Tony Awards, The Good Wife, Acting and Education

I have been a little absent recently from this blog.  My only defense is that my work has been unusually busy and I'm also working on writing my dissertation.  So between advising students, helping then get into classes for summer semester and getting data results from my research I just have not had the "umph" to think about topics for this blog.  I will do a better job from here on out. 

On Sunday night I watched some of the broadcast of the Tony Awards.  I always like to do that because I really admire those actors who work in the musicals.  I love watching extremely talented people who can sing and dance - AT THE SAME TIME!  They can also act. 

One of my favorite television shows is The Good Wife (on CBS).  It's a great combination of powerful story lines, great characters and an strong female lead.  One character on the show is Eli Gold (played by British stage and screen actor Alan Cumming).  On The Good Wife he plays a buttoned-up political strategist and chief of staff to the governor of Illinois.  It's a great role and he plays it well.  When watching the Tony Award Ceremony on Sunday night Alan Cumming showed a very different side of himself.  He is currently reprising his role as the emcee of the Kit Kat Club in Cabaret (the role made famous by Joel Grey).  His performance is dead on outrageous and he seems to enjoy playing the part.  Needless to say I will never look at Eli Gold the same way again! 

That got me thinking about acting.  I am an introvert according the the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.  So for me the thought of putting myself "out there" in a role that is totally outrageous is about the same as me doing brain surgery.  Probably won't happen.  Yet in thinking about  it further I realized that in my own way I do put myself "out there." 

During the school year I teach an Introduction to Psychology class at a community college.  I realized that for three hours every week during the school year I am performing.  I tell stories, I do impressions, I cue up videos that make my lecture points and I put on a performance all in the name of education. 

I want my students to first of know that learning can be fun - and what is more fun than using a clip from Big Bang Theory to illustrate a point about learning and classical conditioning.  The second thing I want my students to know is that learning is all around us and can often be found in popular culture. 

So in my own way I am an actor, treading the boards not in pursuit of the "theater" but conducting a class where psychology, acting, popular culture and learning come together in something that is lots of fun!