Honestly them worrying about your facial expressions in acting is offensive. Don't let that get you down even if they don't let you do it. They were wrong to say that and I think they're holding you back because they view you as disabled more than you do. In fact, I would tell them "you view me as being more disabled than I do! You see me as being more disabled than the drama club because they accept me and my facial expressions!"

I was in drama. I needed no aid. Presumably you know how to travel with a cane, so no aid should be necessary. The other objections are just silly.

BTW, I sucked at drama, but that had nothing to do with my blindness. Have fun!

Oh, and if you don't know how to travel with a cane, the solution for that is to learn to use one, not to get an aid. The other students and the instructor should be able to provide you with any additional info you can't gain from your own senses.

As a film professional, there are many possible roles that a blind person could nail. Especially in theatre, arguably voice acting is much more important than facial expressions since lot's of people wouldn't able to see facial expressions from a certain distance or angle anyways. I've seen Phantom of the Opera in London a while ago and really couldn't see much facial expressions but it was still amazing because drama is much more than that. So voice acting and body gestures are top two talents. Face is very important in cinema though. So work on your voice acting, one of the popular example is Aaron Paul from Breaking Bad. Then talk to director about it how keen and confident you are since I reckon his no1 concern will be if you give up later then finding someone else and get prepared before the big day would be a challenge. I'm sure you can find a character that you can really play to high standards regardless of you're blind and make your parents proud too. It's probably they just don't know much about drama hence not aware how many different types of characters and skills can be used, and it's OK.

A lot of acting is more in the tone of your voice- rather than facial expressions/ body language (although they do help a lot)
Go for it! If nothing else you’ll learn a lot!!
I’m visually impaired and I absolutely love acting!

Yes, you should do whatever it takes to join the club. They're being annoyingly discouraging about it and really ought to be ashamed of themselves. If they thought you couldn't make the facial expressions, they should sit down and work with you on it.

its just a high school drama class. its not a hollywood blockbuster. even if you are shit at acting its not a big deal.

Do it. Also talk to your parents about how them being over-protective is hurtful and degrading. Recognize it comes from love, but try and communicate how they can better support you.

You'll never know what you are capable of until you take some risks. Failure is bound to happen when you take risks, but don't let that deter you. You can learn more in failure than success.

Please go out and try everything your can. Also try to talk to your parents.

What the fuck? Your parents should support you in everything you do instead of pointing out what OTHER RANDOM PEOPLE could be bothered by...

The director can worry about your acting ability (and honestly it's high school theatre, if they've got 4 kids in the entire cast that can act it's a freaking miracle.) Go do it and have a blast!

Thanks for all of the supportive comments. I really appreciate it. And also I’ll let you guys know how it goes.

wtf. My kiddo is legally blind and only a few years younger than you and i am SO JAZZED she wants to do drama. Like. It's high school drama club, its not like you need to be Meryl Streep. This is a great thing to learn independent skills without an aid thats probably not a huge risky thing.

I hope you have a GREAT time in whatever play you're doing!

What's the worst that can happen? It's drama club, you give it a try for a bit and if you don't like it then you can stop. It's not like you're trying to enrol for a BA at RADA.

Join, have fun. You might turn out to be the next Ellie Wallwork or Kitty McGeever.

Youre not being ridiculous. You’re not going to have an aid everywhere you go in life. This is a perfect opportunity and I commend you for wanting to reach out and try something new.

As for facial expressions.. those are determined by feelings. Just because you’re visually impaired doesn’t mean you don’t you don’t grasp appropriate facial expressions. And even if you did struggle, that would be the drama teachers job to worry about - not your parents.

Take advantage of this time in your life! You’re only in high school once.

There is no obstacle there that cannot be overcome with effort and desire. Take it from a former stage actor. Go for it. Don't let anything hold you back, especially doubt.

Don't let your parents hold you back. If you think you can do it, try and do it. It's best to try even if you don't manage something than allow yourself to be stereotyped.

Go for it Andrea, sounds like your parents are holding you back
This is very serious, let’s not be wishy-washy about it, this and their attitudes are not OK

I did acting and its fun! Don't worry about the facial expressions. It's all about the voice and the delivery of your character. You should do it anyway. Your parents may not see it now but when you are up on that stage, they will be the loudest ones cheering.

