ABSTRACT:

In the workshop, we will explore the use of the three circles of interaction developed by J.L. Moreno – Sociometry, Sociodrama and Psychodrama. Those three powerful major innovations in the fields of human relations, would be applied in the group experience. The Tele fields of a group and its various agendas, histories and backgrounds create a unique group cultural situation, which is as particular and unique for every group as the individual’s fingerprints. In the workshop we will look at the doing and being of the group, the conscious and unconscious forces through which we may explore the present – what exists now and how the themes of the group are presented by the individual, in the role of the group’s representative – the protagonist.

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ABSTRACT:

Despite the creator of modern psychodrama being very clear about the inseparable conceptual relationship between psychodrama and sociodrama in the 1946 first volume of his Psychodrama, the practice of treating them in isolation is noticeably still dominant almost 80 years later.

What J. L. Moreno wrote in section VIII, dedicated to Sociodrama, leaves no doubt about it. “As soon as the individuals are treated as collective representatives of community roles and role relations and not as to their private roles and role relations, the psychodrama turns into a ‘socio-psychodrama’ or short, sociodrama”.

Unfortunately, even international congresses and conferences tend to handle this phenomenon as if these two poles were independent. This issue should also be discussed.

During this workshop, we will have the opportunity to practice how to move from the private roles of a specific psychodrama – suggested by the participants after an improvised warm-up – to a real sociodrama. What is expected is that, after the concrete experience, participants will be able to (a) understand the basic difference between “private”, individual roles and collective ones; and (b) how to “go through the tunnel” connecting psychodrama and sociodrama, allowing us to be treated as representatives of community roles.

ABOUT THE PRESENTER:

ABSTRACT:

Sociodrama is an action method created by Dr. J.L. Moreno, Group members spontaneously enact a social situation, assuming assigned roles to study and address problems in collective relationships or social issues. Theatre of the Oppressed is a method created by the Brazilian practitioner Augusto Boal. It encompasses theatrical forms Boal first developed in the 1960s, initially in Brazil and later in Europe and North America. Boal’s techniques use theatre as a means of promoting social and political change. How can Sociodrama and Theatre of the Oppressed collaborate to promote, explore, understand, and advance human rights, fostering dignity worldwide? How can international practitioners use these two methods together to address the global purpose of humanity? This workshop will provide a methodology for understanding and initiating change.

After attending this session, the participants will be able to:

1. Apply Sociodrama and Theatre of the Oppressed techniques to enact and analyze real-world human rights scenarios, fostering a deeper understanding of these issues.
2. Identify cross-cultural competence and skills to apply these action methods across diverse cultural contexts, considering nuances and sensitivities in addressing human rights issues globally.
3. Examine creative techniques, facilitated by Sociodrama and Theatre of the Oppressed, as a catalyst for social and political change in the realm of human rights.

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ABSTRACT:

Sociodrama in this presentation is defined as a combination of psychodrama and group analysis. Every meeting begins with free-floating discussion (ga), continues with personal psychodrama vignettes on stage(pd), without deepening the individual meaning of the vignets, but interpreted as the contribution to the matrix of the group (ga), ends with sharing (pd).

The presenter will talk about her experience in the application of this method in understanding art and society. And then specifically, more detail about the workshop “Sociodrama vignettes about the future“, which was held in Krk (Croatia) in 2023, within the climate camp. The workshop aimed to create a space to share intimate hopes and fears about the future in the context of climate change. Scheduled on the last day of camp, as we were saying goodbye, this workshop was the opportunity to get in touch with sadness and morning for things that we are going to part with (camp/ world as we know it).

In the second part of the presentation, there will be some action experience in a free-floating discussion for the participants.

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ABSTRACT:

In this workshop, the presenter will introduce her experience of working with social and educational centers for disabled children and their families.

Often, the professionals who are working in the social field have their various negative feelings towards the children’s parents: blame, irritation, even a desire to save the children from “negligent parents”. The use of sociodramatic action in the work process (training or supervision) helps professionals to see the situation of the families in a more global, and at the same time – in a more individual plan, to step into the shoes of the parents; and to devise more concrete, creative and humane approaches to support them.

