Experiential Liturgy

Sun Dec 10 16:45:43 CST 2006

Hi Cynthia,
I am coming from my own experience here regarding Souldrama. So,sometimes things like this happen to force us to grow and expand and perhaps now it is time to take your work to other countries and locations. It sounds like it is wonderful and creative and certainly you have worked hard. 
Perhaps this would be a time for you to share your wonderful work with other countries now! Perhaps you could offer a workshop at an international congress? When I went to Brazil, they asked to publish my book in Portuguese.

Souldrama is now being very recognized outside of the US and now there is an international trademark. Wth the help of my wonderful international collegues, such as Manuela Maciel, Clark Baim and M Weiser it will have its own chapter in the new book, New Advances in Psychodrama. I do not think it would have grown this much if I had not been forced someway to offer international presentations. I really believe in this psycho spiritual process as I know you do your creation and I know it would not have spread if I kept it in the US. I would like to see you share yours with other countries.
Blessings, Connie.

-----Original Message-----
From: CGayle [mailto:cgayle at zipcon.com]
Sent: Sunday, December 10, 2006 05:17 PM
To: list at grouptalkweb.org
Subject: Re: Experiential Liturgy 

Thanks for your comments, Bud.
I like what your are saying about the oozing. It is an interesting organic process isn't it. Yes, I am sure now there is morphic resonance! Thanks for pointing that out.
It's enjoyable for me to hear of your experiences. Thanks for sharing them! 

I appreciate your comments, Adam, about marketing. But first one has to know you have something to market! We have just been pluggin away doing our little volunteer work in our little congregation, and it is little, to just put meaningful services together...all in little free time, often shooting from the hip, last minute, up late nights, often feeling stressed pulling it together kind of thing. But we did and have, and well, "who knew?"

Thanks for the feedback!
Cynthia

----- Original Message ----- 
From:BARNETT WEISS
To:list at grouptalkweb.org
Sent: Sunday, December 10, 2006 12:53 PM
Subject: Re: Experiential Liturgy ( Long response)

Dear Cynthia et al.

What wonderful work you and your colleagues have been doing. I am sure that in fact, your work oozed through the psychosphere and stimulated the work of the other congregation which wanted to own it themselves. Hopefully some day soon they will join with you in a festival of sorts. I hope and in fact am sure that there is more of that going on elsewhere and perhaps your note here will stimulate even more in various congregations of every denomination.

Permit me to expand on this wonderful topic of such importance in my estimation:

I have some experience around this topic both as a parent and psychodramatist and cousin of two of the most inovative psychodramatist of the last century, Ron and Gloria Robbins who along with all their other skills continue to use various aspects of Moreno's work to this day. 

Actually, Rabbi Abraham Bobroff, one of the rabbi's of the reconstructionist movement, did a lot of bibliodrama back in the 60s and 70s. He was from Westchester, I think White Plains though I don't remember for sure. I haven't seen or spoken to him for many years. 

We did that a lot with our children as well and encouraged families to do so around the different holidays. Teaching families that they can do this themselves at home with their children and relatives builds a ready to go audiance for some festival of bibliodramas in the temple especially around Purim and Passover, though there are clearly other important times to do so. One that I did not do then was the community memorial ritual that you speak about. As I am sure everyone is aware dealing with completing things for those who have passed using the empty chair is a regular and most powerfully productive format for psychodrama. It is one of my favorites an one to which I have added some of the aspects of the Dagara Grief Ritual and Ancestralizatoin. Such a needed ritual and you have managed to build it into your congregation; WOW. Congratulations.

Of course the two classic times for bibliodrama are Purim and Passover when there is the portrayal of Evil and Good at it's most pure. When someone plays either Hamen or Pharoah, getting to their humanity is difficult, a challenge to say the least. However, when it is attempted, then the character becomes really conceivable as a real person rather than just a cardboard representation to hate or love in the case of those who triumph over evil. It can lead to some interesting and highly productive life enhancing discussions. Doing evil still needs to be accounted for, however, it comes from somewhere not just ordered up for a metaphorical celebration of Good over Evil. Also, finding the humaness and doubts or flaws in Esther and Mordecai as well as Moses who is actually easier, or the people in the desert when they built the golden Calf and the conflict between the old ways and the new is most instructive when played out well. All kinds of learnings come up, Some of the best came from children under 12 once they were given the freedom to portray both victims and heros in a human way... how did they become either. What allowed each to flower so to speak and what were their struggles. 

