Author: Sally Bailey

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Making an Inclusive Community Through Inclusive, Barrier-Free Theatre

Presented at the North American Drama Therapy Association Conference October 2018

by Sally Bailey, Britt Burr, Paige Dickinson, Tracena Marie, Patti Woolsey, and Michelle Yadon

Therapeutic theatre can serve a specific population (e.g., people in recovery from eating disorders, released from prison, or living with mental illness) or can offer a general, inclusive theatre experience to integrate people from all strata of the community for the purpose of breaking down stigma and enhancing inclusion. Plays might be devised by the group, written as ethnodramas, or adapted from stories relating to group issues. In any case, the theatre troupe is created not only for artistic reasons, but also for therapeutic outcomes (Bailey 2009, 2010).

The authors of this article direct companies that we call Barrier-Free Theatres or Inclusive Theatres. These troupes for actors with and without disabilities devise plays based on their ideas. While some of the actors may not fit into other performing environments, they deserve the opportunity to experience the joy of making theatre: to express themselves, use their imaginations, and find solutions to problems through the arts. We believe that everyone is creative, and every town needs a therapeutic theatre of its own.

Why Is Barrier-Free Theatre a Necessity?

Benefits from Barrier-Free Theatres are abundant for participants, their families, and community members. Participants often increase self-awareness, self-confidence, social skills, and assertiveness, while breaking patterns of learned helplessness. Families of participants gain new insights into their family member’s abilities. Systemic issues relating to stigma around disabilities can be addressed in communities through exposure to Barrier-Free Theatre productions.

To explore if audiences feel therapeutic theatre is an important entity in their community, the first author surveyed audiences of the spring 2018 Barrier-Free production, Monster, MD. An audience questionnaire and interview protocol were approved by the Kansas State University IRB. Surveys were distributed by ushers at three productions, and 91 surveys were returned. Of these, 70 respondents came because they knew members of the cast; eight of those were in attendance while on the job as staff of Big Lakes Developmental Center, which runs the group homes where many of the actors and their friends live. Two-thirds of the responders (60) had never seen a Barrier-Free Theatre show before. The other 31 had seen between one and nineteen previous productions for an average attendance of three performances each. Eighty-seven responders said they would be willing to return for a future play, and four people did not mark yes or no on their survey.

The survey had two open questions. In response to “What did you like about this year’s Barrier-Free Theatre show?” twenty-two people commented on the enthusiasm of the actors and the fun they seemed to be having performing, eight remarked on characters in the play, six on the story and theme of the play, six on the singing and dancing, six on audience participation opportunities, and six on how everyone in the cast was included. Fifteen people just said, “Everything!” The other open question was about how to make the shows more accessible to attendees. Suggestions included keeping the price low, closer accessible parking, and having actors wear microphones.

Nineteen responders volunteered to be interviewed, and nine interviews were completed.  Three were parents and one was a foster mother of an actor, two were service providers, and four knew parents of an actor. Five, including the foster mother, were attending a Barrier-Free show for the first time.

Responses to the question, “What is valuable about a Barrier-Free Theatre?” included:

  • It gives individuals and families and friends a sense of pride in the actor.
  • It provides the actors with self-esteem.
  • It’s an extra learning avenue.
  • It’s an outlet for their emotions and for what [the actors] are going through in their everyday life.
  • [The actors] have a way to put that [their feelings and ideas] out to the world, not just keep it inside themselves, but put it out constructively.
  • It gives [the actors] the confidence and willingness to speak, not being afraid to communicate because someone else might not understand.

When asked why every town should have a Barrier-Free Theatre, people said:

  • It can help educate citizens as to what differently-abled people have to offer.
  • It can serve as an inspiration to other differently-abled people
  • It is testimony to the diversity of our society.
  • There’s a lot of value in being inclusive.
  • Engaging people with a disability with the community and interacting with others who are like them, and then showing their talent to folks in the community…benefits everybody.
  • It’s just as much a value to the people in the community as it is to the special needs participants. For the participants, it gives them a sense of belonging, of being part of the Manhattan Community, of feeling like this is their place. For the community members, they can learn about people that they have been kept apart from. It helps the actors become employed in the community or have other opportunities.

Creating a Theatre Program with Sponsors and Community Partnerships

Instead of waiting around for the job of their dreams or finding a job listed under “Drama Therapy” in the want ads, many drama therapists have needed to become entrepreneurs. This is true for all five authors. We looked for organizations that could use our services and convinced them that they wanted to hire us. A variety of agencies can be approached to sponsor a program.

In order to implement a Barrier-Free Theatre program at a new organization, the directors of that agency need to understand the benefits of drama therapy for their clients, families, and community members. When they understand that therapeutic theatre allows for the growth of self-actualization, self-determination, community awareness, and enhanced inclusion, they will be willing to undertake this kind of programming.

Non-Profit Arts Centers

One kind of organization that can be approached to sponsor a therapeutic theatre company is a non-profit arts center. Non-profit educational institutions are expected to be inclusive if they receive any government funding, as required by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1992. Sally Bailey was hired by Imagination Stage in Bethesda, MD as their first Arts Access Director to create programming for children with disabilities. The impetus for the creation of this position were parent advocates whose non-disabled children were able to take drama classes there, but whose children with disabilities struggled to succeed. As Arts Access Director Bailey’s job included bringing drama to special needs schools, integrating children with disabilities into regular Imagination Stage classes, and preparing children with disabilities who had no drama experience with appropriate skills so they could succeed in regular classes. Bailey was also tasked with creating a reverse integrated performing company. The actors were mostly teens with disabilities, and a few neurotypical teens were included as role models. Over ten years this reverse integrated company grew to become two teen troupes, each with about 14 actors, and two adult companies with about 18 actors each. A Deaf Access company was created to integrate teens who were deaf and who were hearing. That became so popular that it also grew into two companies.

Non-profit Organizations That Provide Services Directly to Clients

Non-profits that provide direct services are also potential sponsors of therapeutic theatre companies. When Michelle Yadon, RDT was first interviewed for Program Supervisor at a non-profit organization serving adults with disabilities in Indiana, she made it clear that if she was hired, she wanted to implement a Barrier-Free Theatre as part of their mental health services. Once she was on board, the agency wrote the Barrier-Free Theatre into her job duties. The directors discovered many benefits to the program as participants increased their social skills and community involvement. Barrier-Free Theatre began with Yadon supporting 12 client-actors in writing self-revelatory monologues about their lives. The show, I AM YOU, was produced at a local professional theatre. Rehearsals were scheduled during the clients’ Day Program. Tickets were sold through the local box office of the professional theatre. The two evening performances were very well attended. Actors felt empowered and started making drastic changes in their lives. Community members stated that they had a deeper understanding of people with disabilities.

The following year, Yadon developed an inclusive playback troupe with an integrated group of 12 actors. The playback troupe rehearsed weekly in the evenings at the Day Program Center for eight months. Yadon also rehearsed with 12 other clients from the Day Program to create a new set of self-revelatory monologues. The first act of the show the self-revelatory monologues was performed, and in the second act stories were told by audience members and performed by the inclusive playback troupe. The service organization and Yadon received awards from the city because of the benefits for the clients, of increased awareness for citizens, and increased acceptance for all community members.

Community Parks and Recreation Programs

When Bailey was hired by Kansas State University, she arrived in Manhattan, Kansas to find a Barrier-Free Theatre already sponsored by the City of Manhattan Parks and Recreation Department’s Special Needs Program. This was again the result of parent advocacy. When Jane Gibson, the mother of an actor in the Imagination Stage company in Bethesda, moved to Manhattan, she wanted her son to continue to participate in a Barrier-Free Theatre. Being involved in therapeutic theatre encouraged him to talk more, make friends, and experience a creative, social outlet for his emotions and ideas. She went to the Parks and Recreation Department and insisted that they create a theatre program for teens with and without disabilities. The program was an easy sell because Parks and Recreation, as part of the local government, is required by law to offer programming to all members of the community. Bailey consulted in the creation of the troupe. When she moved to town, the troupe was in need of a new director, and she stepped right in. Kansas State University quickly became a partner to the Manhattan Barrier-Free Theatre as graduate students in drama therapy became the neurotypical peers in the troupe. For a number of years, plays were rehearsed and performed at the Manhattan Arts Center, the local non-profit community theatre, a second community partner. Currently, they perform in the new Purple Masque Theatre on the K-State campus.

Back in Indiana, Michelle Yadon applied for Inclusion Program Supervisor at a local community parks and recreation facility with a therapeutic recreation division. The Program Supervisor would oversee all programming for people with disabilities. One of the position requirements was certification as a therapeutic recreation specialist. As Yadon was a Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist and a Registered Drama Therapist, she applied. During her interview, she again strongly advocated for including drama therapy in their program, showing recordings of her therapeutic shows at the non-profit service organization and talking about the benefits of drama therapy. The recreation administrators were sold.

