Meeting Myself for the First Time While on Stage: Learning that Emerged Within a Community Popular Theatre Project (original) (raw)
Related papers
Participatory theatre and mental health recovery: a narrative inquiry
Perspectives in Public Health, 2017
This is a narrative inquiry focusing upon the stories told by participants of Teater Vildenvei, a theatre company that has been part of the rehabilitation programme for mental health service users for over 20 years in Oslo, Norway. As a methodology, narrative inquiry has been increasingly employed in health sector research, 1 although the potential for narrative research in Public Health is still being explored. 2 Furthermore, in Norway, there has thus far been little attention given to exploring health narratives in the context of public health, let alone those of personal experience related to the participation in culture and health initiatives. The perspective of service users is therefore often lost in the discussions about the value of arts and health initiatives for the promotion of public health. Despite the fact that user involvement is a statutory right in Norway, research shows that users' voices are not sufficiently listened to. 3 Narrative inquiry is therefore one way of enabling people's voices to be heard. Teater Vildenvei can best be described as a community mental health theatre company working to promote mental health among participants with various mental health problems. The company does not work within an overtly therapeutic paradigm, and the emphasis is not on working through personal issues to achieve psychological change, as it is in many forms of dramatherapy. 4 Instead, the company is resource oriented and focuses on the health-promoting properties of collaborative theatre-making to produce positive change in people's lives. As such, Teater Vildenvei belongs to a long tradition of using theatre performance to enhance wellbeing and health. 4-6 This tradition of theatremaking in the service of health and wellbeing is at least as old as the ancient Greek rituals performed in the Ascleipions and Aristotle's theory of dramatic catharsis, 7 which acknowledged the
COMPLEXIFYING THE SELF: THE BREAKING THROUGH OF THEATRE IN PSYCHOLOGICAL EDUCATION
Applying Education in a Complex world, 2023
The following text frames and describes main orienting principles and recent results of Irromper [Pt. breaking through], an empowerment lead, artistic and psychoeducational project within the field of theatre, which was devised with a group of patients diagnosed with different psychological disorders. The methodology used in this article is mainly based on auto-ethnographic description. This theatre project was one of the latest outcomes of a line of post-doctoral research initiated in 2014, intersecting Theatre, Psychology, and Education, in collaboration with Encontrar+se [Pt. to find oneself] an institution for the promotion of mental health, in the city of Porto, Portugal. Since then, we have been conducting, every week, theatre sessions that interweave artistic and scientific methodologies, to help individuals diagnosed with different psychological disorders (e.g., depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder, among others) to cope with complex mental and bodily issues in a collective context. After several years of collective theatre practices and experiences by the Encontrar+se users (hereafter referred to as participants), in 2021, during the pandemic, the Portuguese General Directorate for the Arts (DGArtes) opened a call for artistic projects relating to theatre and mental health. The fact that the proposal Irromper was chosen in the highest funding threshold validated the artistic dimension of our proposal in addition to the therapeutical one, reinforcing the relevance of the arts as an important activity to address complex issues in the contemporary world.
Mental Illness Through Popular Theatre: Performing (In)Sanely
This chapter explores the transgressive and liberatory learning and creativity of popular theatre when the freedom and power to imagine and raise awareness is placed in the interacting bodymind relationships of a group living with multiple psychiatric diagnoses.
ABSTRACT The identity creation takes place on the social level through interactions with various others. What is more, the process of shaping the perceptions of the world, as well as the self- awareness, is determined by the cultural context, in which one is entangled. Such a biased social embeddedness, inevitably narrows people’s cognitive capacities. This thesis emphasizes the importance of holding multiple social roles, and accumulating various life experiences, in the process of self-development and one’s individualization. Importantly, the latter is also conditioned by means of shifting between different social frameworks, each of which has its intrinsic rules and focuses, therefore entails individuals’ changing angles of perception. One example of such influential frameworks is investigated: the interacting and improvisational performance theatre – the case study. Fiction is a substantial component of the reality. Therefore, exploring the world and the ‘self’ should be done through different channels. Looking at the reality from within the fictional framework turns out to be highly influential in shaping one’s identity, worldviews and deeper understanding of the ambiguity of the social reality. The performance is also discussed from the perspective of its responding to the needs of the postmodern subject. As argued, the individual living in the era of pervasive freedom and still growing individualization, is in constant search for new experiences, approaching his/her identity as a project. In the technologically mediated social life people are in need for authenticity, more intimate and close social encounters, as well as for freer expression of their subjectivity. The latter is being constantly suppressed by the cultural “directives” of how to perform the official social roles – those, as a result, are the most realized parts of the human being’s self- definition. This thesis argues, that the wider spectrum of various and differently framed social experiences, the more individualized one becomes, and therefore the more self-sufficient in terms of cognitively approaching and explaining the social world and the ‘self.’ Pluralism of the roles one undertakes – whether temporary or repetitive, whether in reality or in fiction - provides one with psychological well-being and better integration into the society. Moreover, it has the potential to extend one’s emotional, intellectual and perceptual capacities, as well as to provide the enriching of one’s ‘overall identity.’
