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I am not even using hyperbole when I say that theatre saved my life.

I guess I'll begin at the beginning-- when I was little, my mother always thought I was normal. In part because I didn't have problems being affectionate with family, and I could make eye contact with my parents most of the time, but mostly, I realize now it was because she thought I was always being me.

Most of the time, I wasn't. I watched a lot of old movies, and I spent as much time as possible 'being' the Marx Brothers, or Danny Kaye, or Gene Kelly. And Judy Garland, once in a while, but for some reason, I was almost always male. I knew how to be the people I saw on TV, but I didn't know how to be me. Later, at school, I was lost. I didn't understand non-verbal communication, and I took everything very literally. I was alone and miserable, a prison of my own inability to emote.

Then in middle school, I got into the theatre class. I learned how to use facial expression, vocal modulation, and body language, not from family and peers like most kids do, but by studying it at school, the way other kids learned math. And from reading plays, I learned about subtext, and all the ways that people said things they didn't literally mean.

I learned how to have conversations by reading scripts. Not just conversations, but witty, well-written ones.

The theatre is still one of my biggest loves. And when I hit the lowest, worst depression of my life, the only time I ever thought about suicide, it was 'The Importance Of Being Earnest' that pulled me out and gave me a reason to go on long enough to see the depression out to its end. It remains my favourite play, and I was lucky enough to be cast as Lady Bracknell at my college.

Theatre also helped me make friends by introducing me to people who shared my interests, and who valued quirkiness. I started out 'pretending', because it's very hard to socialize without wearing one of my 'masks', but I found that people in theatre liked me for me, Asperger's and all.

I reccomend drama programs to anyone with Asperger's-- even if you don't want to act at all, you can learn from being there, and there are plenty of other jobs that won't put you on stage. I know a couple of probable aspies who love doing light and sound, and they both know the technical side of theatre backwards and forwards. They get the socialization and the learning experience, but they can take jobs that keep them out of the spotlight.

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Anneko

Yeah, theatre is really great. I also love music, cultural stuff, and BL. Squee! Interests rock.

PS, is that a Hamlet quote in your sig?

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Anneko

What has really helped me is roleplaying. D & D is very helpful, because I can try different kinds of social interactions in an experimental capacity. There are no negative side effects if I do something wrong in a D & D campaign. The worst thing that can happen, is a character will die. So I just make a new one. My dad, also an Aspie, is the one that introduced it to me when I was nine, with that very goal in mind. It's tremendously fun, allows for fantastic creativity, and helps my social interactions. I highly recommend it.

I actually really don't like theatre types. I find them insincere and manipulative. I much prefer science people. I understand them much better, because I am one of them.

I am really glad for you though. I've known other people that theatre has helped. My mother, for one, was a famous stage actress in Jamaica. Drama gets Mom through the tough times. I also have a friend who is psychotic, literally, and is very into drama for much the same reasons as you. She doesn't need to learn about facial expressions so much, but becoming someone else is quite liberating for her.

Mmm, BL indeed... *sigh*

And heart heart heart for Hamlet! *is looking forward to covering Hamlet in theatre history* I'm really obsessed with 'Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead' right now, so I'm also getting more into Hamlet through that. I've always loved Shakespeare, but this is probably the first time I've gotten heavily into Hamlet in particular...

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Anneko