Beneath the stage mask: The emotional processes and acting experiences theater actors undergo, and their self-concepts

This is a psycho-social case study involving professional theatre actors who are members of four of the most prominent professional theatre groups in the Philippines. The objective of the study was to determine to what extent the theatre actor\u27s emotional processes and acting experiences influence his existing self-concept. An attempt was made to explain the nature of a theatre actor\u27s self-concept by applying the three theories of self-concept formations, namely: Reflected Appraisal, Social Comparison and Role Internalization. Eight professional theatre actors were employed as representative sample of the population of theatre actors in the Philippines. Their responses supported the significance of the researchers\u27 attempted exploration. The self-concept of a theatre actor is influenced, in varying degrees, by the emotional processes and acting experiences he personally has to go through in the course of his theatrical exposure