The paper describes an approach to theatre as an educational intervention in society linking the artist, the psychiatrist, and social groups with an interest in mental illness. An exploration of narratives and diagnostic criteria from psychiatric case studies led to the creation of two dramatic monologues focusing on awareness and impact of bipolar disorder on intimate personal relationships, particularly on the evolving transactional roles between the partner/caregiver and partner/patient. The paper argues that devised performance based on themes and characters that emerge from within the field of psychiatry may be used to address perceptions of mental illness and stigma for general community audiences. It concludes that psychiatrically informed material can be successfully translated into original dramatic performances to address current educational and social issues and raise social awareness in thought-provoking and stimulating ways to members of the public. Keywords: Devised Theatre, Mental Illness, Stigma
This thesis explores Playback Theatre (PBT) as a site for learning and healing, with meaning-making as the linking dynamic. This is done through: 1. the researcher’s own meaning-making of a performance; 2. a model locating PBT at the nexus of Narrative, Performance, Health and Education. 3. an analytical heuristic where the propositions implicit in the literature were made explicit, and used to search for empirical evidence using the lived experience of its participants; and, 4. the development of an emergent theory of PBT that was informed by this evidence. The research questions are in two categories— Empirical and Theoretical. The empirical questions asked about the lived experience of PBT, and the associated process of meaning-making. These questions were then re-ordered and expanded in light of the data, to include: what is inherent in the form that might make it rich with potential for learning-healing, processes used to work towards this potential, and impacts these may have on the social-emotional lives of participants. The empirical research covered one five month and one six month period. It involved interviewing 47 participants from nine performances and videoing rehearsals and a public performance. The investigation is post-positivistic and broadly humanistic using mixed methods: Phenomenology, Phenomenography and Grounded Theory. The theoretical propositions are established through review of literature, and NUD*IST (4) used to examine these in light of the interview data. As the propositions were supported by empirical evidence, they were used to construct an emergent theory of PBT. At the heart of this theory is a process of meaning-making. It asserts “telling”, “witnessing”, and “modelling” as essential elements of PBT and these activate individual and group learning that gives rise to new meanings. This can lead to emotional healing. The theory also asserts that healing increases potential for additional learning to occur because it makes telling, witnessing and modelling more salient. It is finally argued that the efficacy of PBT as a vehicle for meaning-making and, hence, learning-healing, reflects the particular social-aesthetic context of PBT. Suggestions are made regarding contributions that PBT can make to Education, and questions posed for future research.
International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being, 2017
There is a growing understanding that mental health problems and prolonged contact with mental healthcare systems can affect people's identities. Working with identity is an important element in mental health recovery. In this article, we explore the significance of participation in a music and theatre workshop in terms of people`s experiences of identity. This is a qualitative study based on a hermeneutical phenomenological epistemology. Data were collected from in-depth interviews with 11 participants at a music and theater workshop, analysed through a narrative analysis and presented in an ideographical "long" narrative form. The music and theater workshop is not overtly therapeutic although the activity takes place in a Norwegian mental health hospital for adults living with long-term mental health problems. We identified three crosscutting themes: (1) becoming a whole person, (2) being allowed to hold multiple identities and (3) exploring diverse perspectives. Fin...
The paper describes an approach to theatre as an educational intervention in society linking the artist, the psychiatrist, and social groups with an interest in mental illness. An exploration of narratives and diagnostic criteria from psychiatric case studies led to the creation of two dramatic monologues focusing on awareness and impact of bipolar disorder on intimate personal relationships, particularly on the evolving transactional roles between the partner/caregiver and partner/patient. The paper argues that devised performance based on themes and characters that emerge from within the field of psychiatry may be used to address perceptions of mental illness and stigma for general community audiences. It concludes that psychiatrically informed material can be successfully translated into original dramatic performances to address current educational and social issues and raise social awareness in thought-provoking and stimulating ways to members of the public.
Theatre as a Transformative Practice
An exploration into the psychosomatic dynamics of theatre-based practices was undertaken using heuristic methodology (Moustakas, 1990). Twenty-two practitioners, some working independently, others working collaboratively, were interviewed about their approaches, focusing on their experiences of self-expressive performance as a way to work on the self and to induce healing and/or transformative growth. The heuristic approach also allowed for the researcher's direct involvement and participation in the practices under investigation, enabling her to explore firsthand the potential of theatre-based practice as a means to work on the self. Following heuristic methodology, the researcher created a Composite Depiction and a Creative Synthesis, juxtaposing the individual approaches of the research participants and highlighting the core elements of Theatre as a Transformative Practice. In doing so, she proposed that the practices explored facilitate an attunement of ego, some leading to deep, body-based introspection which in turn enables the practitioner to gain greater self-insight and internal balance through expressive engagement with felt senses and corresponding imagery. The researcher further suggested that Theatre as a Transformative Practice requires specific conditions under which the creative journey can lead to healing and personal growth. The chief condition identified was that the work be approached with mindful awareness of others and self in the performative relationship.
The present study is a qualitative inquiry focused on understanding community-based theater involving people living with psychiatric disabilities through the narratives of the troupe members and directors. The study uses a grounded theory case study design to investigate The Stars of Light theater troupe in Rockford, Illinois. The research specifically explores the developmental processes of the troupe and its members, social activism, and critical characteristics of the theatrical form. The project addresses individual, setting/group, and community levels of analysis using semi-structured interviews, a focus group, and archival/performance data. Emergent themes were analyzed through a hierarchical coding process that ultimately generated 18 theoretical constructs across the three primary domains of interest (developmental processes, social activism, and characteristics of theater). Findings indicate that individual, setting, and organizational characteristics interact with one another in a variety of ways, including 1) troupe flexibility enhances sustainability and personal growth, 2) personal gains from involvement are carried forward into other life settings outside the troupe, and 3) troupe activities impact the wider community in several ways beyond direct audience contact. Results also revealed emergent constructs related to the identity development of consumer participants, setting dynamics and trajectories, and theater as a means of aiding in the recovery process. These constructs are discussed in relation to previous research and theory related to recovery, identity and serious mental illness (SMI), consumer-driven programs, and arts initiatives. Specific recommendations are presented for mental health settings, theater iii settings, and activist organizations; study limitations and suggestions for future inquiry are also discussed. iv Dedicated to Howard B. Faigin My endlessly loving grandfather who showed me the importance of flexibility, compassion, and humor v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS