Theater education is a powerful tool that goes beyond teaching performance skills. It provides students with a safe space to explore their emotions, express themselves, and develop a sense of self-awareness. Through theater, students can learn to understand and manage their emotions, which is crucial for promoting mental health and well-being.

Engaging in theater activities also encourages self-care. Students learn to take care of their physical and mental well-being by practicing relaxation techniques, mindfulness exercises, and self-reflection. They develop a deeper understanding of their own needs and learn to prioritize self-care in their daily lives.

Theater education fosters empathy by allowing students to step into the shoes of different characters and experience their perspectives. This helps them develop a greater understanding and appreciation for diverse viewpoints, cultures, and experiences. By exploring different roles and stories, students learn to empathize with others, which is essential for building positive relationships and creating a more compassionate society.

Collaboration is a fundamental aspect of theater education. Students work together as a team, learning to communicate effectively, listen to others, and respect different ideas and opinions. They develop essential skills such as problem-solving, negotiation, and compromise, which are valuable not only in theater but also in all aspects of life.

Theater education provides a holistic approach to learning, nurturing students' mental health, self-care, empathy, and collaboration skills. It equips them with tools that they can carry with them throughout their lives, enabling them to navigate challenges, build meaningful connections, and contribute positively to their communities.

At a time in our world, when our youth are challenged by massive cultural and technological shifts, climate change, and economic swings, what we need, as a community, is a rising generation, who can not only use their intellect to confront these challenges, but also use their imaginations. Theater with young participants, fires their imagination, giving our children the skills and the creativity necessary to face the world, to understand it, to empathize with it, and perhaps to change it too. Unfortunately, opportunities to learn an instrument, participate in a play or simply go to the theater are not experienced by every child, but become activities only for the privileged few. As one of the characters in Lee Hall's play ‘The Pitman Painters’ says: "art is the place where you understand your whole life from." If one single child is excluded from the arts, perhaps we are all the poorer for it.