Good actors aren't always perky, especially not on stage. They study behaviour, they work hard, they don't socialise backstage. People who are truly devoted to the craft can't stand to watch badly done theatre. It's painful. It's an assault on the senses to watch hacks who focus on manipulating the audience. Because, in that audience, you realise that those idiots are representing your art. They are the reason that theatre is so often thought of as a hobbie, apart from the "real" arts - visual, musical, et al. This is why I don't go to the theatre in my town. Because I live in the "biggest small town in the South", so someone called it. And they called it right. Almost all theatre in this town is poorly produced. I don't mean that it's just mindless drivel intended for entertainment (although much of it is that), but rather that it's just not produced with love or care. Actors in my town socialise rather than studying.

It makes me so sad I don't want to talk about it anymore.

I think modern dance is currently my favorite of the arts (from an audience perspective). If theatre won't come back and grab it's meaning and place, I suspect dance will do it instead. Actors need to train like dancers. But also build the mental component (which dancers don't really train). Or maybe experimental theatre and modern dance could just blend into one art... I don't know about that. I have seen some disgustingly self-indulgent work being produced under the guise of "dance/theatre". It's as if that's a term for anyone who doesn't do either well.