Gathering Voices: Essays on Playback 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.