ABSTRACT
This chapter explores a variety of developing psychological capabilities and their associations with the skills necessary to act and perform theatrical works. It briefly discusses how each skill develops both ontogenetically (i.e., during the child's lifespan) and phylogenically (i.e., how it developed through evolutionary means and what purpose it serves). The chapter also examines whether these skills are increased by affiliation or exposure to engaging in theatre. It proposes a coordinated framework of what it takes, cognitively and emotionally, to be an actor, and how each of these achievements is built upon (or not) in development. Cognitive skills allow actors to understand scripts and characters, and to think about the task of acting itself. To begin, theatre cannot exist without an understanding of fiction. Acting training and theatre classes, of course, go through their own developmental progressions. Acting requires more than theory of mind about the characters' current state or an emotional matching with a character.