Yadon first implemented an inclusive playback troupe for actors with and without disabilities. The troupe rehearsed weekly and was scheduled to perform twice a year on the stage at the community center. The troupe also travelled to residential facilities, day centers, and schools to share performances.

After three years, the acting troupe wanted a new challenge, so they produced a Shakespeare in the Park performance at one of the local park amphitheaters. The inclusive cast chose scenes and monologues from Shakespeare’s plays. The actors then decided they wanted to follow the Barrier-Free Theatre structure and devise their own show. The performance was at the community center, sound was donated by a local community theatre, a preschool raised funds for the costumes, and the community center had a set design class that created the set. The inclusive ensemble continues.

There have been many benefits from implementing Barrier-Free Theatre through the community center. The parks and recreation organization has received one state award and one national award for the program. Actors are able to practice social skills and experiment with different roles in rehearsal that can be transferred into other aspects of their lives. One actor stated, “I can be anyone I want to be, and this helps me when I go to work” (personal communication). Family members get to see their actor grow and increase in skills. One mother said to Yadon after a show, “Wow. I didn’t even know he could do that. He has abstract thinking, and he’s so smart. I see my son differently” (personal communication). Community members also increase their empathy and start to see that all people have strengths. On one occasion an audience member said to Yadon, “I thought I was an open-minded person, but I now see areas that I need to change my thinking” (personal communication).

Community Theatre

Tracena Marie, RDT serves as the Therapeutic Arts Director for Muncie Civic Theatre in Muncie, Indiana. She has learned the need for continuous effort to build connections and develop a professional network, especially in an area where the creative arts therapies are not as prominent. In her job, she has implemented and sustained programming by focusing on community partnerships, community engagement, and procuring grant funding. 

At her initial meeting with the board of directors and the executive director, Marie explained how Barrier-Free Theatre would help fulfil Muncie Civic Theatre’s mission of enriching their whole community through performance, education, and outreach. They were intrigued. The discussions provided Marie with the framework for a clear, specific written proposal to match the vision and mission of the theatre as well as their current constraints.

Her next task was to write a letter of intent. This is similar to a cover letter, except more specific. It introduces your profession and gives a brief description of the field you specialize in, your qualifications, and why you are passionate about your work. Be sure to acknowledge the value that therapeutic arts programming can offer to a community theatre.

 Next, she wrote a formal proposal. This should identify examples of other successful drama therapy programs, as well as logistics of the Barrier-Free Theatre method, including duration of the series, length of sessions, number of participants and volunteers, accessible rehearsal space, the therapeutic process including goals/objectives, sample outline of a rehearsal and production process, and sample list of creative supplies/materials.

With the program approved by the board and with the help of Civic Theatre’s grant writer, Marie set to work applying for grants. Enough funds needed to be gathered for rehearsal and production supplies, financial aid for participants’ tuition, and payment for the drama therapist. Typically, non-profit arts organizations are on very tight budgets and cannot start something new without funding in hand. Enough grants were awarded to move forward. Marie recommends that in order to be able to provide effective grant reporting and to secure funds in the future, it is important to collect video footage, photos, rehearsal documents, and testimonials from participants throughout the process.

While seeking funding, Marie also reached out to organizations in the community that shared a similar philosophy as the program. Barrier-Free Theatre’s pilot program partnered with a disability service organization that provides residential, employment, and support services. Marie offered a free theatre workshop for their clients to assess if they had interest and for the staff to witness drama techniques in action. After the workshop, 17 clients registered for the program.

In order to integrate neurotypical actors, Marie needed to recruit community volunteers. Places to look for volunteers include universities in your community, community theatre members interested in creating outside of a typical mainstage production, retirees looking for an enriching and new experience, and educators or health professionals with a passion for the arts and healing.

As performance time draws near, have participants perform or talk at community events to share about the program. Invite the Mayor and City Commissioners as well as the state’s Director of Disability Services to the play. Write letters to community leaders and educators sharing about the therapeutic arts taking place in the community and encourage them to get involved through attending, volunteering, or donating. Since the inaugural year of Muncie Civic Theatre’s Barrier-Free program, 175 adults with disabilities and 100 volunteers have participated. Programming for youth began in 2016 and is growing as well.

Creating a Limited Liability Corporation

Sometimes drama therapists do not find an organization open to partnering or sponsoring a therapeutic theatre under their auspices, but the drama therapist sees a strong need in the community for drama therapy services. Britt Burr was faced with a situation of this kind and opted to create a Limited Liability Corporation (LLC). Originally, Burr had been hired by a client service organization in Maryland that had a grant for a new position: Assistant Director of Autism Services. The job focused on helping emerging adults on the autism spectrum bridge the transition between school and work by creating programming that improved social and employment skills. Just as Yadon had sold drama therapy and her skills during her job interviews, Burr convinced her employers to let her create a Barrier-Free Theatre as part of their programming. Unfortunately, the organization was struggling financially and let the development director, who wrote all the grants, go. With no one on staff to write new grants, once the initial funding for Burr’s job ran out, there was no money for her position to continue. Out of a job she loved, she weighed her options and decided in order to continue working with her clients, she would create an LLC.

LLCs vary from state to state. A lot of information is available about the process online. Burr recommends the website www.howtostartanllc.com which has step by step information on each state as well as access to the forms you will need in order to file your LLC with your state. In Maryland, the filing cost was about $100, but costs can range from $100 to $300. 

The first thing to decide is a name for your company that is not already taken. The words ‘Limited Liability Corporation,’ ‘LLC,’ or ‘L.L.C.’ need to be part of the name, and the company’s name cannot sound like it is part of local, state, or federal government. At www.howtostartanllc.com a name search can be run to see if the preferred name is available.

If the business name can be used as the name of a web domain, clients have an easier time finding your website. In any case, secure and pay for a web domain. While there are “free” domain names available through other organizations, like tinyurl, Burr says it is worth the money to buy your own as your organization will be easier to find in a web search.

Using your business name, create an email address. This will be on your website, so getting this done sooner rather than later makes sense. The email could be @the name of your company.com or .org. Google’s G Suite has a business email service.

Next, file an LLC Article of Organization which includes the name of your LLC, the address where you are rehearsing or doing therapy, and (if this is not a space that you rent or own) a separate mailing address, possibly a PO box, for the business. The Registered Agent is the person in charge of the LLC. This may be yourself. The Registered Agent’s address needs to be on the form. If you do not have a permanent office, you could use your home address. Email in the paperwork with the registration fee and wait to get an approved copy back from your state. This takes about 4-6 weeks. 

While waiting for your approved paperwork, obtain a Federal Employer Identification Number (EIN) by filing the SS-4 form available on www.IRS.gov. This can be done online or over the phone. The EIN is needed for tax purposes. When the time comes, you can do your taxes yourself or have a professional tax preparer do it, but in any case, filing taxes for an LLC is similar to filing as a person. Instead of your social security number, you use the EIN.

Once you have received your EIN, you need to start a business bank account. It is important to keep a person’s funds separate from the funds of the business, for general bookkeeping, tax filing, and liability purposes. Quickbooks and or another financial office organizer can keep track of your business finances.

Decide when your fiscal year starts and ends. It might run from January 1 to December 31 or start at the beginning of a month that makes the most sense for your business calendar. Burr started her fiscal year when all her LLC paperwork arrived. When tax season comes at the end of your fiscal year, report your taxes.

Create and file an Operating Agreement. This is a contract with liability clauses to protect you in case people get injured when they are working with you or if the LLC ends. Examples of Operating Agreements appropriate to your state are on www.howtostartanllc.com. This Agreement is not something you would give to your clients, but you should include a liability statement in your informed consent form.

The pros of having an LLC include being covered for personal liability and making reporting on taxes on income made by the business easier. Cons of LLCs include not being able to provide donors with a tax write-off and not being able to submit for grants, as these almost always are for non-profit organizations. You will need to have a “day job” at first because as you start, you will not be making a lot of money. Burr recommends anyone thinking about creating an LLC approach it with realistic expectations. LLCs are not difficult to create, but times can be lean if you are starting from scratch. She had the benefit of already having built a clientele.

Creating a 501(c) 3 Non-profit Organization

Another option is to start a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. This requires creating the business entity and submitting it to the Internal Revenue Service for approval as a tax-exempt charity. Being tax-exempt allows an organization to fundraise through writing for grants to foundations and corporations and provides individual donors tax exemptions for their donations.

