The Listens: 2019-2022
Episode 18:
Ana Bess Moyer Bell: “This Work Has Made Me
a Little More Radical”
Having experienced too many lives lost to substance use, Rhode Island native Ana Bess Moyer Bell has used her grief, compassion and love of theater to create a beloved community that is changing the way we see and respond to addiction. An educator, theater maker, and Executive Director of 2nd Act, hear Ana Bess’s inspiring story of how personal grief informs her work, how she cares for her team, and strives for collaboration to meaningfully transform the communities they serve.
Episodes 16 and 17
Nina L. Garcia: ”Yeah, I Can Play with This”
Meet Nina L. Garcia, a dynamic Drama Therapist and Empowerment Coach, founder of Houston Creative Arts Therapy and host of the podcast "Empowered Human" taking the town by grace and deliberate purpose. Ramón Guitart brings questions to Nina that let us into her insight into becoming a practitioner, finding one’s own path, negotiating the world from both a privileged and a not-so-privileged place, the awareness of anti-Supremacy - and yes, there’s that self-empowerment issue… Get ready to play!
Episode 15
Maria Scaros: “Heels Don’t Work”
Maria embodies many roles in her work: a practicing drama therapist; Executive Director of The Greens at Greenwich, a residence for cognitively impaired seniors; and a stalwart advocate for Creative Arts in mental health and dementia care. With her experience and gift for storytelling (and some help from Plato), Maria offers humor, wisdom and guidance on how to walk with a client in their unique reality – and have fun doing it!
Episode 14
Laura Hix: “… This Concern About ‘Mattering’…”
The Bad news: Our next episode is about research. The Good news: Wake Forest University researcher and drama therapist Laura Hix offers a delightful and compassionate perspective. Laura describes her journey from training in drama therapy to full-fledged researcher, the rationale for why the work is important, and ideas to reduce the apprehension practitioners may have around it. You will appreciate and enjoy her sympathetic approach to work that is very often rewarding - and sometimes not - but always valuable and worthy.
Episode 13:
Lynn Hodeib: “Not Knowing What to Do is Good, Sometimes”
A pervasive sense of political turbulence, generational trauma and cultural denial filled the space of Lynn Hodeib’s upbringing, and fueled her passion to work to improve the lives of the many who suffer in her native Lebanon. Witnessing the work of fellow Lebanese Zeina Daccache was the inspiration she needed to become a drama therapist and commit to her passion. Hear her engaging story of creating performance and research for community action, and her hopes for making her country a more welcoming space.
Episode 12
Sally Shatzkes: “I Close My Eyes, I Hear Their Voices”
The annual presentation of Witness Theater by Holocaust survivors and students of the Yeshiva of Flatbush is a community phenomenon – an incarnation of the Hebrew philosophy Tikkun Olam. Drama therapist, educator, author, theater director and mom, Sally Grazi-Shatzkes, also believes, “If there’s no trust, there’s no relationship,” and walks us through this year-long process of creating first a family, and then an unforgettable, healing experience for the community.
Episode 11
Deb Campbell: “The Beauty of an Older Body”
The Founder and Director of the non-profit Arts & AGEing in Kansas City sits down with us to discuss “Dancing with Crow’s Feet,” a performance project for Seniors living in the Kansas City area. Deb shares how Crow’s Feet came to life and continues to inspire the women who perform it, the audiences who witness the work, and the many groups around the world who want to be part of it. Deb’s vision, wisdom, kindness and generosity are inspiring and thought-provoking for the those who embrace the power of therapeutic theater.
Episode 10
Mallory Minerson: “The Incredible Value of Being Humble”
Mallory was working as a nurse and teaching drama in her native Calgary, Alberta. One day she saw something in her patients’ engagement that told her there was more to this than playmaking. The story of how she decided to move to New York to study drama therapy before she began working with indigenous populations in the Northwest Territories is one of staying humble, listening intently, and trusting in one’s relationship with all of nature.
Episode 9
Caitlin Cairns: “We Built Ourselves a Standing Ovation”
How would you answer a challenge from management to find “something new” that will engage the residents of your senior center? Drama Therapist Caitlin Cairns tells the story of how she and her team in an Oklahoma facility met that task by producing not one but two personalized “Broadway” shows. From auditions to final ovation, hear how this team inspires, engages and connects people of all abilities by capitalizing on their strengths. Times may be tough, but the show must go on!
Episode 8
Mark Beauregard: “I Don’t Care About the Sexiness!”
A (digital) face to face with New York City drama therapist Mark Beauregard lets us learn about the decision to launch his individual practice at just the right moment: during a pandemic. We learn how he’s figuring out his way forward, for himself and his young clients, how much personality and physicality go into the mix, how his instincts, physical space, family and sense of humor contribute to the process.
Episode 7
Wanning Jen: “This Is the Place for Us to Express,
and to Try on Possibilities”
Wanning Jen is an engineer, salesman, improv artist, actor and – lucky for us – a drama therapist. Jon found a spare classroom at NYU for a guerrilla interview with this intrepid pioneer to discuss his pending move to mainland China and the work he will be doing. Wanning’s fearless sense of adventure brought him from his native Taiwan to Japan, to the U.S. west coast, to New York, and back to China, where he takes his skills and enthusiasm to work with multiple populations in a culture and professional environment unfamiliar to most of us. Whatever he calls his work, he tells a truly engaging story.
Episode 6
Diana Chu: “When You Build a Community, There’s a Reciprocal Effect”
As a student of Drama Therapy at CIIS, Ramon Guitart engages Drama Therapist and podcaster Diana Chu in conversation about her career-long interest in digital technology and her desire to integrate it into her practice. At a time when many in our field face the transition to working with our clients online, Diana inspires us to think outside the box – literally! – offering specific examples of goals and expectations for the preparation and the process. Enjoy!
Episode 5
Maria Hodermarska: “I May Be In My Underwear Right Now”
An interview with the longtime Clinical Professor of Drama Therapy at New York University yields remarkable insight into how practitioners in our field are experiencing life in today’s “lockdown” reality, and some of what we can expect in our practice. Maria’s gift for seeing the deeper meaning in life’s tiniest moments is potent evidence that our work is essential and, even when it’s one intervention at a time, moves the world forward toward health and grace – with a fair dose of humor!
Episode 4
Laura Wood & Josiah Stickels: “We Would Like People to Know About Us”
At the 40th Anniversary conference of the NADTA, Drama Therapy Radio holed up with Josiah Stickels, the incoming president of the organization, and Laura Wood, the outgoing president, to discuss what leadership means for our community, how to assess the needs of the organization, and the process of a transition in leadership. Hear why the “40-year-old teenager” continues the journey to make space for a community of such diversity – from a place of abundance – while addressing the continuing social stigma connected to mental health.
Episode 3
Ross Stone & Emily Bartlett: “Teenagers Are Underestimated”
During the 2018 conference we sat down with Ross and Emily to talk about their work with teenagers in Kansas City. While balancing ourselves on a hotel bed (with a very pregnant Emily) we talk about the beauty of the teenage heart and the creativity of their minds.
Episodes 1 and 2
Jessica Asch: “We Needed to Find the Stillness”
In the summer of 2018, Jess worked with children from Marjory Stoneman Douglass High School, and along with a few others created Camp Shine, a summer program for the survivors of the school shooting. In talking with Jess, we explore how the camp was created, how she was able to convince a fractured community to come together for healing, and how she took care of herself throughout the provocative process.