INTRODUCTION TO ETHNODRAMATHERAPY 

Ethnodramatherapy (EDT) is a dynamic fusion of the performance ethnography method, known as ethnodrama, with the principles and practices of drama therapy. Developed over the past decade, by Stephen Snow, at Concordia University’s Centre for the Arts in Human Development, the approach has been realized in several theatre productions, all with a minimum of six months’ preparation, and in several one to six-day workshops, in Israel, Sri Lanka, China, Boston, Los Angeles, New York and Philadelphia. Basing his synthesis on Mienczakowski’s conceptualization of ethnodrama from the 1990s, Snow especially honed in on Mienczakowski’s idea that an ethnodrama can engage “therapeutic strategies leading to individual change” (Mienczakowski, Smith & Sinclair, 1996, p. 445). In this way, the whole process of EDT can function on four levels: as research, as social activism, as theatrical art and in the domain of therapy, specifically, drama therapy.

 

Responses to past EDT workshops:

Through a variety of teaching modalities – didactic, audiovisual, improvisational, interactive, artistic – Dr. Snow skillfully led us through the Ethnodramatherapy process. With his guidance we became an ethnic group, having the common anxiety: “You don’t see me”; after which therapeutic methods were utilized from both drama and art therapy – such as Playback Theatre, Psychodrama, and Drawing – to exemplify and come to terms with the anxiety.

-          Norman Fedder, Ph.D., RDT-BCT, 2017 NADTA Conference

 

It’s awesome that you meet some strangers as a team, after a few days journey, these people “pregnant” together, welcoming a baby born: an opera (drama) concentrates all the stories of the team. Very valuable to the community & society. It’s an amazing experience.

-          Tracy Tang, participant in 2018 EDT Workshop in Beijing
 

Sources:

Snow, S., & Herbison, P. (2014). Ethnodramatherapy: A new methodology as applied to diversity training outreach. DVD is presently distributed by psychotherapy.net as Empowering adults with developmental disabilities: A creative arts therapies approach.

Snow, S., & D’Amico, M. (2015). The application of ethnodrama with female adolescents under youth protection within a creative arts therapies context. Drama Therapy Review, 1(2), 201-218.

Snow, S., D’Amico, M., Mongerson, E., Anthony, E. Rozenberg, M., Opolko, C., & Anandampillai, S. (2017). Ethnodramatherapy applied in a project focusing on relationships in the lives of adults with developmental disabilities, especially romance, intimacy and sexuality. Drama Therapy Review, 3(2), 241-260.

Snow, S., & Bleuer, J. (2020). Ethnodramatherapy. In D. R. Johnson. & R. Emunah, (Eds.), Current approaches in drama therapy (3rd ed., pp. 250-283).  C.C. Thomas, Publishers.

 

  

Snow, S. (in press). Ethnodramatherapy; Integrating Research, Therapy, Theatre and Social Activism into One Method. Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.

 

Google:   snow ethnodrama therapy  ( with spaces between each word )

Bio:

Stephen Snow, Ph.D., RDT-BCT, is a drama therapist, a performance theorist and a theatre practitioner. With over 35 years in the field of drama therapy, he has practiced in psychiatric rehabilitation, geriatrics, with at-risk youth and in the domain of developmental disabilities. Dr. Snow is Emeritus Professor of Drama Therapy at Concordia University where he co-founded the Centre for the Arts in Human Development (1996) and the Graduate Drama Therapy Program (1997). He studied performance theory at New York University where he experienced the work of many noted anthropologists and was mentored by performance theorist/theatre director Richard Schechner. As a theatre practitioner, he has acted in over 100 theatre productions, directed another 30 and written playscripts for a dozen more. He created and performed two self-revelatory theatre pieces, Seething Brains, based on image of madness in Shakespeare and his own life, and Nightride in the City, about his experience of driving a cab at night in NYC. He has published 3 books, two of them co-edited works on assessment in the creative arts therapies, along with 22 chapters in books.  He has presented his therapeutic theatre research in major cities all across North America as well as in Jamaica (West Indies), England, France, Italy, Egypt, Israel, Sri Lanka and China. Dr. Snow has received research awards from the Concordia University, the North American Drama Therapy Association, the American Association for Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and AMI-Quebec Action on Mental Illness. His most recent work is in developing an integrative approach called ethnodramatherapy (EDT). His documentary on this work can be found on psychotherapy.net.

Workshops/Residencies possible in three formats:

1-week, 6-week and 6-months