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The Never Ending Story – A tale about the Ancient Greek actors wore masks to represent the various
power of imagination. characters they played, to help them project their voices
and to help people sitting in seats far from the stage
have some sense of character’s expression.

Then, we have a couple of fire ants. They are red hot, temperamental, tempestuous fighters
begging to be noticed. We’ll call them the Maddox Machismo and Cody the Cocky. It’s fun just
to watch them go at each other! They are the stuff that Romeos, Caesars and Napoleons were
made of - a blaring, loud contrast to the anemic academic hunched over his desk, chewing on
the end of his pencil.

So, you see, whether your name is Lewis, Arthur, Maddox, or Cody, you have a part to play,
and without you there’d be one less potential phoenix or luminous, heart-warming firefly. Or, as
Helen Keller put it, "Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much."
For the more practical minded - who do not believe in phoenixes, and do not care for, have
never seen, nor ever want to see fireflies - let me offer some facts to highlight the theoretical
benefits of taking part in a stage play.

Drama is a good way to learn English. It is a way of learning by doing. While preparing for
a performance, you learn to speak clearly and with appropriate intonation. By playing the roles
of different characters you explore the creative use of the language. In other words, through
drama, your English learning experience is enriched and your language abilities are enhanced.
But it’s more than that. Oscar Wilde believed that, “the theatre is the greatest of all art
forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of
what it is to be a human being.” Throughout history, the theater has been a part of every society
from Europe to Asia and Africa for thousands of years. It is also a kind of social X-ray. It was
created to tell people the truth about life and the social situation.

Regardless of the compulsory bad taste in your mouth that you get at the mere mentioning
of school, you have to admit that the Putai Theater (a.k.a. “Art Gallery”) is a grand piece of
architecture. You cannot help but feel humbled, privileged and grateful to be able to sit in
one of the soft, cushy, crimson, seats. Every time I cross the threshold, I send thoughts of
appreciation to the mass of unknown men and women who had the wisdom, foresight and good
taste to erect such a magnificent hall, such a luxurious playhouse for generations of little ants to
transform themselves in. (OK, enough of the ant metaphor…)

The Roman theatre in Bosra

SophocleS Smiling 5