drama as communication

[Edward Schreiber]

Hi Adam,
Wow, this is REALLY GREAT.  I want to download and use these structures.
Fantastic in my view!  Thanks so much.

Would be so cool if the ASGPP got bold enough to do an all  
conferenece sociodrama led by
some of our senior sociodramatists - like we could do a sociodrama  
about the society (the society
of the world, of our country, of our organization, of our family and  
our lives) some complex roles we
could take on and find how we relate - what are the internal  
sociometric structures that connect us
and secure cohesion and communication with one another.   A world  
cafe revisited in some new way.

Ed


On Jan 17, 2008, at 4:20 PM, Adam Blatner wrote:

> Here's a small essay for my blog. I'd be interested in what you  
> might want to add to this list.
>
> Drama as Communication:
>
> Drama should be recognized as being more than just putting on plays  
> for entertainment. It also offers value as a deeper/multi- 
> dimensional form of communication. It offers more elements for  
> exploring issues than does mere discussion or talking about things.  
> Adding play, psychodramatic techniques, surplus reality, etc., we  
> can talk with each other and then do a variety of additional  
> maneuvers:
>
> -- comment on nonverbal communications, our own and the other person's
> -- replay an interaction having shifted our nonverbal  
> communication, voice tone, other variables
> -- try out hypotheses, playing out mini-scenes, exploring playfully  
> where they lead us
> -- replay and repeat so that we become more effective, satisfactory
> -- play out "worst possible" scenes to express our immature,  
> negative, angry parts, but putting them into a relatively harmless  
> context in which they are recognized as what the "inner brat" wants  
> to say... recognizing that we get overloaded, feel helpless, and in  
> other ways wish we could regress..
>
> -- play out better than best possible scenes, talking to  
> presidential candidates, God, goddess, angels, ancestors, asking  
> for help, getting guidance
>
> -- identify certain roles as social-role based, both expressing and  
> diagnosing hidden assumptions, biases, prejudices, rules, norms,  
> expectations, and so forth that are more part of the common  
> culture---the regional, national, even species-archetypal  
> foundations--more than the results of our individual personal (e.g.  
> childhood, family background) roots. This is sociodrama and  
> axiodrama. Doing so makes it easier to distance ourselves from  
> these types of "programming."
> -- role reverse, for compassionate understanding, even with those  
> we are inclined to think of as "enemies"
>
> -- do role analysis to break down over-generalizations
>
> -- think sociometrically, about depth psychology and preferences,  
> tele and rapport, even towards those we would prefer not to have  
> those feelings..
>
> -- value the creativity potential in encounters, the opportunity to  
> generate new syntheses, integrations
>
> ... stuff like that, it seems to me, tends not to happen in  
> ordinary discussions, much less debates.
>
> I’ll be interested in what you might want to add to this list.  
> Thus, psychodramatically-informed encounters (too big a term..  
> seeking something simpler) offer a more multi-dimensional and  
> holistic type of communication?
>
> Adam Blatner, M.D.
>    website: www.blatner.com/adam/
> Grouptalk mailing list
> List at grouptalkweb.org
> http://grouptalkweb.org/mailman/listinfo/list_grouptalkweb.org

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