Patti Woolsey, RDT is a co-founder and founding executive director of ArtStream, a non-profit arts organization in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. The ArtStream mission is to bring the arts to under-served communities, focusing on people with intellectual disabilities and autism. ArtStream started offering programming in 2005 within nonprofit provider agencies. Then inclusive theatre companies were established at three locations in Maryland and Virginia. Non-profit status was granted by the IRS in 2006. The organization expanded very quickly after that, and as an inexperienced executive director, Woolsey says she had a lot to learn.

Starting a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization involves more paperwork and the creation of a board of directors, but allows the organization to fundraise through grants and permits contributions from individuals to be tax-exempt. Recommended books on creating a nonprofit are John Riddle’s Managing a Non-Profit (2005) and Stan Hutton’s and Frances Phillips’ Nonprofit Kit for Dummies. (2001). For local help, contact a local Arts and Humanities Council and State Non-profit Associations. These organizations are invaluable because they offer support and workshops and often are free.

Please note that many of these steps may be done simultaneously or in a different order than listed here. Choose a name for the organization and select a web domain name. Create a mission statement. It will need to identify a clear mission for the Articles of Incorporation and the IRS form 1023. Mission statements should be memorable because you will use it in promoting your services and writing grants. It should be narrow enough to focus the activities of your organization, but broad enough to allow growth. Write in plain language; forget the flowery language or current buzzwords. State the organization’s purpose, the means by which the purpose will be achieved, and who will benefit from the organization’s activities. Organizational values and vision may be included.

Write the articles of incorporation, including a statement of purpose and a mission statement. Develop organizational bylaws: the rules by which the organization will operate, including when the fiscal year will begin and end, terms of the board of directors, dissolution clauses, and a conflict of interest policy. The government is particularly interested in the inclusion of conflict of interest and dissolution clauses. File the articles of incorporation at the appropriate office in your state government with the appropriate fee. These forms can be obtained online at your state government website. There are multiple incorporation forms, so make sure you find the one for tax-exempt corporations.

Form the incorporating board of directors. Often only three people are required. Potential board members will want to know about your mission, bylaws, and what you expect them to do for the organization because board members have a fiduciary responsibility for the organization. Hold the first official board meeting after the incorporation papers are final. Start keeping minutes of meetings. Robert’s Rules in Plain English (2005) provides suggestions about how best to run a meeting and what should be included in official board minutes. Board minutes need to be voted on after they have been typed up and sent around for everyone to see. Approval can be done by email vote or at the next board meeting. This is important, as minutes become part of the public record.

Obtain a Federal EIN. This is easy to do at www.irs.gov and free. If done online, the EIN form can be printed out at the end of the application process. With the EIN, a bank account can be opened for the organization.

Create a logo. This will go on stationary, envelops, advertising, website, and any other important documents that will be sent from the office. Put together a website and include the logo and email address on it. Start a database of potential clients and potential donors. It is better to keep a separate donor database to keep track of contributions. Get financial information onto Quickbooks or another financial office organizer. These programs make taxes, sending out 1099’s to contractors, and other necessary papers much easier.

Within 15 months of the date of incorporation, file IRS form 1023 to start the process to become a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization. The form and instructions may be downloaded as a PDF file from www.IRS.gov. Along with the form and fee, include a copy of the articles of incorporation, the bylaws, a list of the board of directors, an extensive narrative of past, present and future activities, any brochures or promotional material, the conflict of interest policy, and a three-year projected budget, which includes the current year plus two succeeding years. After receiving your tax-exempt status, register as a charity in your state.

The organization may solicit donations while waiting to hear about tax-exempt status, as long as donors know you are 501(c)3 pending. Donations made will be retroactively recognized from the date of your incorporation. Make sure to have adequate liability insurance to protect workers and clients. A 990 form must be filed at the end of the organization’s fiscal year. Small non-profits can efile at www.irs.gov.

Create a business plan, including a fundraising plan. This document indicates to potential donors that you are serious. The business plan maps out a three to five-year strategic plan for your organization. If you are operating programs, make sure you have adequate liability insurance to protect your workers and clients.

Continue to build a strong board. Come up with a matrix of people with skills who would be useful for your board, such as lawyers, accountants, marketing professionals, publicists, fundraisers, and people with foundation connections. Consider an advisory board for people not willing or able to do a lot of hands-on board work, but who will lend their names, can give advice, or help with special events.

A misnomer about non-profits is that they are not allowed to make money. A non-profit can end the year with extra money in the bank. As a business every non-profit needs to make money to reinvest in the business and to ensure survival in financially difficult times.

Conclusion

Therapeutic theatre companies can find secure homes and provide places for learning, healing, and growth for clients and others in your community. The authors encourage every drama therapist who has a dream of creating therapeutic theatre to hold onto those dreams and have the courage to reach out to community members for support. Partnering with other individuals and organizations is the best place to start. Often the biggest fear drama therapists have is doing official paperwork. Do not let a piece of paper with empty boxes on it stop you! Drama therapy is mightier than the form.

References

Bailey, S. (2009), ‘Performance in drama therapy’, in R. Emunah and D.R. Johnson (eds.), Current Approaches in Drama Therapy, 2nd edition, pp. 374-392, Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas Publisher

Bailey, S. (2010), Barrier-Free Theatre: Including Everyone in Theatre Arts – In Schools, Recreation, and Arts Programs – Regardless of (Dis)Ability. Eumenclaw, Washington: Idyll Arbor.

Hutton, S. and Phillips, F. (2016), Nonprofit Kit for Dummies, 5th edition. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

How to Start an LLC, www.howtostartanllc.com

Internal Revenue Service, www.irs.gov

Riddle, J. (2002), Managing a NonProfit: Write Winning Grant Proposals, Work with Boards, and Build a Successful Fundraising Program, New York: Adams Media.

United States Department of Justice, Division of Civil Rights, Information and Technical Assistance on the Americans with Disabilities Act. https://www.ada.gov/          

United States Department of Labor, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, https://www.dol.gov/oasam/regs/statutes/sec504.htm

Zimmerman, D.P. (2005), Robert’s Rules in Plain English: A Readable, Authoritative, Easy-to-Use Guide to Running Meetings, 2nd Edition, New York: Harper Collins.

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The Embodied Student

The following was presented at Spotlight K-State on March 24, 2015 in Forum Hall in the Kansas State University Student Union.

Image result for hamlet and skull scene

Alas, Poor Yorick.  I knew him, Horatio.

A student of infinite curiosity, of most excellent imagination.  Beheaded in his quest for knowledge by educators who promised he did not need his body in order to learn – only his head!

OK, that soliloquy may be a little exaggerated, but I find that many teachers from first grade onward seem bound and determined to leave their students’ bodies out of the classroom or at least tied to their chairs behind their desks.

I wonder if this push to move from embodied learning to bodiless, abstract learning began with a misunderstanding of Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development.

Piaget’s Model of Cognitive Development 

If you remember, in Child Psychology we learned that there are four stages of cognitive development.  The first stage is Sensorimotor Learning which we organically begin to use as soon as we are born to find out about the world: we look, listen, touch, taste, smell, and manipulate things to learn.

Next is Pre-Operational Learning  — my personal favorite – because we begin using dramatic play and our imaginations to understand the social and cultural world around us.  We begin to think symbolically, and we learn how to take on different roles and play them out physically – to see the world from different people’s points of view.

Then we move onto Concrete Operational Learning.  During this stage we learn to follow rules and develop a complete theory of mind.  We can concretely look at different aspects and levels of a problem, but we are not yet able to think abstractly and hypothetically until we reach the fourth and final stage – Formal Operations.  Formal Operations is considered mature thinking – the best kind of thinking – and in secondary and post-secondary school, the best way to use your brain – forget about those lower stages – they are more primitive and therefore, not as good.

When Piaget’s theory is usually graphed, it is not conceptualized as a pyramid, but I  am conceptualizing it this way because from years of teaching drama, I know that we don’t move through these stages and leave them behind – we continue using ALL of them.  We don’t move through them and jettison them like the stages of a rocket on its way into space; we bring all the stages with us as we age. We never lose that baseline of understanding the world through our body and our senses.  We never stop needing to explore the social and emotional content of the world through experimentation and embodied dramatic play.  In fact, the ability to ask “What if…?” grows out of dramatic play and is crucial to keep alive in order to remain, open, curious, and engaged in our studies.  Each stage remains in our repertoire of learning skills.  And look – the ones involving the body are the biggest and the others balance upon them!

Scultping Monarchy - This picture is from below looking up - the peasants' view of society
Sculpting Monarchy — from below looking up – the Peasants’ View

When students are only allowed to learn by passively sitting and listening to a lecture or passively sitting and watching a video, they are being limited to only part of the learning tools at their disposal.  Even involvement in discussions skims the surface of embodiment.