And when we are working with groups of parents – this approach allows them to name and to illustrate their “forgotten” and suppressed feelings. And to re-accept their human nature – suffering, deeply hurting and full of hopes for a decent life.

After this session the participants will be able to identify and understand more deeply the different inner processes in the parents of the children with disabilities; and to apply this understanding in their social and therapeutic approaches and interventions in the work with them.

ABOUT THE PRESENTER:

ABSTRACT:

The workshop will be based on Hanna Kende child psychodrama. In the child psychodrama groups the participants will work on their own self-healing abilities. In the groups you will experience the power of community, belonging and acceptance.
The community experience also develops social skills and helps us find our place in the world. Fictional stories use imagination to transport participants into a pretend world, where they develop through their role choices from occasion to occasion.
Our groups provide a model for a well-functioning community and we also experience that the model is carried forward by participants into their own communities.

In the workshop we will explore how events in the outside world influence stories, how issues affecting society enter the intimate space of the group and how honest and creative solutions to war, pandemic, climate crisis are generated. We also explore how participants in our groups process these events.

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ABSTRACT:

This presentation will look into the metatheatrical aspects of Anton Chekhov’s “The Seagull,” with a special focus on the play that Treplev, one of the characters, stages. We use Jacob L. Moreno’s sociodrama theory to understand how personal problems and social rules are connected in the play. A key part of this is the new kind of play Treplev creates, which is very different from the traditional theater that his mother, Arkadina, represents. We analyze how Treplev is trying to find his own artistic voice and identity, showing the big conflicts between different generations and ideas at that time.

In this presentation, we will use sociodrama to look at important themes like being true to art, problems within families, and the pressure to follow social norms. We also think about how the audience is involved in this metatheatrical setting. This shows how Chekhov mixes acting and real life, making people think about their own roles and identities in society.

To end, we will see “The Seagull” as a strong tool for sociodrama. It shows complicated relationships between people and social expectations, and it makes us think deeply about art, who we are, and how people interact with each other. This deep look at Chekhov’s play gives us a new way to see its lasting importance and artistic beauty.

Learning Objectives:
1. Attendees will learn to find and understand the metatheatrical parts in “The Seagull,” and see why they are important for showing social and personal issues.
2. Participants will learn more about how drama can be used to study society and psychology, and see how dramatic literature affects how the audience sees and interacts with the play.

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ABSTRACT:

Moreno viewed sociodrama as the ultimate tool for social research, an idea dramatists resonate with due to its broad applicability across diverse social groups. Despite historical hesitations, academia is increasingly embracing dramatic tools as a qualitative research method. The Drama as Academic Research (DAR) Research Group, an international group of researchers from various scientific fields and drama practitioners themselves, invites academic researchers and dramatists to explore criteria and methods for generating knowledge through drama. The workshop aims to chart a path for leveraging drama’s potential in producing academically valuable insights.

At the workshop, after a short introduction of findings and experiences of the Research Group so far, we place our topic on a sociodramatic stage, representing key „actors” – such as reality (whatever that means); dramatic methods; other, traditionally established data collection methods; people form the Academia not familiar with dramatic methods; the “subject” of the research; and anyone and anything the participants bring in – and see how the scene unfolds itself in the process of co-creation. We hope to gain insights into epistemological questions surrounding knowledge derived from drama, addressing issues and dilemmas tied to the dramatic modality, ethical considerations, and the researcher’s role.

Learning objectives: Participants develop an understanding of needs and requirements of academic research related to dramatic methods, and an insight into challenges and opportunities of dramatic methods as a research tool in terms of data validity, research ethics, transferability, and so on

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ABSTRACT:

In this workshop, we’ll demonstrate how sociodrama can be used in a foreign language class context.
Participants in a language class are human beings and have to be considered and approached as such.
Our method Psychodramaturgy for Language Acquisition (PDL) is based principally on Morenos conceptions of development and well-being. The concept of the creative circle is key.
“Spontaneity can be trained”, said Moreno. And this is what we do.
PDL is a pedagogical method based on the encounter, on being in the here-and-now. Participants do not study language; they use it as a means for encounter. It is about being, doing and living in the foreign language. The trainer provides the framework and the safe place, and assists the participants in their need to express themselves.

