The Self in Performance: Autobiographical, Self-Revelatory, and Autoethnographic Forms of Therapeutic Theatre

by Susana Pendzik (Editor), Renïe Emunah (Editor), David Read Johnson (Editor)

Overview

This book is the first to examine the performance of autobiographical material as a theatrical form, a research subject, and a therapeutic method. Contextualizing personal performance within psychological and theatrical paradigms, the book identifies and explores core concepts, such as the function of the director/therapist throughout the creative process, the role of the audience, and the dramaturgy involved in constructing such performances. It thus provides insights into a range of Autobiographic Therapeutic Performance forms, including Self-Revelatory and Autoethnographic Performance. Addressing issues of identity, memory, authenticity, self-reflection, self-indulgence, and embodied self-representation, the book presents, with both breadth and depth, a look at this fascinating field, gathering contributions by notable professionals around the world. Methods and approaches are illustrated with case examples that range from clients in private practice in California, through students in drama therapy training in the UK, to inmates in Lebanese prisons.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781349712595
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan US
Publication date:	09/06/2021
Edition description:	1st ed. 2016
Pages:	271
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x (d)

About the Author

Susana Pendzik is Head of the Drama Therapy Graduate Program at Tel Hai Academic College, Israel, and also lectures at the Swiss Dramatherapy and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. An experienced drama therapist and supervisor in private practice, Susana does extensive international work, is a prolific author, and co-editor of Assessment in Drama Therapy (2012).

Renée Emunah is the author of the book, Acting for Real, co-editor with David Johnson of Current Approaches to Drama Therapy (2^nd edition), and author of numerous other publications on drama therapy. Founder/Director of the graduate Drama Therapy Program at the California Institute of Integral Studies, USA, she is an international pioneer in the field, and recipient of the North American Drama Therapy Association’s highest award for “Outstanding Contribution to the Field of Drama Therapy.”

David Read Johnson is Co-Director of the Post Traumatic Stress Center, New Haven, CT, USA; Associate Clinical Professor at the Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine and Director of the Institute for Developmental Transformations. He is one of the founders of the North American Drama Therapy Association, and author or editor of numerous articles and books on drama therapy, trauma treatment, and the creative arts therapies.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. The Self In Performance; Susana Pendzik, Renee Emunah, and David Read Johnson.- Part I. Influences and Concepts.- Chapter 2. Influences of Experimental Theatre on the Emergence Of Self-Revelatory Performance; Stephen Snow.- Chapter 3. From Behind the Scenes to Facing an Audience in Self- Revelatory Performance; Renee Emunah.- Chapter 5. Surprise and Otherness in Self-Revelatory Performance; David Read Johnson.- Chapter 6. Relational Aesthetics in the Performance of Personal Story; Nisha Sajnani.- Chapter 7. Intersubjectivity in Autobiographical Performance in Dramatherapy; Jean-Francois Jacques.- Part II. Applications and Approaches.- Chapter 8. Autobiographical Therapeutic Performance as Individual Therapy; Armand Volkas.- Chapter 9. Embodied Life-Stories; Sheila Rubin.- Chapter 10. Restoried Script Performance; Pam Dunne.- Chapter 11. The Performative; Gideon Zehavi.- Chapter 12. Heuristic Methodology in Arts-Based Inquiry of Autobiographcial Therapeutic Performance; Drew Bird.- Chapter 13. A Retrospective Study of Autobiographical Performance During Dramatherapy Training; Ditty Dokter and Alida Gersie.- Chapter 14. Personal Theatre and Pedagogy; Anna Seymour.- Chapter 15. Autobiographical Therapeutic Theatre With Older People With Dementia; Dovrat Harel.- Chapter 16. The Unheard Stories Of Those Forgotten Behind Bars In Lebanon; Zeina Daccache.- Chapter 17. Reflections On Terrorists Of The Heart: A Couple’s Performance On Loss And Acceptance; Jules Dorey Richmond and David Richmond.- Chapter 18. The Play As Client; Maria Hodermarska, Prentiss Benjamin, and Stephanie Omens.