RAT Psych Systems in Theater Development.

[Cat Hebert <virtualdrama@juno.com>]

Cat wrote
> > What we really need now is therapeutic stuff since
> > world theater has been
> > so profoundly influenced by psychological theory.
> 
Alfred wrote:
> cool. what psychological theories? 
> 
Oh, in the West, ever since Charcot it follows every theory and fad --
especially after Hollywood and the Actor's Studio started their love
affair. Mostly analytical there. NYC has been the seat of psychodrama for
some time, and the techniques used there filter back into the practice
and the writing. (One of the fortunate side effects of reduced rehearsal
schedules is that there isn't quite so much time for amateur group
therapy as part of the performance development process.) Screenwriters,
especially, are always looking for ways to either increase or change the
"stakes"  or producing characters "on the edge", so they troll through
psych theories looking for clues. (Studios, for their part, have for many
years hired family therapists and other specialists to evaluate potential
characters/plots.)
German/Latin theater had/has Jungian overtones. (And we have dream
theaters running in various places even as I type :).)

The reverse influence comes about through approaches to individual change
-- especially when it comes to behavioral theories. Some of the more
intense (and invasive) acting training techniques teach you to be able to
monitor and alter internal *and* external behaviors. The monitoring
process and the alteration processes are essentially used in techniques
like systematic desensitization and other behavior modification
techniques --- and especially cognitive therapies (a couple of which were
developed not far from the Actor's Studio :))

>From a practical, PhilaRAT point of view (I couldn't resist the phrase
:)), I guess you'd want to say "How can the basic techniques of a
particular form of psychotherapy / psychology influence theater
development." There are lots of possibilities there. One fairly
straightforward one would be one you mentioned -- neurolinguistic
programming. By taking a look at the sensory words used by an author for
a character, you can determine the general sensory/sensory-fantasy makeup
of a character.  That can be used both by the director and the actor to
build subtext. The same tool can be used by authors. 

In fact, it's easy to see just how connected a playwright/performance
artist is into the reality of their characters by looking at the sensory
language modes they use -- ala NLP. Many, many playwrights can only use
their own basic sensory system -- mostly male, so auditory cognitive "I
hear, I think, I know" -- and have difficulty writing female characters
--> especially those who have unusual dominant sensory modes, like
olfactory/tactile or visual/kinesthetic. In a simple example, you could
use differences in sensory mode to show the difficulties a couple has in
communicating with each other.

Cheers,
Cat
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