In this workshop, participants will experience language acquisition with the PDL method; a pedagogy on its feet, with content based on the relevance to the participants and the group.
They will be able to apply sociodramatic role-creation and role-playing in a foreign language classroom.
They will be in a better position to reflect on how language is acquired and get practical tools to promote encounter in the foreign language classroom.

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ABSTRACT:

Using action methods, sociometry and sociodrama, we will address anything that comes up with regard to the economy, be it personal or more systemic, and we will give all aspects a place and voice. This approach creates awareness around how our attitude shapes our decisions around money and helps us create strategies for a purposeful Economy. 

After this workshop, participants are (more) aware of their own beliefs & behaviours around economic issues and can take home various options to implement change within their circle of influence.

ABOUT THE PRESENTER:

ABSTRACT:

Aims
1) to promote psychosocial development as the ability to be self-aware, regarding the inner world, and respect one’s own emotional experience within a care context.
2) to improve their relational ability and communicative skills, developing deep communication and creative solutions in difficult and extreme situations.
3) to establish a safe relational field in which to think and process the theme of lack, loss and death.

Jung spoke of the archetype of the wounded healer, who holds within himself two opposite poles: the healer and the wounded. More relevant than ever in the care professions.

Developing their own experiences will allow everyone to learn from relationships with patients and families, to learn from experience. Creative ability to perceive and improve the characteristics of families at home will be stimulated, focusing on the positive resources of environmental contexts.

Method:
Communication, Active listening, Narrative Medicine, Socio-Psycho-drama, Art Therapy will be presented both in terms: patient and family care, group team work.

To create a space in which participants can reflect critically on interpersonal relationships within the care relationship with users and families. We can meet the myth of the omnipotence of medicine with the ancient myths of Chiron and the transience of life, and process mourning experiences together.

ABOUT THE PRESENTER:

ABSTRACT:

Mythology is considered a discipline that contains “universals,” namely topics that concern the collective dimension of humanity. All cultural products, arts, literature, products that repackage and revitalize the themes that have always accompanied human nature are permeated with mythology.

Greek theater, especially tragedy, emerged to allow a form of collective processing of these themes.
But tragedy is usually “seen” by spectators who subjectively rework its emotional component.

The proposal of this abstract concerns the narration of sociodramatic experiences that use tragedies “played” by the spectators. Individual and collective elements blend together: Medea, Antigone, or Oedipus, originally fixed characters from classical texts, are reinterpreted by the individuality of different people. The chorus of tragedy transforms into free movement that comments on the individual interpretations of Medea, Antigone, or Oedipus.

Live music follows the complex interplay that emerges and reshapes it with its acoustic feedback.
The audience, without a fourth wall, participates and loses its primary identity reference; it is no longer “just” the audience.
The director(s) become leader(s) of a jam session that disrupts the orderly structure of a “classic” sociodrama in favor of improvisation.

After this session participants will be able to explore and apply through videos, technical descriptions, and theoretical reflections, how old tools can generate new meanings in sociodramatic work.

ABOUT THE PRESENTERS:

ABSTRACT:

This session will demonstrate and engage participants in action, exploring effective warm-up techniques tailored to the unique challenges and opportunities of directing sociodrama online, with a focus on collective explorations. Participants will learn how to effectively engage and prepare groups for sociodramatic work in virtual settings. By the end of this session, attendees will be equipped with practical strategies to foster group cohesion, stimulate participant readiness, and facilitate meaningful collective inquiry and reflection in an online environment.

Learning Objectives:

• After this session, participants will be able to demonstrate online warm-up exercises for sociodrama in at least three different, innovative, and creative ways.
• Following this session, participants will be able to identify various online tools for facilitating sociodrama within their own communities.

ABOUT THE PRESENTERS:

Both presenters are immersed in education and have been in the field of psychodrama and sociodrama for years. “Tele” connected them three years ago when they met at a Tele’Drama workshop, and since then, they have been building their knowledge and experience in providing action methods workshops online, both in their own countries and internationally.