Sculpting Monarchy -- Point of View of society from the Top
Sculpting Monarchy — The View from the Top Down

I believe in the embodied student – and in embodied learning!  Students must use their whole selves to experience, test, and totally understand new information – whether it is through an experiment done in a lab or an intellectual concept embodied in a student sculpture!

How can one teach abstract concepts in an embodied way – well, I could explain the steps from an exclusive society to an inclusive, diverse one by lecturing like I am doing right now OR I could share this chart which provides a visual

OR I could get students up out of their seats to explore the concepts with their bodies.

Sculpture of Marginalization - from the Four Phases of Inclusion - two people are refusing to look at third person who is begging them to see him.
Sculpture of Marginalization – from the Four Phases of Inclusion

Sculpture of "Tolerance" in the Phases of Inclusion of Stigmatized Individuals - persons on the right and left are being very condescending to the middle person
Sculpture of “Tolerance” in the Phases of Inclusion of Stigmatized Individuals

Human Sculpture of "Reform" - in the Four Phases of Inclusion - Persons on left and right are trying to change the person in the middle
Sculpture of “Reform” – in the Four Phases of Inclusion

 

 

 

 

 

 

Human Sculpture of the Concept of Valuing, the fourth and preferred sculpt in the Four Phases of Inclusion - three people have joined hands in a circle and are sharing their weight among each other.
Sculpture of Valuing, the fourth sculpt in the Four Phases of Inclusion

And in each case students would have to problem-solve how to physicalize the concept, they would experience it, evaluate it. and then reflect upon it personally and abstractly, individually and in groups, calling up all levels of learning on my Piagetian Pyramid.

This doesn’t mean I think lectures and discussion and reading and writing are not important educational tools –they are! I absolutely give them their due…but it means that I don’t think they are enough.

Our students deserve to access all of themselves when they are in school, not just proportionally 13%, which is the proportion of the size of the head to the rest of the body.  I challenge all educators to include embodied learning in their teaching methods.  You are able to do it  – unless you have amputated your head from your body – and I can see that you haven’t – because you have access to all of the learning tools that you have gathered from the Piagetian Pyramid, too!

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Addressing Bullying in Schools Through Drama Therapy

Introduction

Bullying is an age-old and international problem. Surveys have identified bullying in schools across the globe. Dan Olewus first systematically researched bullying in Sweden in the 1970’s and created the first official definition and the first major intervention program (Olewus, 1993). UNESCO’s definition of bullying in schools is based on Olewus’s:

A learner is bullied when s/he is exposed repeatedly over time to aggressive behaviour that intentionally inflicts injury or discomfort through physical contact, verbal attacks, fighting or psychological manipulation. Bullying involves an imbalance of power and can include teasing, taunting, use of hurtful nicknames, physical violence or social exclusion. A bully can operate alone or within a group of peers. Bullying may be direct, such as one child demanding money or possessions from another, or indirect, such as a group of students spreading rumours about another. Cyber bullying is harassment through e-mail, cell phones, text messages and defamatory websites.  (UNESCO)

The key component in bullying is imbalance of power, which can be addressed best through education and action interventions using drama therapy.

Negotiation author and expert William Ury, in his book Getting to Peace (retitled The Third Side in a revised edition) explains that there are three sides to any conflict, not two sides. In the case of bullying the three sides are the bully, the victim, and the community. The community has a vested interest resolving the conflict, because it disrupts cooperation and peace. In recent books on bullying, such as Barbara Coloroso’s 2003 book The Bully, the Bullied, and the Bystander, those three sides are reiterated. Most bystanders function as passive community witnesses to the bullying, because they do not know positive action steps to take to stop it. Without appropriate intervention skills they fear they will be pulled into the conflict and possibly become victims, too.

In case you believe that bullying is a normal rite of passage that children and teens need to experience as part of growing up, think again. Research reveals that children who have been bullied have more symptoms of depression, anxiety, and other psychiatric disorders than children who have not. These disorders continue into adulthood. Victims of bullies are 4.3 times more likely to have an anxiety disorder as an adult, and bullies who were also victims are 14.5 times more likely to develop panic disorder, 4.8 times more likely to be diagnosed with depression, and 18.5 times more likely to have suicidal thoughts as adults (Saint Louis, 2013).

Different parts of the brain have sensitive growth periods; exposure to trauma in those periods can interfere with brain development. Martin Teicher and his associates scanned the brains of young adults who had been bullied as children and had no history of other traumatic abuse. Scans showed abnormalities in the corpus callosum that links the left brain with the right resembling abnormalities found in children who had experienced multiple forms of childhood trauma. His model of how peer verbal abuse psychologically effects children at different ages indicates peer verbal abuse in elementary school can lead to somatization (psychosomatic symptoms), in middle school to anxiety, drug use, depression, and dissociation, and in high school to anger and hostility (Anthes, 2010; Teicher et al, 2010).

In a study conducted by psychologist Tracy Vaillancourt, boys who were bullied showed higher levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, than boys who were not. These higher levels weaken the immune system and can damage the hippocampus, the part of the brain involved in creating memories. Vaillancourt speculates that that this may be one reason why bullied students have more difficulty learning and earn lower grades once bullying starts (Anthes, 2010). Neuroscientist Daniel A. Peterson found that in rats who were victims of bullying by other rats, after just one bullying experience, neuron cells in a bullied rat’s hippocampus (the memory making area) started to die (Anthes, 2010).

Bullies are affected as much as their victims. As adults they are 4.1 times more likely to develop anti-social personality disorder, which often leads them into a life of crime (Saint Louis, 2013). These scientific studies explain why dealing with bullying behavior effectively is important to the health, wellbeing, and education of all students.

Unfortunately, most bullying curricula, including the one developed by Olewus, which is considered to be the “gold standard,” provide education about bullying and guidelines for student behavior, but after implementation in schools, the bullying remains. The problem is these programs are lecture-based and follow a standardized, one-size-fits-all protocol with fixed objectives that do not take the ambiguous nature of the world into consideration (Boggs, et al., 2007). Bullying is a complex problem and cannot be solved without a flexible, context specific approach. Solutions work best when they come from the students; then students feel empowered to take action (McGrath, 2013).

Drama Therapy Interventions

Enter drama therapy! Drama therapy matches active interventions to specific behaviors and situational problems. Participants are engaged mentally, physically, and emotionally in the learning, whether they are acting or watching. Because it is embodied and action-oriented, drama therapy offers a powerful and safe experiential alternative to passive education. By its very nature drama therapy develops students’ perspective taking and empathy, self-expression, flexible problem-solving, internal locus of control, and abilities to share and collaborate with others. Students’ participation is valued and needed in drama therapy, and the opportunity to practice newly learned knowledge and skills in fictional situations that function realistically help students integrate and remember how to respond appropriately.

In addition to educational pluses, research indicates that artistic activities enhance moods, emotions, and psychological states, contribute toward the reduction of stress and depression, and alleviate physiological states associated with stress (Nobel & Stuckey, 2010). Through drama therapy students can deal with the intense emotional issues of bullying without feeling the need to tune out or risk becoming re-traumatized. Finally, when an activity is viewed as more personally meaningful, students become motivated participants who are more apt to apply the information they have learned to real-life situations (Dawes & Larson, 2010).

A variety of action methods used by drama therapists can prevent and end bullying in a non-violent, effective manner. Exactly which interventions will work best depends on the age of the students and the specifics of the problem, as well as the schedule, timeframe, and resources available in the school.

Forum Theatre

Forum Theatre, created in the 60’s by Brazilian theatre director Augusto Boal, is an interactive theatre form that allows participants to explore an imbalance of power through the lens of social justice (Gourd & Gourd, 2011; Sajnani, 2009). Since imbalance of power is the key element in bullying, Forum Theatre addresses the root problem. In a Forum Theatre performance actors improvise a previously created scenario that depicts a situation of oppression. Then the scene is replayed, and the Joker, or emcee, asks the audience to stop the action at a pivotal moment and suggest changes an actor could take to improve the situation. The scene is replayed to see if the suggestion works. Audience members (called spect-actors, because they are actively participating as well as watching) are also encouraged to enter the scene and show the actors their idea. As the scene is re-worked, many suggestions can be tried out for the same moment to see which work and which do not. The Joker facilitates dialogue about ways to equalize the relationships among the characters (Boggs et al., 2007; Gourd & Gourd, 2011; Sajnani, 2009). A key to creating deep and pertinent educational discussions is to embed learning objectives into the scenario and to have the Joker provide background knowledge, frame thought provoking questions, and instill the spec-actors with the confidence to challenge the status quo and dig deeper (Boggs et al., 2007; Gourd & Gourd, 2011). This engages students in ethical discussions and decision making, allowing them to improve not only their moral and ethical reasoning, but also their perspective taking and empathy skills.

