I chaired this panel featuring Lee Chasen, Marianne Chasen, Diane Feldman, and Sarah McMullian at the New York University Forum on Educational Theatre. My panelists had all implemented drama/theatre approaches in a range of educational settings–making connections across the curriculum and beyond–as well as prisons, heath settings, and community centers. I guide the panel and participants to highlight how the field of Drama Therapy/Educational Theatre has (or has not) changed since separating from The Program in Educational Theatre in 1982. To these ends, we were targeting participants who have worked or want to work in special settings and with challenging populations in order to wrestle with important ethical and technical questions about how and when to implement these strategies.
Each presenter delivered a narrative presentation about their work, demonstrated techniques, and guided group reflections including this Role on the Wall exercise about facing both the internal and external experience of mental illness.