Felt cute, wrote a thread on the destructive and lasting effects of theatre program environments on body image, might or might not post later

It’s fantastic that CDs/producers are open to throwing physical “typing” out the window and letting bodies be the human vessels they are. But guess what?? That only does so much good if BFA programs are still instilling toxic body image during students’ most formative years.

So many performers (not at all limited to women) spend dozens to hundreds of hours of their education not on their actual craft, but trying to achieve the body type faculty members deem ~ideal to be cast in productions.

One of my biggest regrets from college is sacrificing valuable practice/reading/growing time on building a body I thought was a worthy and sellable “product”, which was legitimized by being given much more individual attention by faculty when I lost body fat.

Special s/o to all the ladies I was with at a callback early in school where we were informed as a group that due to “the realities of the time period,” body type would correlate to which women were cast. And as I talk to grads from other programs, I learn this is NOT abnormal.

It wrecked the way I see my body. As a result of this, in my professional life, if my weight is fluctuating on the higher side, I automatically associate it with being less talented and hard working- all because of a couple of crucial years of environmental pressure.

The industry needs to be pushing all types of inclusivity in ALL directions, not just hoping it trickles down from Broadway. I deeply believe that body positivity/neutrality training should be mandatory for all collegiate performance professors. It is career and soul saving work.