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Mindfulness in Theatre

By Ashley Rice 

Ashley Rice worked for Pioneer Drama Service from 2018 to 2019 after receiving an MFA in Contemporary Performance from Naropa University.  She has spent two summers teaching music and drama at a PreK-8th grade camp.  Besides devising shows for children at the camp, she has written adult plays which have been performed in various festivals around the country.  In addition, she enjoys performing improv and standup comedy. 

Mindfulness is the new organic:  it is hip, it is fashionable, it is trendy.  It helps cultivate a sense of awareness and can help reduce stress, anxiety, and depression.  Great theatre is made by being present in the moment and that, at its core, is what mindfulness is.  Mindfulness practice can be used as a therapeutic and playful way to help a cast focus, be aware of their emotions, and even combat stage fright.

Everyone can benefit from the exercises listed below.  Feel free to modify and amend these exercises, and to tailor them to your needs.  (One of the great things about mindfulness practice is that it’s not rigid!)  So, if you want to take your production to the next level or you notice a slump in morale, give one of these exercises a try.  (Hint:  The exercises are in order of the amount of time they require.)

Plenty of time for mindfulness

Check in.  Take five to ten minutes before every rehearsal for your cast and crew check-in.  Sit or stand in a circle and take turns having each person tell the group how their day has been so far and where they are mentally at that moment.  If someone is frustrated because they were late for class or excited because they just aced a test, they have the time and space to let everyone know.  Though check-ins can run long, it truly makes for a more productive rehearsal.  By devoting the time to this up front, the cast and crew doesn’t have to spend time wondering why so-and-so is grumpy; they can get down to the work at hand more immediately.  Allowing people to express their feelings in a safe environment can also do marvelous things for group morale and team building.

Meditate.  Though meditating is all about focusing on the mind, it can actually get you out of your head.  Meditation is about listening to what is going on inside yourself and accepting it.  Then, when you get up to do the work, you’ve got a clear headspace.

When I taught drama at a summer camp, every hour I had a new group of 30 energized campers.  After wearing out “one-two-three, eyes on me!”  I decided to introduce meditation into my curriculum.  It turned out to be just what everyone needed — including myself!

Meditation can be done in a sitting or lying position, though I’ve noticed most people prefer lying down.  Either works, so long as performers find a comfortable position.  The object of mindfulness is the breath, so ask them to focus their attention on it.  “Breathe in...  this is my in-breath.  Breathe out...  this is my out-breath.”  When we do this, our mental discourse stops.  Without any effort, we aren’t thinking any more.  We aren’t worrying about what happened to us earlier that day, or about what’s going to happen in rehearsal, because we are focused on the breath.

When meditating, it is easy to begin to daydream or follow a train of thought.  Challenge your students to be an observer of their own thinking.  Thoughts are inevitable, so when one interrupts, tell them to simply label it “thinking” and return to focusing on their breath.

By doing this exercise, we are brought to the present moment, which is important in performance.  By labeling our thoughts “thinking” without judging or weighing in on them, we become aware and more in control of our emotions.  This can be especially helpful to get into character and also to combat stage fright.  By practicing labeling our thoughts without judgment, when we feel stage fright we can simply label it as “thinking” and move on to a great performance.

Moderate amount of time for mindfulness

Check in (mindfulness hack).  If you can’t spare much time at the beginning of rehearsal, or if you’re working with a cast of long-winded actors and you don’t want to do the aforementioned check-in, consider one- or two-word check-ins.  If you have younger performers, you can call it a “weather report” and have them describe how they’re doing using weather terms.  They can even portray their current feelings with a movement.  It is important to make it clear that any emotions are okay, and that the theatre is a safe space.

Mindful stretching.  If you don’t have a whole lot of time, or if meditation sounds too out-there for your group, you can incorporate some mindfulness into your pre-rehearsal stretch.  It’s important to warm the muscles up before a rehearsal, so why not add a little body-mind warm-up while you’re at it?

Instead of a rigid stretching routine with the basic toe-touching and arm circles, give your cast five minutes in their own space to do whatever their body feels it needs.  Tell them the only thing they have to do for that amount of time is be exactly where they are and listen to what their body tells them.  This is kind of like a check-in with yourself.  You can make stretching suggestions, but try to limit them.  This is their time.

I’ve done this with all ages and, although the kiddos tend to wiggle and try to interact with each other during that time, I noticed that behavior tends to wear off.

No time to spare for mindfulness

No time at all?  Quickly ask your cast to release their tongue from the roof of their mouths, let their jaws loose, and bring their shoulders down from their ears.  Then, take a big cleansing breath in, and let it out with a sound.  Repeat two more times.  We tend to hold more tension than we realize in our jaw, mouth, and shoulders, and a quick check-in can ease that.