A professional Forum Theatre company could be brought into a school to perform, but an even more effective use of Forum Theatre is to have a drama therapist work with small groups of students to create fictional scenarios based on current school issues. These students would present the scenes to small classes with the drama therapist as Joker, optimizing chances to involve as many students in the exploration as possible.

 Middle school (ages 10 to 14) is not too early to engage students in Forum Theatre. Young adolescents can be self-centered and rebellious, because they are testing boundaries and experimenting with their identity as they move from childhood to adulthood, but they also need structure and yearn for mentorship from the trusted adults in their lives (Reagan, 2015). Early adolescents are usually in Stage Three (the Morality of Interpersonal Cooperation) of Kohlberg’s moral development continuum where the focus on peer relationships. However, they can also relate strongly to issues of social justice and bringing these concerns into education at this time increases their moral maturity and sense of responsibility.

James DeBastiani, a Registered Drama Therapist and drama teacher in Delaware, USA, turned detention at his middle school into a laboratory for exploring new ways to solve conflict through Forum Theatre and other Theatre of the Oppressed techniques. Detention is a form of punishment for students who get into trouble that requires the offenders to stay after school. Jim turned detention from a time of punishment into an opportunity for learning. Students were able to express themselves and investigate new ways to solve problems through drama. Some began thinking about the points of view of the other students and teachers for the first time. Jim served as the Joker who pushed them to take emotional risks that helped them understand themselves and others better (personal communication, 2004).

Playback Theater

Another theatre form used by drama therapists that can transform bullying behavior is Playback Theatre. Created in the 1970’s by Jonathan Fox and his wife Jo Salas, Playback Theatre elicits personal feelings and stories from audience members who watch them acted out (played back) by a trained team of improvisational actors. A Playback Theatre performance is facilitated by an emcee called the Conductor, who welcomes the audience and elicits stories (Salas, 2005, 2011). While the Conductor in Playback is analogous to the Joker in Forum Theatre, his/her function is a little different; the Conductor is less provocateur, more supportive dramaturg, helping the Teller to articulate his/her story.

Jo Salas, a Registered Music Therapist, has been involved for over a decade in using Playback Theatre to address bullying in schools from elementary through high school through a program she calls “No More Bullying!” (NMB) Playback. A NMB Playback performance starts with the professional actors briefly sharing their bullying experiences, followed by involving the audience in creating a group definition of bullying. Then students are invited to invent a fictional scenario in which an imaginary character, played by a troupe member, is bullied. They are asked for suggestions about how the witnesses in the scene could help. This fictional scene is a technique borrowed from Theatre Forum for the purposes of modeling constructive bullying solutions. (Scenes of retribution are not acted out.) Finally, students are invited to tell about an experience as a victim, witness, or bully and watch it come to life. Because the adults are modeling respect and because the ritual form of Playback creates an environment of acceptance and safety, students are able to sit in the spotlight, speak up and shift the power. If disrespect rears its ugly head during a performance, Jo intervenes immediately to stop it (Salas, 2011).

Jo says when the audience sees a scene enacted: They understand it viscerally – it’s not just about the words, it’s about the physical expression. When you see a feeling embodied by an actor, you have a kinesthetic response: you feel it in your own body. You understand it in a non-cognitive way…if you are the “teller,” seeing your feeling expressed in the bodies, faces, and voices of the actors allows you to know beyond doubt that you’ve been heard and understood (Salas, 2011, 107).

When possible, six weeks previous to a school performance, Jo trains a group of diverse students weekly in Playback techniques and teaches them about bullying. As they practice Playback, telling their stories of bullying experiences to each other during the training, their skills at empathy grow just as their acting skills do. Then during the performances teams of four students and three adult actors work together to play back bullying stories to audiences of 25 to 50 (Salas, 2011). When their peers are onstage, students sit up and take notice, or as one student actor told Jo, “If a child hears it from a child, they listen.” (Salas, 2011, 107).  These children then become anti-bullying leaders in their schools (Salas, 2011).

Playback Theatre has also been used as a tool for conflict resolution with middle and high school students by Timothy Reagan, Registered Drama Therapist and drama teacher, at Sidwell Friends School in Washington, DC. He is a graduate of the Playback Theatre School in New York and an accredited Playback trainer. Tim began integrating Playback Theatre into the Sidwell curriculum as a way for students to reflect on their individual stories in a class taken by all 7th grade students. He leads an 8th grade Playback troupe called Vertical Voices and a high school troupe called Friendly Rewinders (Reagan, 2015). While Forum Theatre helps students connect outward to the world and social justice principles through their life experiences, Tim feels that Playback Theatre helps adolescents “learn to turn inward; to access, share, and listen to personal stories. Playback provides a significant experience for adolescents to make personal connections between creative expression and the healing power of the arts” (Reagan, 2015, 26). Empathic listening skills are developed through storytelling and story listening (Reagan, 2015). Students begin to treat each other with more respect and consideration.

Eclectic Mixes of Drama Therapy Interventions

Other drama therapists, like Becca Greene van Horne, incorporate many drama therapy techniques, including Playback, to inoculate students against bullying and teach empathy and constructive behavior. Her adolescent ActSmart Improv Theatre in Amherst, Massachusetts, USA, was created in response to the suicide of Phoebe Prince, a bullied girl from a neighboring town. They rehearse weekly and then perform at local schools to pass along their message through improv, rehearsed skits, and Playback (Diehl, 2012). Becca says, “I’m committed to teaching everyone emotional and social intelligence through play and drama” (Diehl, 2012, 2). She feels that drama therapy is how to implement bullying education “in a constructive and appropriate way [because] we can act out what we wished would have happened, and we can act out different alternatives for choices that were made” (Diehl, 2012, 2-3). Becca also offers anti-bullying workshops, social/emotional intelligence training, and conflict resolution training with student, parent, and teacher/administrator groups to get participants dramatically involved in learning pro-social behavior.

In Kansas City, Missouri, USA, Registered Drama Therapy Monica Phinney directs a troupe of teen actors in The Outrage, an ever-evolving script (to keep it up to date) about dating violence and sexual assault, another form of bullying that adolescents face. The show tours to middle and high schools. After performances the drama therapist and the actors hold a question and answer session with the students, and follow-up drama therapy workshops are held at the schools in the following weeks. In addition, Monica runs an 8-10 week Healthy Relationships curriculum in schools, delivering information through role play, theatre games, and other drama therapy methods.

Excellent plays for young audiences have been written on bullying. These can be can be performed to explore the subject in a safe public forum. During rehearsals, student actors should be educated about bullying facts and myths, and time should be set aside for discussion and sharing among cast members, so they can process not just the material in the play, but also the experiences they have had in their own lives. Actors need to be de-roled[i] after each rehearsal and performance, so that they do not take the roles of bully, victim, or bystander home with them. Talkbacks on the subject should be held after every performance so audience members can ask questions, get information, and de-role themselves. Talkbacks can include a panel of experts to speak to the issue, including educators, therapists, and witnesses or victims who feel strong enough to share their stories. If there are printed bullying resources in the school or community, those should be included in the program or available to be picked up in the lobby.

Cyber-bullying

In the age of Facebook and social media, bullying has moved from the classroom, the playground, and school hallways, to cyberspace where some of the cruelest bullying happens. Some cyber-bullying happens anonymously, but even when posts publically identify bullies, they often acts as if they is anonymous and all-powerful. Once something is up on the internet, it can be taken down from public view, but before that happens it could be copied, pasted, forwarded, uploaded, and downloaded by unknown amount of known and unknown others. Even if a post is “deleted,” it still remains forever somewhere on a server in cyberspace. The act of posting a bullying message or insult is a faceless, non-embodied way to strike out at and humiliate someone without fear of physical, embodied reprisal in the moment (James, 2014; Wong-Lo et al, 2012.)

In her book Disconnected: Youth, New Media, and the Ethics Gap, Carrie James introduces the concept of conscientious connectivity. It is not enough to think about your perspective (self-focused thinking) and your family and friends’ perspectives (moral thinking). To use the internet ethically one must be able to engage in complex perspective taking: becoming aware of everyone who could be affected by an online action – self, known others, and unknown others – committing to care about the consequences of your online actions and developing the motivation to deeply explore the ethical blind spots and disconnects that are hidden from our view by technology and the newness of the media. Finally, one must be willing to take action beyond that of not being an online bully by appropriately confronting cyber-bullies and engaging in thoughtful online conversations about issues instead of thoughtless rants. In short, ethical online thinking is community thinking, representing the Third Side.