Join drama club! Next time your parents bring up the facial expression thing, tell them they must not realize how bad most of the acting in drama club is!

I think that, in real life blind people manage to make facial expressions that match their mood, and so, if you are good at acting, there's no reason your entire face is suddenly going to freeze

Hi, the purpose of joining a club is to learn new things. Your goal could be to learn how to make the facial expressions needed to express different imotions. Joining could also help you develop spacial awareness, as you will have to develop ways to move around a set.

Go for drama club, don't worry too much about facial expressions, you will just feel it in the moment.

One of my favourite memories from high school was in ninth grade like fifteen years ago, the drama teacher picked a play called the Waiting Room, it had a very Alfred Hitchcock type vibe, and it was about four elderly blind people in a care home's waiting room and... spoilers they thought it was a great fancy elegant facility and it was not, they thought they were there to get cured, but my character died of a heart attack and the staff said I was cured.

I also was in a combination English and Drama class that my high school did for the first time while I was there and it was Shakespeare and we performed a Midsummer Night's Dream and I played Bottom.

TLDR: Had great memories of being in high school dramatic productions wish you all the best!

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Without question, go for it.

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Please correct me if I'm wrong, but you sound young. There will be loads of times in life people tell you that you can't do something. Feel free to show them your middle finger, while you continue on pursuing your dreams.

Wow, what? It's high school. It's not like you're going to get fired if you are bad at facial expressions. Try out for whatever play you want. If the director likes you, you get the part and get to have fun. If the director doesn't think you're a good fit, off you go with a new experience under your belt anyway. That's literally the worst that could happen.

I’m blind and been in stage plays since I was little. It may take some extra work to learn the stage layouts, but other than that I had little problems keeping up with everyone else. Have fun and don’t be shy! Putting your all into your role is all that matters.

No. Do it.

Do what you want to do. I feel like them worrying about something petty like your facial expressions is hindering to you growing as a person. There's nothing wrong with jumping out there and going for it. You can always drop the class if it doesn't work out. It's hard enough to get friends as someone with a disability and joining the club will help you meet new people.

Disclaimer: I'm not blind, but my gf is. I love seeing her go out and do shit, like playing in a video game cafe. She's a web developer and digital artist. <- Those are hard to do as someone with a visual impairment, but she just jumped out there and did it. It's had it's ups and downs, but she's doing well.

No you aren't. Acting doesn't require sight. It requires acting ability. I mean a decent memory helps too, but one step at a time. I took drama while in highschool and did just fine. It would help to have a supportive instructor. I ... sort of. I didn't stick with stage acting, but I kind of wish I had. It did lead me into my passion though which is voice acting. Anyway there's absolutely no reason you can't do this. Never let people hold you back. If you can't do something, find it out by doing it. The sighted world likes to treat us as delicate flowers. All that does is stunt our growth.

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Go for it. I was in drama in high school and it was really fun. Being a character isn't just how you can do facial expressions, its immersing yourself in their mindset and being comfortable on stage. I would pay a lot of attention to how people use their voices to express the characters, A lot of the authenticity comes from how well you can use your voice.

Acting skills should not be a concern to your parents. Your happiness and comfort should be paramount. Being a part of a larger group and doing an activity could be very beneficial. I'm currently losing vision and I've found that I feel the happiest when I'm with a group of my friends. You seem dedicated and should pursue this if it's something you truly want.

Whatever you do with your face when you're acting, it's not wrong, it's just you. If that's right for the part, fine.

The reality is that if you've never had sight you'll probably not express yourself physically in the same way as people who have. The thing is, I'd assume you would normally be playing a character who's blind, so that's not wrong for the character and a perfectly legitimate performance. The thought occurs that you can also do voice over work for animation and act in radio plays at which point you can play a fighter pilot if you want and it's completely irrelevant. And if you might want to think about doing that, you'll want to get as much experience as possible as soon as possible.

I guess you might find that people in the group who want to try to direct you toward a performance that's more, for want of a better term, normal, but if that's not you, and that's not the sort of part you would go for, then you don't really need to do that. I wonder if your folks are trying to protect you from people criticising your performances but if you go into it with all this in mind, I think you'll have answers to anything people might say.

You should do it... maybe you will suck maybe you will be amazing... I personally suck at everything I do for fun, but I still do it cuz it’s fun

Go for it. Good luck!

I would do it. they will teach you what you need to know to act.