When was the last time you truly let yourself play? Not scrolling through your phone. Not checking something off your to-do list. Not doing something because it was productive.
I mean real, full-hearted play. The kind where you lose track of time, laugh until your stomach hurts, get completely absorbed in what you’re doing, and feel more like yourself than you have in a long time.
As children, play came naturally. We pretended, created stories, performed, explored, dressed up, became magical creatures, and built entire worlds with our imaginations. We didn’t worry about whether we were doing it correctly. We simply played.
Then somewhere along the way, many of us traded that freedom for responsibility, productivity, and the pressure to take everything seriously.
But the healing power of play never disappeared.
It is still there, waiting for us to make room for it.
As an actress, professional mermaid, voice actor, performance capture artist, and retreat leader, I’ve experienced firsthand how powerful play can be. It isn’t just something that makes us feel good.
For performers especially, play can help us reconnect with our creativity, build confidence, become more present, and rediscover why we fell in love with creating in the first place.
Why Do Adults Forget How to Play?
Somewhere along the way, many adults begin measuring their days by productivity… How much did I accomplish? How much money did I make? Did I answer every email? Did I finish that project? Am I moving my career forward?
And when we’re constantly focused on achievement, play can start to feel unnecessary. Sometimes we even feel guilty for enjoying ourselves if we aren’t getting something accomplished at the same time. I know because I have!
But creativity doesn’t always come from pushing harder. Sometimes it comes from stepping away.
Play gives your brain permission to explore without needing an immediate result. It encourages curiosity, experimentation, movement, imagination, and connection. Those qualities are incredibly valuable for anyone, but they are especially important for performers.
If you’re constantly worried about doing everything “right,” you leave very little room for discovery. Play gives you that room back!
1. Play Helps Actors Become More Present
Acting requires presence. You have to listen, respond, and make choices. You have to be willing to let something unexpected happen instead of trying to control every moment. That is one reason acting exercises, improv, and rehearsal games can be so valuable.
Improv teaches you to respond instead of overthink. Embodiment exercises encourage you to explore how movement changes your emotional state. Character games allow you to experiment with different personalities, physicalities, and perspectives.
Suddenly, the rehearsal room becomes a playground. And that’s not a bad thing! Some of the best acting happens when performers stop trying to look like they’re acting and start genuinely experiencing the moment. Play helps create that freedom.
It’s fun and also reminds us that we don’t always need to know exactly where something is going before we begin.
2. Play Reconnects You With Your Creativity
Creative people can burn out just like anyone else. Actors, voice actors, filmmakers, writers, photographers, musicians, and other performers often spend so much time producing that they forget what it feels like to simply explore.
When every creative activity becomes part of your career, it can become difficult to remember that creativity can also exist without a deadline, client, audition, or paycheck attached to it. That’s where creative play comes in.
Paint something without worrying whether it’s good. Dance around your living room. Write a ridiculous story. Try a character voice. Build something. Take photographs just because you like the way the light looks. Put on a costume and become someone completely different for an afternoon.
There doesn’t have to be a purpose. And ironically, that lack of pressure can be exactly what allows your creativity to come rushing back like it did when you were a kid.
3. Play Builds Confidence Through Embodiment
One of my favorite things about play is that it gets us out of our heads and back into our bodies. Performers spend a lot of time thinking… Did I make the right choice? Was that line believable? How did I look? Did they like my audition? Was my voice good enough? Did I make the character interesting?
That constant internal dialogue can become exhausting. Embodiment gives us another way to experience ourselves!
Try standing up and moving through a room as a completely different character. Maybe you’re an ancient creature, a superhero, a mischievous child, or some fantastical being from another world. Notice what happens. Your posture and movement changes. Your energy shifts, and even your relationship with the space changes.
This type of playful exploration is something I also experience through performance capture and motion capture, where physical choices become an essential part of bringing characters to life.
You can learn more about my work as a performance capture and motion capture actor if you’d like to see another side of how physical storytelling connects to performance.
The more comfortable you become experimenting without judgment, the easier it becomes to trust yourself. And that trust is a huge part of confidence.
4. Mermaiding Reminds Us That Play Can Feel Magical
If the stage is one kind of playground, the water is another. As a professional mermaid and retreat leader, I’ve seen firsthand what happens when adults give themselves permission to step outside their normal identity and play.
