Acting has a significant psychological impact on students, affecting their everyday lives. Acting improves your social skills and promotes a developing sense of character, according to the National Library of Medicine. On the other hand, it can be mentally and physically exhausting, especially for students who have to balance acting and schoolwork.
Junior Tracie Phung has battled with a lot of pressure from her theatre teacher throughout middle school. “My theatre teacher had continuously put a lot of pressure and pushed me to my limit when I was in theatre. It was a lot to handle considering that I was 13 to 14 years old.” The pressure led her to get anxious when showtime rolled around, which portrays the mental struggles of acting.
“My way of coping with these struggles was skipping class every Friday to avoid my teacher and secretly venting my anger to my friends about her,” continued Phung. The overwhelming pressure caused her to cope in unhealthy ways, and the act of skipping class caused her to fall behind in school.
According to Scholarworks, 20 out of the 62 participants in a survey taken among high school students in 2021 struggled with mental health issues such as bipolar disorder, PTSD, OCD, anxiety, depression, etc, when acting in theatre.
However, not all students in theatre struggle with mental health and academic problems. Junior Celeste Crenshaw shows a lot of positivity about the extracurricular activity.
“My mental health has significantly increased since I joined the theatre. I’ve made several friends, and it made me more confident, considering I used to be very shy,” says Crenshaw. Her years of practice and commitment to theatre improved her communication skills and her personality as a whole.
Theatre and Dance education lists multiple skills that can be attained by acting in theatre, such as communication, improvisation in self-image, respect, and motivation. These life skills are important for success in adulthood and prepare you for difficult situations.
“However, that wasn’t always the case. I used to get bullied in middle school for being a theatre kid, which almost made me quit completely. Although I took their words to heart, I couldn’t get away from theatre and acting. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do now and in the future, so I never let their words consume my mind,” continues Crenshaw.
Despite the negative words from her peers, Crenshaw sticks to her heart and continues to commit herself and her work in theatre.
“My mental health hasn’t been affected too badly, but acting is very mentally draining. It’s hard to keep a smile on my face every day,” says Junior Tua Tagovailoa.. The struggles of acting have deeply affected Tagovailoa, and his mental state has affected others and caused them to worry about him.
Tagovailoa states, “I had to stay after school for a long period of time, and it physically drained me. I just wanted to go home to sleep and work on homework. My grades were negatively affected because acting took so much out of my days that I didn’t have any spare time to work on schoolwork.”
The excessive stress and amount of time that needs to be put into acting doesn’t give enough time to work on homework and de-stress, which leaves students like Tagovailoa at a disadvantage with school and grades.
Students often find themselves stuck on a road that leads them to a dead end. Some resources to help with struggling students include talking to a counselor to figure out a schedule that works best for the student. Taking a day or two to de-stress and do some workouts to relieve your mind from your worries is another possibility.
There are many ways to de-stress and still work efficiently; it’s up to you to figure out a scheduled timeline that works for you.
