A MOCK TRIAL OF THE GODHEADS:
EXPLORING ANSWERS AND SOLUTIONS

PRESENTERS: SHEILA DALLAS-KATZMAN – PEN FITZGERALD 

Sociodrama and power
DATE AND TIME: 29th of June, Saturday  10:00-12:30
CONFERENCE TOPIC: Sociodrama and ecology – environmental issues and relationships between organisms, including humans, and their living context
TYPE: Workshop
ROOM:
NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS: 40
TAGS: Sociodrama and Ecology, June29 Morning
ABSTRACT:

In a World of Global Warming, the Frequency of Hurricanes and Earthquakes and Floods and Fire,
Are the Gods to Blame?

Why are we having these natural catastrophes? Was this part of the gods’ plan? What is our collective responsibility for our past and our collective future?

J.L. Moreno had the view that everyone is interconnected with and related to the creator. He thinks that a creator, sometimes referred to as the Godhead, is where creativity originates. We propose staging a mock trial to interrogate the godhead(s) entity about creation and the current state of the world to better understand how we may all work together to reverse what we are currently experiencing. Participants will have the opportunity to choose who or what will address the godheads, such as elements in nature and/or representatives of other cultures. They will choose the venue for the trial, such as a conference, a community center, an open area, or a courtroom.

Learning Objectives:

  • To have heightened agency to do things in community outside of our comfort zone;
  • To reframe the question of blaming;
  • To use Sociodrama to build an ecology of praxis for change.and to build an ecosystem around a praxis for social interrogation and intervention.
ABOUT THE PRESENTERS:

Sheila Dallas-Katzman, MA is a passionate applied theatre practitioner with over 30 years of  experience using action methods of Theatre of the Oppressed, Sociodrama and Psychodrama with groups in both the private and public sectors.

Sheila is co-founder of Ten Lanterns Transformative Theatre, which uses action methods as tools for social change. Her work focuses on social justice, dismantling racism, war impacted communities, and climate change. Sheila is the co-founder of Food Stories Virtual Encounter, a virtual  Theatre of the Oppressed forum using food as a catalyst to highlight issues of food security and insecurity. She is president of the International Association of Women in Radio and Television (IAWRT/USA); and chairs the NYC for CEDAW Act Coalition, working closely with the New York City Council and the Commission for Gender Equity bringing New York City into compliance with CEDAW (United Nations Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women). Through her leadership, New York City now has a Commission for Gender Equity.

She is a member of the Theatre for Social Justice and co-founder of Kings County Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) project developed to capacitate Youth aged 14-24 years in navigating community issues through the arts and media. Her work intersects with both public and private institutions, and grassroots and international organizations. She is a theatre director and actor, and writes plays for stage and radio.

Sheila graduated from the University of Manchester (UK) with a Master’s Degree in Applied Theatre, a Bachelor’s Degree in Broadcast Journalism and Media Studies from Hunter College/CUNY (USA) and a Teaching Diploma in Theatre Arts from the Edna Manley School of Visual and Performing Arts (Jamaica), along with post-graduate credits in Conflict Resolution from Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs (USA). She has received multiple honours for her contributions to the performing arts, radio, and international peacekeeping and in 2018 was awarded the UN Women Champion of Change Award for her work on women and gender. She has been nominated  for the 2024 ASGPP Innovators Award and congratulates the winner who well deserved it – her choice too.

Pen Fitzgerald qualified as a psychodrama psychotherapist in 1996 and has been running groups incorporating Psychodrama and Sociodrama in many different settings since then. Until the end of 2021 she also worked as a social worker with young people coming out of the care system in Ireland focusing particularly on immigrant children displaced from their country and also from their family of origin. Recently she has been involved in the Community Sponsorship Programme welcoming a Syrian refugee family to the local town and developed this workshop to help her group and community understand the refugee experience.