For the last three years, many of us have socialized and worked on Zoom, which, while convenient, is simply not the same as in-person, human-to-human contact, particularly in therapeutic contexts, particularly when it comes to affect regulation. This last Sunday at Tikkun Time, wanting to gently introduce a gazing exercise, I drew from Marina Abramovic’s work The Artist is Present as well as classic theater works. Gazing is a powerful, and often very hard, exercise. Trauma-informed bodies and neuro-divergent brains often struggle to sustain eye contact.
Tag Archives: drama therapy
Bending Time
“Cultures with long memories, still connected to their oldest ways, know that time is nonlinear, circular, mysterious.” –adrienne maree brown
“If you cannot imagine a future that you would want to be a part of because of the trauma of your past, that’s a recipe for despair.” –The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz
Easter Play
The Wednesday before Easter we had a lovely celebration at common art. We spent the morning making Easter eggs. It was great to have everyone working on their artwork with this additional festive activity available. With the holiday and Spring now upon us, spirits have been greatly lifted. The long winter was definitely not easy for many in our community, which made me appreciate our joy so much more.
Building a City in One Day
The last few weeks have been full of activity leading up to Holy Week at common cathedral and MANNA. Holy Week held many opportunities for the community to engage in creative activities, so there was a lot for me to learn. I spent the majority of my time in the last two weeks working with community members on two special projects, one of which I will discuss in this blog post. The second will be detailed in my next blog post.
For the first project, I led community members at common art in painting a large backdrop for a community member’s Easter play, which he wrote at MANNA and enacted with help from Amanda Ludeking. This was such a lovely opportunity to collaborate across the programs and to bring art and drama therapy together for the community. 
Since it was my first time painting pieces for a set, for the sake of time and in order to include more painters, I sketched out the setting of Jerusalem on large white paper ahead of time. Then community members worked together to paint the scene with newly-returned acrylic paints. I worked with the playwright and community members to pick colors for each section of the painting.
Since it was my first time painting pieces for a set, for the sake of time and in order to include more painters, I sketched out the setting of Jerusalem on large white paper ahead of time. Then community members worked together to paint the scene with newly-returned acrylic paints. I worked with the playwright and community members to pick colors for each section of the painting.Looking into Hesitancy
Last week I pitched my idea for a drama performance during common art’s community leadership meeting, and there was indeed some interest. The initial meeting group was relatively small, but we picked up more volunteers throughout the day. I’m confident that interest will grow with time. We discussed themes for the show and decided on “life on the streets,” to be interpreted however the writer or performer desires. This theme was suggested to me by my aforementioned advisor, who’d facilitated drama-therapy performances with those experiencing homelessness in New York. To be honest, I had voiced to him my hesitancy to propose this theme. He suggested that I might want to explore my hesitancy and that it would be worthwhile looking into the theme.
It’s not always easy to take a good look inside yourself and see where your resistance exactly lies. I found that I was reluctant to bring up the subject of “life on the streets” because I didn’t want to come across as pandering or patronizing. Especially considering the privileges that I’ve been afforded, I didn’t want to suggest a performance that might exploit the suffering of others. Having investigated my motives, I came to the conclusion that exploring the theme of “life on the streets” was worthwhile, and that it would be selfish for me to refrain from proposing this theme just because it made me uncomfortable. Life on the streets is full of challenges that I would never be able to predict. It would be a disservice to deny people the chance to represent the realities of their lives.
-Amanda Ludeking
And we’re back!
There’s something especially difficult about shaking the cobwebs from my brain and returning to second semester. It feels like all the momentum I built up last semester has collapsed in a heap of hot cocoa and sleeping in, made all that much worse by my two cats, who plop themselves down on my lap just as it’s time to be productive again. I felt an odd sort of anxiousness going back into my first day at BostonWarm after break, a sort of dread that asked, “What if this internship isn’t like it was before?”
LOL
Well, it’s official: I have one “Laugh Out Loud” (my current code word for “drama therapy”) session under my belt, and I don’t think I’m speaking out of line to say it turned out pretty well. Part of me thinks it’s silly to feel accomplished after playing some theater games in a church basement with a few volunteers, but I also understand that it’s more than that—just because I enjoy playing games and feel natural being silly doesn’t mean it’s not an accomplishment to help others do the same. Beyond that, I was genuinely impressed with the volunteers’ creativity and willingness to “buy into” the games.
Introducing Amanda Ludeking
This year, Emmanuel is pleased to welcome Amanda Ludeking. Here’s what she has to say by way of introduction. 
My first experience with theater and the arts was in the fifth grade, when a theater company came to my school to help us put on a play about recycling. I don’t remember the show’s title or even my role, but I plainly remember the excitement that came with rehearsing, the friendly cooperation when painting the set, and the exhilaration of performing alongside my friends. Nearly twenty years later, upon realizing that all of the aspects I loved so much about such performances could be utilized as a form of therapy, I was nothing short of thrilled: here was a concrete way in which my animated demeanor and flair for the dramatics could actually help others. I decided to pursue my M.A. in mental health counseling (more specifically, drama therapy—a form of art therapy) at Lesley University, a program which gave me the opportunity to intern with the BostonWarm and common art programs at Emmanuel Church.