Any of the drama therapy methods shared previously would work to help educate students of the consequences of cyber-bullying. One important suggestion, however, is to have an adult actor (not the drama therapist who must facilitate the session) enrolled as the recipient of cyber-bully in scenes, as these taunts can be so hurtful and outrageous that having a student on the receiving end could be traumatizing or re-traumatizing whether they have been cyber-bullied in the past or not.

One drama therapist in Lawrence, Kansas, USA, who is also a filmmaker, was able to offer her community a very creative twist on bully and cyber-bully education. As the Outreach Coordinator for the GaDuGi SafeCenter (now the Sexual Trauma and Abuse Center), she focused on violence prevention and sexual assault awareness in local elementary, middle and high schools, as well as two universities, University of Kansas and Haskell Indian Nations University. In partnership with the Lawrence Arts Center she developed theatre and film-based programs to explore social issues and produce projects by, for and about youth and the issues important to them.

She worked closely with local law enforcement and the District Attorney’s office on The InSight Project for youth on pre-file diversion for sex crimes. Juvenile attorneys referred adolescents in danger of receiving felony charges for sexting[ii] or harassment to her for drama therapy sessions to educate, enlighten and empower them to fully understand the impact of their actions. Then they created a Public Service Announcement (PSA) that expressed what they had learned. One of the PSAs they created on sexting can be accessed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFxd2I9LPR4

She also worked with middle school students in tandem with the national tour of It Gets Better, a suicide prevention movement. After conducting 8 weekly sessions of drama activities, including role play, scenes, personal monologues, introspective writing, team building, and messaging, the students wrote, composed, and directed a PSA on rejecting bullying labels, which can be seen at: https://vimeo.com/60225788

Why a Drama Therapist and not a Drama Teacher?

If drama therapy works so well to educate students and change behavior, why not hire a drama teacher or an applied theatre professional experienced in improvisation, Playback Theatre, or Theatre of the Oppressed to implement an anti-bullying program? Because drama therapists are specifically trained to do this kind of self-exploration and socio-emotional training safely.

Holmwood and Stavrou (2012) wisely point out that

…teacher training and dramatherapy training are different in approach and

intention. Dramatherapy students are expected to develop an understanding of the self through personal therapy….Drama teachers are not. Drama therapists are equipped to allow the client to work with their internal emotional and psychological world. [Note from author: very pertinent when working on an issue like bullying] The teacher will use a curriculum to teach students to teach students to develop personal, social, and most importantly educational skills (35).

Educated in drama therapy techniques, psychology, and ethics, drama therapists understand how to keep dramatic explorations honest and effective on one hand and emotionally safe for the participants on the other. Holmwood and Stavrou (2012) add, “a good teacher will possess some therapeutic skills just as a good therapist has to be able to teach. However…being therapeutic does not make you a therapist” (34-35).

One of the big ways drama therapists create safety is through the use of emotional distance in dramatizations. For instance, to protect a student’s personal problems from becoming the subject of a scene, a bullying situation would be fictionalized, and the drama therapist would make sure that a real bully and victim were never cast against each other to work out their differences in real life in front of an audience. A scene that was too close to a real bullying incident could end up re-traumatizing the victim and reinforcing the power imbalance. The distance that fiction provides to a dramatic exploration allows students to open their minds to different solutions and even engage in meta-cognition, analysis, and ethical decision-making skills that can transfer to real-life dilemmas (Boggs, et al, 2007).

Distance can also be created through the use of a distancing technique within a method.  For instance, while a student might volunteer to tell her story in Playback Theatre, others act out the story, and many aspects of it are replayed through metaphor, so that it reflects her reality, but does not reproduce it. The teller safely watches her story from a distance and when those others show they understand her story and her feelings, the teller feels heard and validated.

As mentioned earlier, drama therapists are trained to de-role clients after a dramatic enactment and have a variety of methods that accomplish this. When intense emotions are evoked – even if they are from fictional situations – actors need to return to a neutral emotional state and re-connect with themselves. Not doing so could leave them in an emotional state that would preclude discussing the scene and learning from it. In addition, leaving a session still emotionally in the role of a fictional character could create confusion, acting out, and what might be called an “emotional hangover” in a later situation (Bailey & Dickinson, 2016).

Conclusion

Bullying can only be stopped if community witnesses stop being passive and begin to actively intervene. This might be done through a verbal recognition of the bullying act: I see what you are doing! It might be through reporting the bully to a person in authority who will step in and stop it. It might be through distracting the bully, supporting the victim, or through directly intervening in the situation. All of these choices and more can be learned and practiced through drama therapy, turning students into dynamic citizens who speak up for themselves and others.

Bibliography

Anthes, E. (2010, November 28). Inside the bullied brain: The alarming neuroscience of taunting. The Boston Globe.

Bailey, S., & Dickinson, P. (2016). The Importance of Safely De-Roling. Methods: A Journal of Acting Pedagogy.

Boggs, J.G., Mickel, A.E., & Holtom, B.C. (2007). Experiential learning through interactive drama: An alternative to student role plays. Journal of Management Education 31(6), 832-858. DOI: 10.1177/1052562906294952.

Catterall, J.S. (2007). Enhancing peer conflict resolution skills through drama: An experimental study. Research in Drama Education, 12(2), 163-178.

Coloroso, B. (2003). The bully, the bullied, and the bystander: From preschool to high school – How parents and teachers can help break the cycle of violence. New York: Harper Collins.

Crain, W.C. (1985). Kohlberg’s stages of moral development. Theories of Development:

Concepts and Applications, 2nd Ed. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 118-136.

Dawes, N.P. & Larson, R. (2010). How youth get engaged: Grounded-theory research on motivational development in youth programs. Developmental Psychology 47(1), 259-269.

Deihl, E.M. (2012, September 26). ACTSMART IMPROV: Theatre in Amherst teaches young actors how to tackle bullying. Daily Hampshire Gazette. Downloaded from www.gazettenet.com/home/2027434-95/amherst-actsmart-members-bullying.

Gourd, K.S., & Gourd, T.Y. (2011). Enacting democracy: Using Forum Theatre to confront bullying. Equity & Excellent in Education, 44(3) 403-419. DOI: 10.1080/10665684.2011.589275.

Holmwood, C. & Stavrou, C. (2012). Dramatherapy and drama teaching in school – A new perspective: Towards a working relationship. In L. Leigh, I. Gersh, A. Dix, & Haythorne (Eds.). Dramatherapy with Children, Young People and Schools: Enabling Creativity, Sociability, Communication and Learning. New York: Routledge.

James, C. (2014). Disconnected: Youth, New Media, and the Ethics Gap. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

McGrath, D. (2013, March). Bullying stops when solutions come from students. NYSUT United, 20-21. Retrieved from nysut.org/news/nysut-united/issues/2013/March-2013/bullying-stops-when-solutions-come-from-students.

Nobel, J. & Stuckey, H.L. (2010). The connection between art, healing, and public health: A review of current literature. American Journal of Public Health 100(2), 254-263.

Olweus, D. (1993). Bullying at school. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

Pomeroy, E., Parrish, D.E., Bost, J., Cowiagi G., Cook, P., & Stepura, K. (2011). Education students about interpersonal violence: Comparing two methods. Journal of Social Work Education, 47(3), 525-544. DOI: 10.5175/JSWE.2011.200900077.

Reagan, T. (2015). Keeping the peace: Playback theatre with adolescents. (Doctoral Dissertation). Lesley University, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2015. 3702084.

Saint Louis, C. (2013, February 20). Effects of bullying last into adulthood, study finds. NY Times.com. Retrieved from http://well.blog.nytimes.com/2013/02/20/effects- of-bullying-last-into-adulthood.

Sajnani, N. (2009). Theatre of the Oppressed: Drama therapy as cultural dialogue. In R. Emunah & D.R. Johnson (Eds.). Current Approaches in Drama Therapy, 2nd Ed., Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas, Publisher, 461-482.

Salas, Jo. (2005, September). Using theatre to address bullying. Educational Leadership 63(1), 78-82.

Salas, Jo. (2011). Stories in the Moment: Playback Theatre for building community and justice. In R.G. Varea, C.E. Cohen, & P.O. Walker (Eds.). Acting Together: Performance and the Creative Transformation of Conflict, Vol. 2. Oakland: New Village Press, 93-124.

Teicher, M.H., Samson, J.A., Sheu, Y., Polcari, A., & McGreenery, C.E. (2010). Hurtful words: Association of exposure to peer verbal abuse with elevated psychiatric symptom scores and corpus callosum abnormalities. American Journal of Psychiatry 167(12), 1464-1471.

