Therapeutic Theatre & Media
Therapeutic Theatre & Theatre Workshops
Therapeutic Theatre is a creative, experiential branch of drama therapy. In this collaborative framework, a group develops a creative piece with specific therapeutic intentions, culminating in a performance for an invited audience. This process enhances connection and belonging, offers transformational moments of self-expression, and breaks down isolation. By creating a work of art that reflects life, participants safely explore personal narratives, have their stories witnessed, and practice new ways of relating to themselves and others.
The Method
My approach bridges clinical precision with highly poetic, immaculately curated performance. I facilitate intergenerational and intercultural storytelling ensembles using a blend of:
Documentary Theatre, Devised Theatre, Music, & Dance to safely embody, rhythmically ground, and collaboratively build performances from lived experiences.
First-Person Testimonies & Archival Materials to anchor personal narratives in truth.
Myth, Folklore, & Poetry to access universal metaphors for healing.
Clinical Leadership & Proven Impact
My work in therapeutic theatre was forged in New York’s most intensive clinical and communal spaces. For five years, I served as the Director, Writer, and Drama Therapist for Witness Theater (via Selfhelp Community Services). In this role, I guided Holocaust survivors and young adults through an academic-year-long drama therapy process to safely script, contain, and stage profound trauma and resilience for the community.
Beyond this intergenerational trauma work, I have successfully scaled therapeutic theatre models across a diverse spectrum of humanity—including inpatient psychiatric units, non-profit organizations, and private clients.
Consulting, Selected Partners and Venues:
I serve as a drama therapy consultant, director, and artistic collaborator across prominent theatrical and clinical institutions, including:
Selected Productions & Presentations: My work has been presented at the following venues: Sheen Center for Thought and Culture, Marlene Meyerson Jewish Community Center, New York University, North American Drama Therapy Association Annual Conference, Hunter College, Joe’s Pub.
Drama Therapy Consultation/Guest Lectures: Playwrights Horizons, VisionIntoArt, Sitar Arts Center, New York University
Institutional Collaborations: NY Langone Hospital Brooklyn, Selfhelp Community Services, Abhaya Yoga Brooklyn, Bent on Learning
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.