Magnetic Forces: 
Working with Attraction and Aversion
to Difference and Social Justice Program

Registration Opens at 8am

All Day Workshops

9:00 am - 4:30 pm

PC 1: Principles of Drama Therapy
Jason D. Butler, PhD, RDT/BCT, LCAT, President-Elect
Laura Wood, PhD (ABD), RDT/BCT, LPC, Central Region Representative
Drama therapy is comprised of drama and theatre approaches that support individual and social change in clinical, educational and community settings. This experiential workshop will introduce principles that guide the practice of drama therapy. Attendees will gain experience with three approaches and learn how they might be used for healing and social action.

PC 2: Restoried Script Performance
Pam Dunne, PhD, RDT/BCT, LP
Participants explore how to integrate narradrama with performance to restory their lives. This approach honors cultural diversity and builds on Michael White’s ideas of identifying strengths through unique outcomes and healing stories, attributions of meaning, and exploration of new futures as well as addressing power discourses that subjugate people.

PC 3: Sociodrama to Foster Cultural Humility and Build Community
Nancy Sondag, MA, RDT/BCT, LCAT, CDP
In a safe, non-judgmental space, sociodrama explores the shared, common issue of the group. In this one-day intensive, participants will participate in the group process and learn sociodrama techniques which can be used for healing, problem-solving, fostering cultural humility, training, and building community.

PC 4: Performing the Other: Addressing Power, Privilege, and Oppression in Clinical Practice
Nisha Sajnani, PhD, RDT/BCT
Maria Hodermarska, MA, RDT, CASAC, LCAT
Christine Mayor, MA, RDT
Jessica Bleuer, MA, MEd, RDT, CCC, OPQ Psychotherapy Permit
Presenters will draw from their experience using improvisation and performance to support culturally responsive practice in the training of drama therapists on campus and online. Participants will witness a performative supervision process, gain direct experience with experiential exercises,and learn about how these objectives are meaningfully woven throughout the curriculum.

PC 5: And Still We Rise, Prison On Stage, Inside and Out*
Nathaniel Warren-White, MA, RDT
Dev Luthra
And Still We Rise hosts a 2-stage offering: an all-day workshop and evening performance. Drawing from several modalities (Boal’s Image Theatre, Psychodrama, Narradrama, Playback Theatre), facilitators will lead participants from sourcing to an embodied performance of personal and/or observed stories of oppression and transformation. The all-day workshop culminates in an evening performance that participants must be available for.
* Note: Those who sign up for PC 5 must also sign up for TE 1

Morning Long Workshops

9:00 am - 12:00 pm

PC 6: Forum Theatre for Conflict Transformation in East Africa
Mecca Burns, MA, RDT/BCT
This workshop utilizes experiential segments and video documentation to show how Forum Theatre is used in Uganda and Kenya to address oppression of women and children, corruption, land issues, and post-election violence. We will practice Boal games and techniques that can be adapted to other intercultural settings.

PC 7: Examining the Impact of Personal Identifiers on Career Advancement in Drama Therapy
Jeremy Segall, MA, RDT, LCAT
Jason Frydman, MA, RDT, LCAT
Deepening the examination of the researchers’ previous investigation of looking at gender disparity in drama therapy career advancement, this investigation has expanded its scope of inquiry to explore the multivariate impact of personal identifiers (i.e. race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, geographic location, etc.) on career advancement within the profession.

Early Afternoon Short Workshop

1:30pm - 3:00pm

PC 8: Giving Voice to the Voiceless: Musical Theater with Non-Verbal Autistic Teens
Rachael Bralow, MA
Grey Delmar, MT-BC
At the Special Needs Activity Center for Kids (SNACK), a drama therapist and a music therapist are bringing a unique performance opportunity to nonverbal teens on the autism spectrum. This workshop deconstructs the program they have created and the growth that has been seen from the group members.

