Theater's Tendency to Promote Empathy

A recent review, in "The New York Times Book Review" (6/1/08) of Paul Woodruff's new book, The Art of Watching and Being Watched, suggests that an individual's capacity for empathy is a good index of his mental health. Woodruff proposes that theater has a tendency to promote empathy: "We must all listen to each other because we are human, because we see only what we can from where we stand, because there is more to be seen than any one of us can appreciate alone." Alfred Adler often described great art as the artistic expression of empathy.