Ury, W. (1999). Getting to peace: Transforming conflict at home, at work, and in the world. New York: Penguin/Viking.

Ury, W. (2000). The third side: Why we fight and how we can stop it, Rvd, exp. Ed. NewYork: Penguin Books.

UNESCO: Education: Health Education: Homophobic Bullying. Retrieved from  http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/leading-the-international-agenda/health-education/homophobic-bullying/bullying/

Wong-Lo, M., Bullock, L.M., & Gable, R.A. (2012). Cyber bullying: Practices to face digital aggression. Emotional and Behavioral Difficulties, 16(3) 317-325. DOI: 10.1080/13632752.2011.595098.

[i] De-roling is the process of taking off a role that an actor has been enrolled in. Actors and drama therapy participants should de-role after each role-play or scene, as well as at the end of a rehearsal so that they can leave the character they embodied behind and return to their own persona and mind-set. De-roling is one of the ethical techniques that drama therapists incorporate into their work that make it different from the work of other theatre educators (although drama therapists would love if all theatre educators and professionals began de-roling as a regular practice themselves!)

[ii] Sexting is when a person takes a nude photo of him or herself and sends it to another via the internet. It is illegal in Kansas for nude or pornographic photos of young people under 18 to be sent or received.

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Drama: A Powerful Tool for Social Skill Development

Disability Solutions Vol. 2 (1), May/June 1997, pp 1, 3-5.

available online at www.disabilitysolutions.org/pdf/2.1.pdf

Cindy, an attractive young woman with developmental disabilities, is gardening in her front yard, enjoying the afternoon sun, when a dashing young man in a black leather jacket drives up on a motorcycle and stops beside her.  He gives her the once-over and says, “Hey, I’m a biker dude!  I just came to town about an hour or two ago, and I’m looking for a cute girl!”

“Really?” she says, “Do you want to go to the mall?

“Yes!  Do you?”

Without thinking twice, Cindy starts to climb onto his bike.  “Sure!”

“OK, I’m going to freeze the action in this scene, just for a second,” I say, and turn to the group of drama students with disabilities.  “I want to ask the class a question about this situation.  This ‘Biker Dude’ guy has just driven into town.  He’s a complete stranger.  Cindy’s never set eyes on him before and she just said she would go to the mall with him.  Is that safe?”

“NO!!!” shout the students watching.

“Why is that not a safe choice?”

“Because she doesn’t know him that well yet.”

“She doesn’t know him at all!”

“She doesn’t even know his name!”

“It’s not safe to go somewhere with a total stranger,” I agree.  “So maybe we should start this scene again and let Cindy talk to this guy and find out something about him.”

This time Cindy asks the “Biker Dude” lots of questions and discovers that he’s come to town to look for a job as a mechanic.  She doesn’t know of any job openings, but wishes him luck, says goodbye, and goes inside.

That, of course, is not the only way this situation could safely unfold.  In subsequent role-plays, the students try out possible situations involving this dangerous, but definitely fascinating stranger.  For the duration of the class, students are involved, paying attention, and having a wonderful time learning about how to handle a situation which is every parent’s worst nightmare.

Understanding social situations and how to safely and appropriately interact with other people is important for everyone, but young people who have disabilities often have a more difficult time learning safe and appropriate behaviors.  Safety in the community is only one issue.  Job transition literature emphasizes that more jobs are lost through inappropriate social behavior than from lack of job skills.  Individuals who don’t know how to develop friendships and reach out to others become isolated, depressed, passive, or angry.  Successful inclusion in the community is difficult if social skills are lacking; non-disabled community members aren’t welcoming or understanding to an individual who is withdrawn, rude, provocative, or hostile.

The quandary lies not in knowing what skills young people need, but in how best to teach them.  I believe drama is the best vehicle for social skills development because drama involves students in concrete, hands-on practice of behavior.  Skills are physically and verbally acted out instead of just being talked about, so appropriate behavior becomes very real to the participants.  The abstract becomes bodily concrete.

In drama, as in real life, consequences result from actions taken and can’t be ignored.  They must, in turn, be dealt with through more action.  The reasons for this connection between action and consequence can be discussed, re-played, and, finally, understood by participants and observers alike.

If scenes are re-played with students making different choices and experiencing different consequences, flexibility develops as well as an understanding of cause and effect.  Add discussion of scenes to dramatic role-playing sessions and students begin to develop critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.

As a drama therapist, I use drama to teach social skills to children, adolescents, and adults who have disabilities.  I know from personal experience that dramatic role-playing generates energy, involvement, laughter, connection, excitement, and understanding.  Role playing real-life situations and watching others do so allows students to rehearse a skill until it becomes part of their skill repertory.

Can anyone learn through drama?  I believe so.  Can anyone use drama as a teaching tool?  I believe so, too.  Developmental psychologists say that all children learn about the world and how to behave in it through deferred imitation, symbolic play, and dramatic play.  These informal methods of learning usually begin to develop when children are as young as three and continue into the early elementary school years.  In a sense, we are all natural-born actors!

Unfortunately, our educational system has yet to harness this powerful, innate method.  The majority of teachers, in both regular and special education, rely on lecture, workbooks, and rote learning.  Abstract learning is valued over concrete learning.  Eventually, children discontinue their use of drama as an informal learning tool because it is labeled by the adults in their lives as “play” or “make-believe,” grown-up codes words for “unimportant,” “childish,” and “useless.”

Many teachers shy away from using drama as a teaching tool because it seems as if it will take too much energy or effort.  Or they think it is a method they couldn’t begin to master without lengthy training.  While training in drama does enhance one’s skills as a group leader, using drama is similar to riding a bike: once you’ve learned how to do it, you never forget – and you’ve known how to do it since you were three!

Drama is not only a useful tool for teachers, it’s useful for parents as well.  Skill rehearsal can become an enjoyable family game instead of a chore.  Rather than lecturing your child about a skill you want her to perform around the house, act it out together.  For example, if you want to teach your child appropriate phone manners, bring two phones into the room and pretend to call her from one of them.  Let her answer the other and engage her in conversation.  Then let her pretend to call you.  With practice, she will learn correct phone etiquette.

The most successful approach to dramatic role-playing is one which is open, playful, and non-judgmental.  This creates an atmosphere where actors can take chances and try out different behaviors.  It can be OK to make a mistake because you can replay the situation and find a way to make it better.

In life, there are many different choices you might make in a given situation.  Some choices are better than others.  Some choices are safer than others.  Some choices are more effective than others.  Through drama many choices, both positive and negative, can be explored – without real-life consequences harming the participants.

The decision-making process can be explored step by step during the role play by freezing the action and questioning the actors or having them share what “thoughts are going on in your head right now.”  Or the process can be explored afterwards through group discussion.

The other advantage of dramatic role-play is that through role reversal, a child can take on the role of a parent, a student can take on the role of teacher, or a client can take on the role of therapist and see the situation from a different perspective.  Dramatically wearing the shoes of the “responsible adults” in their lives helps students begin to understand the need for rules.  Role reversal can provide the group leader with a way to evaluate if the message of the lesson has gotten through.  An actor, taking on the role of authority, will often wax eloquent as he explains to the actor playing the role of the student the reasons why things are done in a certain way – even though he may never have followed those rules or demonstrated an understanding of them in real life.

Actual authority figures (parents, teachers, job coaches, etc.) can learn a lot about being a child, student, or client from role reversals, too.  You might just re-evaluate some of your communication methods after being on the receiving end of a lecture and seeing how you are perceived.

“But,” you ask, “is my child really capable of coming up with sound behavior choices to use in role playing?  Will this method really work with him or her?”  For the answer to than, let’s look at the choices students made for relating to the “Biker Dude.”  On their own, without any prompting from me, the students in my drama class created the following four additional scenarios:

– One girl refused to talk to the “Biker Dude” and went inside her house to get her father to make him go away.

– Another traded phone numbers with him so she could talk with him further before deciding if she wanted to go out with him.

– Another made him give her his phone number, but wouldn’t give our any personal information herself.  Then she told him it was time for him to leave; she wasn’t ready to make a decision about whether or not to call him.

– Yet another invited him to come to her house for dinner so he could meet her family and get to know her in a safe environment.

All were viable choices and all were choices that fell into the range of safe and appropriate ways to handle the situation.

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Theater Workshop Gives Children of Military a Voice

College of Human Ecology Press Release

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

A dozen middle-school students take the stage this month, performing a play they created on a topic they know well: children of military families.

“Serving at Home” centers on Chloe, a teenage girl whose mother gets deployed. It also features Chloe’s younger sister and grandfather, creating a multi-generational focus. The play builds on the problems the family faces and the eventual breaking point.