Late Afternoon Short Workshop

3:15pm - 4:45pm

PC 9: The Impact of Drama Therapy on Empathy and Social Skills: Pilot Study
Paige Dickinson, PhD, RDT/BCT
Sally Bailey, MFA, MSW, RDT/BCT
This workshop will present a pilot study examining the impact of drama therapy on empathy, social skills and proprioception with children who are on the autism spectrum, have intellectual and developmental disabilities, or ADD/ADHD. The panel will discuss the development and implementation of the study as well as the results.

Afternoon Long Workshops

1:30pm - 4:30pm

PC 10: Conversations in Cultural Awareness: A Pre-Education Dialogue Towards Diversity and Social Justice
Britton Williams, MA, RDT, LCAT
Alexis Powell, MA, LCAT-P
Danielle Levanas, MA, LCAT-P
Rachel Lee Soon, MA, LCAT-P
This workshop will serve as a follow-up from the Pre-Education book club and further preparation for the 2015 NADTA conference. Participants will: reflect on and discuss readings; explore feelings that emerge around conference theme; review and refresh the body of knowledge's theme terms; define group’s image of social justice.

N 1: Newcomer Dinner

5:00pm - 7:00pm
This event is for people who are attending their first NADTA conference or are new to the drama therapy community and is an opportunity to get to know other new conference attendees. Participants will be asked to pay for their own meals, and NADTA members will be available to answer questions and welcome you to the community.

Evening Performance
7:00pm - 8:30pm

TE 1: Performance of And Still We Rise, Prison On Stage, Inside and Out
Nathaniel Warren-White, MA, RDT
Dev Luthra
Participants from Pre-Conference Workshop
Witness the performance devised from the day-long workshop using the And Still We Rise multi-modality approach. Join the performance of personal and/or observed stories of oppression and transformation.

Registration Opens at 8am

OC: Opening Ceremony

8:00am - 8:45am

All Conference Required Event

9:00am - 12:00pm

You, Me, We: A Deep Dive into Identity and Difference
Autumn Brown, Special Guest Diversity Trainer

This workshop will be an all-conference event familiarizing participants with themes and ideas relating to identity, social location, and privilege, as well as helping participants to develop a vocabulary and common language through which to discuss and address these topics. Participants will leave with a better understanding of the way identity and privilege are socially and historically constructed, improve their ability to self-identify, and increase their awareness of interpersonal dynamics that reinforce social power hierarchies and privilege, oppress individuals and communities, and inhibit social change and equity.

An award-winning facilitator, Autumn conducts trainings with individuals and organizations on issues of social justice and equity. She has taught and presented across the globe, and currently serves as the Interim Executive Director of RECLAIM!, a nonprofit that supports mental and integrative health needs for LGBTQ youth.

Annual Membership Meeting, Regional Meetings & Luncheon
12:00pm - 2:30pm

Please join us for a luncheon and the annual NADTA membership meeting. We will celebrate the work of volunteers over the past year, honor award recipients and engage in a discussion about how we as a community of members and volunteers would like to see the organization develop. The membership meeting will be followed by break-out regional meetings hosted by the Regional Representatives.

Friday Afternoon Workshops

2:45pm - 5:45pm

A 1: Dueling Narratives: Rewriting Dysfunctional Cultural Scripts in Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding
Armand Volkas, MFA, MA, RDT/BCT, MFT
Historical trauma and unconscious life scripts are transmitted from generation to generation and drive the beliefs and behaviors of individuals, cultures, and nations in conflict. In this workshop, we will experientially explore how dysfunctional cultural narratives can be uncovered and transformed through drama therapy, sociodrama, and Transactional Analysis.

A 2: Exploring a Multicultural Self-Assessment Using Drama Therapy Techniques
Alexis Powell, MA, LCAT-P
Danielle Levanas, MA, LCAT-P
The goal of this workshop is to approach cross-cultural counseling and self-assessment through the use of embodied exploration techniques in order to attempt a compassionate exploration of the lived experiences of workshop members.

