Drama Therapy Review - Drama Therapy with Incarcerated, Criminalized and Justice-Impacted Populations, Apr 2022

This article provides an analysis of a drama therapy process carried out during 2012‐17 with a group of imprisoned persons labelled by the Lebanese Penal Code as ‘insane, mad, or possessed’, some of whom were housed in the notorious Blue Building in Roumieh Prison in Beirut, Lebanon. The author argues for the use of a hybrid approach to drama therapy inside prisons that simultaneously includes forms of self-advocacy, legislative theatre and self-revelatory modes in order to successfully hold up a mirror to Lebanese society, implicating its anachronistic legal codes in the oppression that often leads to chaos and madness. In the course of collaborating on their artistic journey, two segregated populations of participants, one identified by the Lebanese Penal Code as ‘insane’ and the other as ‘regular’, collaborated and revealed stories of domestic violence, traumatic childhoods, social dysfunctions, the lingering impact of an earlier civil war and the deprivation of legal and human rights. Standing up before numerous audiences, including high officials of the government, they dared not only to reflect on their own lives but also to heal their own and their community’s wounds.

This article presents examples of incorporating drama therapy techniques and critical narrative theories in a curriculum for a communication studies classroom at a men’s prison. It focuses on Narradrama and intersectionality, aiming to illustrate the benefits this approach offers by (1) raising awareness of intersectionality by using critical narrative theory-based interventions for guiding participants in expanding their identity and (2) using the principles of the nine steps of Narradrama in devised performances that support restorying student self-narratives.

This article is an updated assessment of ‘The Shakespeare Prison Project’ (SPP, Wisconsin), informed in part by post-COVID-19 reflections. Founder and artistic director Jonathan Shailor provides an exploration of the theory and practice that informs his work, which he calls the Theatre of Empowerment: storytelling, dialogue and performance, in the service of personal and social evolution. The key to understanding this work is seeing the prison theatre ensemble as a ‘community of practice’ that cultivates the virtues of individual empowerment, relational responsibility and moral imagination. The author tests these claims with a preliminary analysis of participants’ stories and draws conclusions from this analysis that will inform the next chapter of ‘The Shakespeare Prison Project’: Shakespeare’s Mirror, an approach that connects themes from Shakespeare’s plays with the personal narratives of incarcerated actors.

This article analyses a structured approach to facilitating Shakespeare groups in prison that interweaves a trauma-informed lens with four critical principles developed by Marin Shakespeare Company. The CREW principles are (1) Connection, (2) Reflection, (3) Expression and (4) Witnessing. We describe the work we have been doing for sixteen years with Marin Shakespeare Company facilitating Shakespeare classes and performances in various California prisons with incarcerated men, women and trans-women. Throughout the article, a blend of theory, guiding quotes and case examples from participants is used to demonstrate how the study and performance of Shakespeare in prison, when rooted in a trauma-informed lens and supported by the four principles mentioned above, is helpful in healing trauma and fostering social and emotional well-being amongst individuals who are incarcerated.

Review of: Prison Theatre and the Global Crisis of Incarceration, Ashley E. Lucas (2020)London, New York, Oxford, New Delhi and Sydney: Methuen Drama and Bloomsbury, 320 pp.,ISBN 978-1-47250-841-6, h/bk, $63.00ISBN 978-1-40818-589-6, p/bk, $20.96ISBN 978-1-40818-591-9, e/bk, $18.86

Review of: Performing Arts in Prisons: Creative Perspectives, Michael Balfour, Brydie-Leigh Bartleet, Linda Davey, John Rynne and Huib Schippers (eds) (2019)Bristol: Intellect Ltd, 278 pp.,ISBN 978-1-78320-997-2, h/bk, $105ISBN 978-1-78938-015-6, e/bk, $83

Review of: The Drama Therapy Decision Tree: Connecting Drama Therapy Interventions to Treatment, Paige Dickinson and Sally Bailey (2021)Bristol: Intellect Ltd, 272 pp.,ISBN 978-1-78938-247-1, h/bk, $106.50ISBN 978-1-78938-249-5, e/bk, $80.00

Review of: Current Approaches in Drama Therapy, 3rd ed., David Read Johnson and Renée Emunah (2021)Springfield, IL: Charles C Thomas Publisher, Ltd, 624 pp.,ISBN 978-0-39809-344-0, p/bk, $86.95ISBN 978-0-39809-345-7, e/bk, $86.95