Social role development in playback theater groups in light of the Mackenzie and Livesley model. (September 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Mizrahi Shapira, Oshrat; Shem-Tov, Naphtaly; Keisari, Shoshi
• Is Part Of: Arts in psychotherapy. Volume 80(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-09
• Subjects: Playback theater -- Social role -- Dramatic role -- Improvisation -- Livesley and Mackenzie; Art therapy -- Periodicals; Dance therapy -- Periodicals; Music therapy -- Periodicals; Poetry -- Therapeutic use -- Periodicals; 616.891656
• DOI: 10.1016/j.aip.2022.101942
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0197-4556

Abstract

Abstract: Playback theater is a form of improvisational theater created in a response to personal stories. It can take place as a performance and in the setting of an ongoing group. In such groups, members create improvised theatrical responses to personal stories shared by other group members. Group dynamics are both represented in the discourse and interaction between members, and manifested and shaped through theatrical expression. Draw on the thinking of MacKenzie and Livesley, who outline four types of group roles, this paper demonstrates the interrelatedness of a member's role type and the dynamic unfolding on the group stage. In order to explore this relation, the authors propose three distinct perspectives or lenses: i) dramatic role; ii) the rules of dramatic play; iii) and the theatrical encounter with the story's contents. These three lenses help conductors recognize the interrelatedness and mutual influence of the social role of the individual member of a Playback group and the drama unfolding on stage and thereby choose methods and interventions in theatrical space that could promote development and role-expansion for individual members. Highlights: In PT groups there is an interrelatedness of a social role type and dynamic on stage. Four types of social roles in PT groups are driven from MacKenzie & Livesley theory. Three lenses presented to identify this interrelatedness and support role-expansion. The three lenses are: dramatic roles, rules of dramatic play, the story's content.