other women who are equally qualified for roles (especially in the musical theatre
world) despite the fact that most roles are written for young, white men. The overwhelming
number of these types of roles also causes difficulties for minorities or the elderly to find
themselves as professional actors. Although roles for these groups certainly do exist, they are
simply outnumbered, and it is for this reason minority theatre exists.
Black theatre has become terribly important during the 21
st
century, as it is one of the
major ways for the arts to get messages about black issues out to the populace. Plays like A
Raisin in the Sun and Clybourne Park have helped to make social change in a time where
theatre may be under appreciated, but is still very much culturally relevant.
Although the number of theatre goers has diminished in the last hundred years or so, its
history will always be relevant. Throughout time, theatre has been a key tool in religious,
sociological, and cultural development on countless levels. Having a deep understanding of this
history and ideology is part of what defines a good actor and the theatre community in general.
To be an actor is to be a historian, philosopher, and sociologist.