There is something almost magical about putting on a mermaid tail and entering the water. Suddenly, you’re not thinking about your inbox or your responsibilities. You’re not worrying about whether you’re being productive
And sometimes that playful experience brings out something people haven’t felt in years. a Sense of joy, freedom and wonder! That’s one of the reasons I believe so strongly in creating experiences where adults can reconnect with that part of themselves.
The goal isn’t to pretend we’re children again. It’s to remember that the curious, imaginative, playful part of us never actually disappeared.
5. Play Creates Connection
Play becomes even more powerful when we share it with other people.
Think about the last time you laughed so hard with a group of friends that you couldn’t remember what started the joke. Those moments matter. They remind us that we aren’t meant to experience everything alone.
For performers, connection is especially important. The entertainment industry can be incredibly competitive and isolating. Auditions, rejection, self-tapes, networking, training, and constantly trying to build a career can make it easy to forget that creativity is supposed to be enjoyable, too.
Playing together creates a different kind of environment. There is less pressure to impress and more opportunity to connect.
That’s one of the ideas behind The Bright Stars Greenroom. I wanted to create spaces where actors and other creatives could step away from the constant pressure to perform, reconnect with themselves, and spend time around people who understand the creative life.
Sometimes you don’t need another class… Sometimes you need a place where you can breathe, laugh, explore, and remember why you started creating in the first place!
Why Play Matters for Your Creative Career
Taking time to play doesn’t mean you’re taking your career less seriously. In fact, it can help you show up to your career with more energy and creativity.
Think about what happens when you give yourself permission to step away from the constant pressure of auditions, rehearsals, recording sessions, emails, marketing, and deadlines.
You return with a little more space, curiosity, and energy. And sometimes, a completely different perspective that can influence everything from the way you approach an audition to the way you interpret a character in a recording booth. For me, this is one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned throughout my career.
My work as an actress, voice actor, mermaid, and performance capture artist may look like several completely different worlds from the outside, but they all have something important in common: They require me to be willing to play.
I have to explore. I have to imagine. I have to take risks. I have to trust my body, my voice, my instincts, and my ability to make a choice. Play keeps those muscles alive!
If you’re feeling creatively drained, you may also enjoy my article on Mindset for Actors: 3 Valuable Ways to Recharge Creativity, where I explore another side of stepping back, resetting, and reconnecting with your creative energy.
How to Bring More Play Into Your Life
You don’t need a stage or a tail to tap into the healing power of play. Try these practices to bring play back into your life right now:
- Improv at home. Say “yes, and…” to whatever your partner, friend, or even your own imagination throws your way.
- Embodiment exercises. Walk, dance, or stretch as if you were another character or mythical creature.
- Art for fun. Paint, draw, or sing out of nowhere, not to be perfect, but simply to express yourself.
- Create a mini self-care ritual. Put on music, light a candle, get outside, or give yourself permission to move and play without an agenda. If you need a little inspiration, check out my guide to Fall Self-Care Rituals for Creatives.
- Join spaces that celebrate play. Whether it’s a theater group, creative community, or a mermaid retreat, choose environments that remind you it’s safe to be free, curious, and fully yourself.
The Healing Power of Play Is Still Within You
Play doesn’t erase the difficult parts of life. It doesn’t magically fix burnout, rejection, uncertainty, or the challenges that come with building a creative career.
But it can give you something incredibly valuable: space to breathe. To reconnect, experiment and laugh. A vast space to remember that you are a whole person, not just an actor, performer, employee, business owner, or whatever role you happen to be carrying today.
The stage taught me that play is at the heart of great performance. The water taught me that play can reconnect us with wonder. And my creative journey has taught me that sometimes the most productive thing you can do is stop trying to be productive for a little while.
So if you’ve been feeling stuck, burned out, disconnected, or simply too serious lately, consider this your invitation. Get out there and play! Try something new. Make something silly. Move your body. Laugh with someone you love. Step into a character. Get outside. Get in the water. Let yourself be curious again.
You might be surprised by what you discover. Because the healing power of play isn’t something you have to find somewhere else. It has been inside you all along.
Ready to Make More Room for Play?
If you’re craving a creative reset and want to spend time with other artists who understand the ups and downs of a creative career, explore The Bright Stars Greenroom and our upcoming retreats.
And if you’re interested in the performance side of my own creative journey, you can explore my voiceover services and demos, acting portfolio, and performance capture work.
Whatever you choose, give yourself permission to play again. You don’t have to earn your joy. You just have to make room for it.