FIRST ACT: "ENTERING THE

RABBIT HOLE"

“THERE IS A CRACK IN

EVERYTHING,

THAT’S HOW THE LIGHT

GETS IN” L E O N A R D C O H E N , ‘ A N T H E M ’ , 1 9 9 2

What if we thought that the heart of

our art is live performance?

What if we then viewed therapy as

a T r a n s f o r m a t i v e T h e a t e r ,

and its participants as ingenious

performers?

Par t ic ipa t ive Thea te r

physical movement

ambience backstage

imaginary presences

Stage

resources

joint enactment

drama propsnon-scripted

dialogue

“In live drama, the possibilities of

transformation are breathed, metaphors are

animated and emotions mingle together and

affect one another in an ever shifting flux that

refuses to be framed by any narrator’s or

interpreter’s rendering.” (Bradford Keeney)

Therapy :

A dramatic play that begins

in tragedy, degenerative

flows and devaluing

performances

The Staging of the

Official Story

THE

OFFICIAL STORY…

Treatment Medication Prescription DisorderTruth

Mental Illness S y m p t o m Diagnosis

Syndrome Evidence Conditions

Repetitive

disempowering

performances

and identities

Possibilities Co-creation Exceptions

Social constructions Relational ResourcesMultiple realities Collaborative practices

In transformative

theater, we engage,

re-author, and perform

multiple choreographies,

roles and storylines.

We may move from tragedy to the absurd,

then to comedy and redemption.

T rans format ion thrives in spontaneity and

experimentation.

Alternative futures may be imagined and designed, and new relational performances and scenarios can be initiated

in daily life.

Through the staging of both troubling and liberating

performances, debilitating storylines can be

deconstructed and disengaged from.

WHAT ABOUT THOSE THAT SHARE

THE STAGE OF THERAPY WITH US?

Therapy:

An unscripted play that

transforms into meaningful,

paradoxical and

encouraging performances

The Staging of

Alternate Stories

FIRST INTERLUDE

• What does the idea of therapy as

transformational theater evoke in

you?

• What generative possibilities

emerge?

SECOND ACT: "OF TIMELESS

FOREVERS AND

UNCOMMON

NONSENSE"

Slow down inner talk

delight in pause

Notice what’s new

Return to the body

Contact the other…

become aware

Be aware of

conversational flow

Wake up

your eyes

Relational Presence Dramatic Enactment

Oppositional Disorder IrreverenceResponsive curiosity about emergence

Generative Recycling Joint Action

As we engage in the

dance of transformation,

what is distinctive about

our performance?

Traditions of dialogue and relationship

Our nature of Mult i -Be i ngCommunities of Practice

Blessings, Talents and Benefactors

As we begin the dance of

transformation, who and what

accompanies us?

SECOND INTERLUDE

• Who do you bring into the stage? How many of you are there?

• What talents accompany you? (resources, presences, stories)

• What makes your practice alive?

FINAL ACT:"BUT THE WORLD HAS

ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE,

WHO'S STOPPING US

FROM INVENTING ONE?"

Relationship is always present

in transformative theater.

It is the dance through which

the actors and the stories they

perform are co-created and

transformed.

Our art consists in the co-creation of a

performative space that expands the

limits of what is permissible and

possible.

Co-creating a space of openness and dialogue

Disrupting the official story

Unleashing the possibilities

of generativity…

WE ORGANIZE OUR PERFORMANCE

AROUND THREE KEY ACTIVITIES :

ENABLING TRANSFORMATIVE

THEATER

• Confucion is your friend

• Become an unpredictable audience

• Trust emergence

• Nothing is fixed, solid or stays the same for long

• No thing is ever one thing

• Practice generative recycling. Everything that is provided is

potentially useful.

• Search for the “crack”, it will lead the way in.

• Are we dancing together or are

we stepping on each other’s feet?

• What has been created?

• Have we co-created alternate

"departures”?

• Have new possibilities for

understanding and action been

generated?