The interactive theater workshop is the work of the School of Family Studies and Human Services, the Department of Speech Communication, Theater and Dance and members of the Manhattan community.

Giving youth a voice

dogtagsomk.gif“This project was done with great care,” said Sally Bailey, associate professor of speech communication, theater and dance.

“It has a strong but authentic message,” added Elaine Johannes, assistant professor of family studies and human services and Extension specialist in youth development.

Johannes and Bailey worked with Alissa Duncan, Registered Drama Therapist, to build the workshop.

Duncan, who has a master’s degree from K-State in drama therapy, said she wanted to create a script that got the thoughts of the kids across without sounding artificial.

The adolescents who volunteered for the workshop discussed the cycle of deployment — pre-deployment, deployment and post-deployment. “They talked about the feelings they had and the issues they faced during these times. We brainstormed and improvised different scenes and eventually put those into a kind of order. This ended up becoming the basis for the play,” Duncan said.

Telling the truth

The resulting script is beautiful and the relationships are very real, Bailey said.

“The play shows adolescent anger, typical adolescent immaturity and much family love,” she added. “It’s not often that people who are going through an experience are asked to reflect on it, especially in an artistic medium.”

Johannes said she has been stunned by the way the interactive theater project has allowed the students to open up and have a voice. “It allows the children to express their emotions in a safe and creative way,” she said.

Topic seldom explored through art

“Through this process, I’ve learned that the family side of war isn’t something that’s really been explored in literature,” Bailey said. “For thousands of years, only the glory part of a soldier’s experience was explored and only recently has the traumatic side of that experience been explored. But, the family has usually been left out.”

After seeing the play and receiving feedback through the discussion, military, family development and community-action experts will brainstorm about what the community can do to aid the families, Johannes said.

Eventually, the project members will create a guide to serve as a resource that other communities could use when creating an interactive
theater group.

“I see this as a springboard for doing this work nationally. It is unique that we are tackling this difficult issue,” she said.

May stagings and sponsors

Performances are at 7:30 p.m. May 16 and 17 at the Manhattan Arts Center, 1520 Poyntz Ave. Bailey will lead discussion after the performances.

The play is free, but seating is limited and some content may not be appropriate for young children. More information is available by calling 785-532-1905 or 785-532-7720.

A National 4-H Headquarters/USDA and Army Child and Youth Services grant funded the Speak Out for Military Kids Interactive Theater project, part of K-State’s Operation Military Kids program that helps military-connected youth cope with the stress that often comes with dealing with a military relative who is deployed. Bronwyn Fees, associate professor, and Deb Sellers, assistant professor, also are members of the state project team.

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Drama therapy program benefits Manhattan community,  K-State students

Center for Engagement and Community Development

Engagement E-News October 2007

by Kendall Lange

Theatrical arts and drama are often closely linked with the Big Apple, but K-State Professor Sally Bailey has brought the benefits of drama to the Little Apple. Bailey’s strong theatrical background made her the perfect pick to carry on the drama therapy program started at K-State by Dr. Norman Fedder in the 1980s.

Drama therapy engages K-State students and includes an outreach program to Manhattan area residents. “The best way to learn how to be a drama therapist is through hands-on experience,” Bailey said. “It doesn’t work just to read about it because it involves people skills within an embodied experience.”

The drama therapy program and K-State drama therapy students are working on several ongoing projects. Barrier-Free Theatre, done in partnership with the City of Manhattan Parks and Recreation and the Manhattan Arts Center, offers adolescents and adults with disabilities the chance to create an original play and perform it each April at the Manhattan Arts Center.

In June, Bailey began a drama group at Meadowlark Hills Retirement Community. A group of 12 adults between the ages of 75-95 meet each week to improvise and work on different projects. During the summer, the group hosted an original improvisational mystery dinner theatre play. “This fall, a number of drama therapy students have joined us at Meadowlark Hills,” said Bailey. “There’s a wonderful give and take as K-State students teach them about drama and the residents teach the students about life and growing older.”

Other projects include drama camp for adolescents with special needs during the summer and various after-school projects with children at risk. Bailey believes that drama therapy has many positive effects on participants including increased self-awareness, communication skills, self-confidence, discipline and understanding of oneself and others. These benefits are part of Bailey’s vision for the drama therapy program at K-State. “When students see how powerful drama therapy is and how much it positively affects peoples’ lives, they develop the drive and the vision to take drama therapy other places,” Bailey said.

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K-State 2025 Spotlights The Purple Masque Theatre

by Savannah Sherwood and Theo Stavropoulos

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Taking a stroll through K-State’s campus in the year 2016 would be hard to do without passing by at least one “work in progress.” Through campus master planning, space migration, and infrastructure upgrades, new and repurposed spaces all across campus have provided needed facilities improvements and expanded learning environments for K-State students. Though the physical space on campus has been transformed through K-State 2025’s visionary goals, the true story of transformation is written every day by the students, faculty, and staff who utilize these spaces to elevate their impact on the communities they serve.

Purple Masque Theatre

The new Purple Masque Theatre opened in 2015 below the West stands of Memorial Stadium. For more images and information, including “before and after” pictures, view the Renovation Gallery.

Nestled within the iconic limestone exterior of Memorial Stadium is the new home of the Purple Masque Theatre. After making a move from the east side of the stadium, which currently houses the recently-opened Berney Family Welcome Center, to the west side, the Purple Masque brings its historic purpose dating back to 1974 into a state of the art new facility. In addition to providing an expanded space for experimental theatre and student learning (through showcases, workshops, stage readings, Ebony Theatre productions, and more), the Purple Masque and its new studio and rehearsal space is utilized by K-State’s Drama Therapy graduate program.

As the only program of its kind in the Midwest, Drama Therapy now has a space that is as unique and transformational as the work taking place within this emerging field of study. “I want to use theatre to make a change in the world, and drama therapy is the perfect way for me to do so,” said Sally Bailey, Director of Graduate Studies in Theatre and Director of the Drama Therapy Program. K-State-trained Drama Therapists have engaged a number of different populations within the Manhattan community and across the state through the power of self-expression and play. “The level of trust and communication that you use in theatre, that feeling of belonging, is very useful,” Bailey said, especially to those who may feel left out or excluded by society. Barrier-Free Theatre is one example of this engagement that has become a fixture of the K-State and Manhattan communities.

Sue Bailey facilitates students in Drama Therapy

Sally Bailey, Director of Graduate Programs in Theatre in the K-State School of Music, Theatre, and Dance, facilitates a group of students in her Drama Therapy course that took place in the old Purple Masque Theatre in East Stadium. For more on how the department is utilizing the new home of the Purple Masque, check out this Feature on the renovations from the College of Arts and Sciences.

Every year, K-State undergraduate and graduate students help to facilitate Barrier-Free Theatre, a program that brings together adults with or without disabilities to collaboratively create and perform an original, one-of-a-kind production. The program provides participants with the opportunity to channel their thoughts and emotions through different expressive forms. It helps instill self-awareness and social skills that can last long after the curtain drops on the annual performance. “Barrier Free Theatre gives the participants an opportunity to set goals and accomplish them, and this in turn gives them a sense of fulfillment,” said Fumni Cole, a graduate student in Theatre.

The new space within the Purple Masque has elevated the Barrier-Free Theatre experience for students, participants, and community members alike. “The opportunity to use the Purple Masque Theatre for rehearsals contributed to the success of the performance,” Cole said, “the actors were able to get well acquainted to a standard theatre space with all the technical equipment in place.” People travel from far and wide to attend Barrier-Free Theatre performances, so having a space like the Purple Masque to welcome audience members and community partners has been a great asset to the program. From the new lobby area to the increased space available backstage, “it’s really opened things up,” said Bailey, “it’s been wonderful to be in the new theatre.”

Barrier-free theatre group

Manhattan’s Barrier-Free Theatre group rehearsing in advance of their performance in 2014. Prior to the Purple Masque renovations, Barrier-Free Theatre took place at the Manhattan Arts Center. The new space has provided opportunities to more fully engage community members with campus and host guests of the university in a state of the art facility.

The actors rehearse weekly throughout the fall and spring semesters, all leading up to the premiere of their show each April. This year’s original play will be performed on April 21, 22, and 23 in the Purple Masque Theatre. “We have performed plays on space adventures, zombie apocalypses, and even Robin Hood,” Bailey said, “And this year will be something completely different.”

Kansas State University’s achievements around facilities and infrastructure help meet its evolving needs and recruit and retain quality students, faculty, researchers, and staff to carry out its important mission. And, similar to this year’s Barrier-Free Theatre production, K-State 2025 is a work in progress that represents an ongoing engagement which will transform a university, and the many lives it touches, for the better.