The Way of Imagination

For me, one of the most fascinating aspects of dramatherapy practice is that it is not tied to specific formulas, but it continuously renews itself in each group. Keeping firmly some principles, each dramatherapist is able to make up her own tools, combining the basic elements in a personal way. Having stated this, I have to admit that I always felt the urge to define some of these principles, common to all kinds of practice.

In my latest book[1], I focus upon some of these principles, showing that the reactivation of the intersubjective matrix [2] and the reawakening of creativity are intrinsic to dramatherapy, and that they play a meaningful role in the healing process.

Imagination is the faculty that links intersubjectivity and creativity. On the one hand, as Roger Grainger maintains, it is the energy that drives us toward the others, finding room for them within us, feeling and loving them; on the other hand, it is a major component of our own creative process.

The workshop will show how dramatic imagination can be used as a tool in supervision. At the beginning, people will be invited to play a series of interactive games, which will help them to evoke their imagination and share it with the others, activating mutual mirroring and empathy. Then, a volunteer will be asked to provide a theme that can be explored though imaginative tools. The purpose is not to give answers to the proposed issues, but to amplify them, in order to raise new questions and find new ways to pose them.

[1] Pitruzzella, S. (2014) Mettersi in scena. Drammaterapia, creatività e intersoggettività, Milano, FrancoAngeli.

[2] Bråten, S. ed. (2007) On Being Moved. From Mirror Neurons to Empathy, John Benjamins Publishing Company, Amsterdam/Philadelphia.