Book Announcement by Ronen Kowalsky (Israel)
Psychotherapeutic Playback Theatre is an evolving form of group drama therapy based on relational and group analytic ideas. It is being used with various populations, and empirical data collected shows very significant positive results. As group members perform stories from their lives and inner world as a theatrical improvisation, an intersubjective field is created around the stories and the mental content they portray, enabling symbolic expression of dissociated inner roles. Group members switch continuously between “playing the other” and “allowing the other to play me,” expanding the possibilities of looking at multiple self-states using perspectives of the others. A language of theatrical images is gradually created through this process, providing ongoing training in empathy and internalization.
An Introduction to Psychotherapeutic Playback Theater: Hall of Mirrors on Stage is a pioneering book. Co-written by Ronen Kowalsky, Nir Raz and Shoshi Keisari with Susana Pendzik, this Routledge title is the first book examining this new approach, the theory behind it, and the numerous considerations and diverse possibilities involved in using the technique to promote a significant reflective process, feelings of belonging, acceptance, visibility and liberation.
Ronen Kowalsky, a supervising clinical psychologist, is Co-Founder and Head of the Israeli Institute of Psychotherapeutic Playback Theater; Co-Head of the Analytic Psychotherapeutic Playback Theater program at Beit-Berl Academic College; member of the scientific committee at the Israeli Institute of Group Analysis; and supervisor and lecturer at The Israel Winnicott Center and The Academic College of Society and Art. He acted, wrote and directed in various theaters. Winner of the European ARENA prize for young directors, he established The Left Bank Theater Group in Tel-Aviv and the “Third Generation” German-Israeli theater project.
Nir Raz, a veteran Playback Theater conductor and actor, is Co-Founder and Administrative Director of the Israeli Institute of Psychotherapeutic Playback Theater and Co-Head of the Analytic Psychotherapeutic Playback Theater program at Beit-Berl Academic College. As a theater actor and director, he is recipient of several prizes for acting, conducts and directs theater with adults dealing with substance abuse and adolescents suffering from eating disorders, a medical clown at the Schneider Children Hospital, storyteller and workshop facilitator. He has written a series of books on the use of theater in group processes.
Dr. Shoshi Keisari is a supervising drama therapist and lecturer at the School of Creative Arts Therapies, the University of Haifa, Israel and at the Israeli Institute of Psychotherapeutic Playback Theater. She is also a researcher at the Drama & Health Science Lab and the Emilie Sagol Creative Arts Therapies Research Center at the University of Haifa. Her research and writing activities are centered on drama therapy, psychotherapeutic playback theatre, clinical gerontology, loss and grief. She works as a drama therapist and supervisor in both public and private frameworks.
Prof. Susana Pendzik is Senior Drama Therapist and Supervisor at the Israeli Union of Art Therapists; former Head of the Drama Therapy M.A. program, Tel-Hai Academic College; and Head of the Theater as Therapy program at Hebrew University’s Department of Theater. She lectures at the Swiss Institute of Drama Therapy training program and other academic institutes around the world. Member, North American and British Unions of Drama Therapy; Founder and honorary member of the Swiss Union of Drama Therapy. A poet and theater director, she has published numerous articles and books on drama therapy.
Ronen Kowalsky, MA
Tel Aviv, Israel
Email Ronen Kowalsky
Nir Raz
Israel
Shoshi Keisari
Haifa, Israel
Susana Pendzik
Israel