“Choose Life over the other stuff. Get out of your head. Live. Dress up. Eat. Touch people. Help out. Give up. Love people. Give your best away. There’s more. What’s the problem? Relax. You’re going to die. Throw a party. Eat off my plate. Sing to me. Meet me in the bedroom. Get a massage. Give one. Let your amazement out into the room. Pry open the box you hide your joy in. Be a poem.” -John P. Shanley
I found this quote a while back, and it has since become on of my all time favorites. As I was reading it for about the millionth time today though, for the first time it made me think of Drama Therapy. I don’t know why or how it made me think of it, but thus.. today’s topic!
I do, however, have an inkling for why this quote resonates so much with me today. I really believe that these words wouldn’t make half as much sense as they do to me now if I hadn’t have gone through 2 and a half years of theatre training. Theatre has helped me see the things I didn’t see before, and helped me realize more of the possibilities that life has to offer. Drama therapy is defined by the National Association for Drama Therapy as “the systematic and intentional use of drama/theater processes, products, and associations to achieve the therapeutic goals of symptom relief, emotional and physical integration and personal growth.” And while I think that all works of art and theatre are therapeutic to those who are open to them, I just think it’s so wonderful that people have realized this potential in theatre, enough to use it in a more… healing setting (would you call it?)
Drama therapy exists partly because those in the psychotherapy profession realized and acknowledged that traditional therapeutic practices were sometimes too rigid and linear for patients to properly work through their issues. And the thing I like most about Drama Therapists is that they are required to have a strong theatre arts background. The merging of these two disciplines seems so natural, and like they would be so harmonious with each other. I could totally see myself getting involved with this profession, and think it’s a wonderful advancement for both theatre and psychotherapy.
Some more information, if you’re interested..
