Gathering Voices: Essays on Playback Theatre

Authors

  • ELEANOR C. IRWIN Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12926/zqwahj16

Keywords:

Theatre

Abstract

The need to give order and to understand meaning in life may be a uniquely human experience, coupled as it is with the wish to understand our small part in the larger reality of our world. The wish to speak and to be heard and understood is a core part of being human, as everyone, from mental health workers to advertising tycoons knows. Freud's patient, for example, spoke of the "talking cure," AT&T tells us to "reach out and touch someone," and a billboard proclaims: "Everyone has a story. Tell us yours." What all these
concepts have in common is the need to connect, listen, and tell. And that is the heart of Playback Theatre, the brainchild of Jonathan Fox. The hunger for this new, yet old, art form, which can connect people and ideas and which is practiced in more than 30 countries, spread over five continents, can be gauged by the rapid growth of Fox's now-international organization.

References

Gathering Voices: Essays on Playback Theatre, edited by Jonathan Fox and Heinrich Dauber. 1999. New Paltz, NY: Tusitala.

Downloads

Published

2026-01-23

Issue

Vol. 54 No. 2 (2001): Group Psychotherapy, Psychodrama, and Sociometry

Section

Book Reviews

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Journal of Psychodrama, Sociometry, and Group Psychotherapy

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

You are free to:

  1. Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
  2. The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.

Under the following terms:

  1. Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
  2. NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes.
  3. NoDerivatives — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.
  4. No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.

Notices:

You do not have to comply with the license for elements of the material in the public domain or where your use is permitted by an applicable exception or limitation.

No warranties are given. The license may not give you all of the permissions necessary for your intended use. For example, other rights such as publicity, privacy, or moral rights may limit how you use the material.