“In the dark times will there also be singing? Yes, there will also be singing. About the dark times.”
Therapeutic Theatre & Media
Therapeutic Theatre is a form of drama therapy where a play (or other media) is developed with therapeutic intentions and goal setting, facilitated by a drama therapist. The piece is then brought to culmination through performance for witnesses beyond the sphere of the therapeutic group itself.
I have been creating therapeutic theatre performances for the last several years both in the non-profits, on inpatient psychiatric units, for private clients, and for self-produced projects. This healing form of theatre avails opportunities to bridge my interests in political theatre, documentary film, folkloric studies, experimental theatre, and poetic forms of hyper-realistic, cinematic storytelling.
Witness Theatre
My roles: Director/Writer/Drama Therapist
“Witness Theater is an innovative inter-generational program bringing together Holocaust survivors and high school students to elicit, expose and memorialize the moving stories of survival. Through a guided drama therapy process, group members explore issues of war, loss and trauma while at the same time forming deep and meaningful relationships that dissolve the barriers between generations.
Students and survivors meet in weekly two-hour sessions over the course of the academic year with a trained drama therapist and other program staff. The project culminates in a staged production: the students portray the personal experiences of the group's survivors, while the survivors narrate their own stories. The production is performed for the community and the student body in each high school location.
The program aims to involve Holocaust survivors in a therapeutic process designed to help them come to terms with their past, and at the same time to instill the memory of the Holocaust in the next generation. The public performances serve as a vehicle for the survivors' testimonies to be heard by many and to witness the special connections made between the generations.”
Video Descriptions: Top - “Witness Theatre: The Stories We Carry” (2023, Livestream). “Witness Theatre: Sewn With Strength” (2022) Three young actors on separate screens hold playing cards in their hands, depicting life in Germany, 1934. Middle - “Witness Theatre: How We Stand Together” (2021). Four young actors, look in different directions and depict a moment in France at the beginning of the war. Bottom - “Witness Theatre: Essential Stories” (2020). An elder with wavy red hair, a burnt orange scarf, and red lipstick looks with wisdom and kindness into the camera.