THis is the classic Hamartia of the tragic hero. However, if you cannot identify at all with that "villain," the play doesn't move you. Similarly in much psychotherapy, abreaction seems to be the goal. I have often seen the rapist or brutalizer simply thrown off the stage or imprisoned to cheers from the audiance as the protagonist mounts enough strength and energy to wrestle them off. In my mind, this doesn't really free the person to go on to live their lives and expand their capacity for loving, especially in terms of the self judgement that we all experience. While the perpetrator must be held accountable for their actions, to deny their humanity is to propigate more and more and even worse villains similar to what we have been lead to do with Sadam Hussein and Osama Ben Laden, let alone Hamas of the Palestinians and Hiz b'allah of the Lebonese on the one side and the various hard line Israeli leaders on the other. Camus said it best for me as I paraphrase here: The revolutionary who kills the hangman becomes the next hangman.

In fact,the present so called middle east horrors between the Palestinians and the Israelis as well as all the countries surrounding Israel are always portrayed by the supporters of each side in a two dimensional manner by the other side, and the people who attempt to work together from both sides to achieve a raproachment, often having already suffered tremendous personal and family loss in the conflicts, are rarely spoken about, when they are the ones who hold the secrets of peace. It can come from the children too if allowed and supported as well. 

THe most powerful one in terms of Jewish History that I experienced was one that I was fortunate enough to praticipate in at Beacon in 1968. 
A beautiful Polish Jewess, survivor of the concentration camps, had come to Beacon to learn how to use Pscyhodrama in getting out her message about her experiences and the learnings she had garnered through her time in the concentration camps. While what she brought to us all resonated with some experiences that I had as a teenager in Jewish study camps with rabbis who had survived, the vividness and extent that this woman brought of the experience was far beyond that. At the time, while I had read some of Viktor Frankl's work as well as some other readings having to do with what happened there not generally accessed in the public media, these too did not prepare me for what was to come.

At first reluctant to directly share her experience, with support and encouragement from everyone, she decided to take us through. 

This woman had entered the concentration camps as a young woman in her early 20s. Along with her came a friend who was a famous woman poet who taught her a poem which the poetess felt was her most important contribution and hoped would remain available to future generations as she was sure she would not survive and the poem would not be published. She did in fact die before too long. The young woman memorized the poem under her friends last breath tutelage. The poem was the subtext for the entire nearly 2 days of the psycho/sociodrama of her time in the camps. 

The theme over and over was that essentially good people could only do such horrible things to others when through some process, they had lost their sense of the humanity and sacredness of the other. That sense was sometimes like quick silver coming and going and at other times, a solid role once committed to, unshakeable. She was clear, that Jews were just as capable of committing these horrors as anyone else when they lost touch with their own and others sacredness. In fact some did right there in the concentration camps as their way of surviving and out of madness altogether some becoming nearly zombies in the process. 

I am not sure that any of us might have been receptive to such a message at that time were it not introduced by this woman who had suffered more than any of us in the group could imagine surviving with a loving heart. The lessons of that time have remained with me throughout my life. 

Again, Great work that you are doing, Blessings to you and continued success. 

Bud Weiss

CGayle <cgayle at zipcon.com> wrote: I saw a troupe called "storahtelling" (storahtelling.org) yesterday at a conservative synagogue here in Seattle. They are a troupe coming out of New York City. I found it odd, humorous and now more than inspirational that we have been doing their type of "new and radical" performance theatre in our alternative congregation for probably 20 years. The conservative congregation paid money for the troupe to come, when all they had to do is come next door (we meet literally in the building next door). Yet people there have been so resistant to what we do...they have not thought or wanted to come next door. Maybe it only counts if you pay for it and it comes out of New York City!? 

I started bringing in experiential (out of the chairs) bibliodrama 8 years ago. We have two dancer/actress/performance artists who have created new pieces on the Torah readings every year for most of 20 years for High Holidays, often with a troupe from the congregation that they create and direct. Singers, dancers and muscians have created liturgy as well, "performing" instead of usual prayers or Torah readings. There has always been interactive psycho-spiritual exercises with the "audience" related to the intention of the service or scripture. Although I have created new experiential liturgy (haven't repeated things), where there are often 25 people on the alter stage in services, or 60 people in the room in role, there were some other forms of experiential work going on before me. 

I have created other experiential rituals as well, eg, for a memorial service, and now I am asked to help facilitate a community visioning meeting. Although I was asked b/c of my new role with spiritual direction work, I am going to be using some sociometric warm up exercises as well for the community to see themselves some and build connections.

I am stunned in seeing a mirror of what we have been doing in this little corner of the world. It has churned up a lot for me. Although we have all greatly appreciated it, perhaps we took it for granted and certainly did not realize maybe the great uniqueness of what we have been doing. 

If a conservative congregation brought in the storahtelling troupe, perhaps "the times they are a changin". Although, the worlds could have connected by simply walking across the street. Going to the other end of the country to find what is right next door may speak more about where things are.

Cynthia Gayle
Seattle

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