A 3: LGBTQI Foundations: Providing Competent and Affirming Care
Mark Beauregard, MA, RDT, LCAT
Nadya Trytan, MA, RDT/BCT
Anke Schäfer, DGfT
Ross Stone
Learn the essentials you need to know to feel confident in your therapeutic encounters with LGBTQI (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, Intersex) and GNC (Gender Nonconforming) clients. Through experiential and didactic methods, you will be introduced to the fundamentals of gender and sexuality affirmative language, best practices and care.

A 4: “You’re too Female For This Job”: Sexism in the Institution/Therapeutic Relationship
Elizabeth Edwards, MA, RDT, LCAT
Morgan Geisert, MA, RDT, LCAT
Jennifer Richards, MA
Natasha Amendolara, MA, RDT, LCAT
Kate Schober, MA, RDT, LCAT
This performance-based and experiential workshop will explore experiences of women working in health care systems in New York City. How do we safely acknowledge that as drama therapists who are primarily women, the objectification that we experience is oppressive and sexist, while maintaining a therapeutic relationship with those we treat?

A 5: How Much Can I Take?: The Lure of Theoretical Justice
Craig Haen, PhD, RDT, CGP, LCAT, FAGPA
Kelvin Ramirez, PhD, ATR-BC, LCAT
The empathic nature of therapy can place practitioners at odds with institutions that, regardless of philosophical mandate, become oppressive. This workshop explores tensions between change efforts and self-preservation for therapists and educators working in systems that perpetuate trauma and inequality. What’s really required to have just agencies, institutions, or professional organizations?

A 6: Hide & Seek/Lost & Found: Locating Oneself in/out of the Playspace
Adam Reynolds, MFA, RDT/BCT, LCSW, CASAC
Navah Steiner, MA, RDT, LCAT
Erinn Webb, MA, RDT, LCAT
Chantal George, MA, RDT, LCAT
“Location of self,” is a therapeutic approach where the therapist discloses/acknowledges their key identities to clients, directly addressing privilege, power and difference. We intersect this theory with Developmental Transformations, sharing what about ourselves we reveal, hide, or think we are hiding (but everyone knows), in and out of the Playspace.

A 7: Within and Beyond the Hyphen: Two Drama Therapists Working with Asian---Americans
Aileen Cho, MA, RDT, MFT Intern
Ya-Huei Chi, MA, MFT Intern
An exploration of clinical experiences working with Asian-American individuals, families, and groups in which forces between the polarized hyphenated identities are viewed and encountered in action through the lens of Asian/Asian-American drama therapists.

A 8: Dialogues with God
Robert Landy, PhD, RDT/BCT, LCAT
The leaders will facilitate dialogues with God, that of one’s faith and that of another’s. Through engaging and reflecting upon these dialogues, the group will work toward better understanding how and why religion has become such a polarizing force in contemporary society, and maybe work toward changing this reality.

Early Evening Film & Performance

6:00pm - 7:30pm

F 1: Shebaik Lebaik (“Your Wish is My Command”): A Folkloric Performance by Migrant Workers (Film)
Zeina Daccache, MA, RDT
The first North American film screening of Daccache's latest theatre play, Shebaik Lebaik, on the experiences of migrant workers in the Middle East. The performers speak out against the injustices that migrant workers face in their respective cultures, including racism and class discrimination within the kafala (sponsorship) system.

F 2: To Me
Jessica Asch, MA, RDT, LCAT-P
This performance explores how using the distancing model in drama therapy and a performance based inquiry model helps to conceptualize the experience of a learning disability (LD). A literature review presented examines disability from an organic and cultural perspective and suggests why drama therapy is an effective treatment intervention.

Late Evening Performances

8:30pm - 10:00pm

F 3: Life of Bi: A Self-Revelatory Performance on Bi-racial, Bi-sexual, and Bi-cultural Identity
Sherry Diamond, JD, RDT, Esq.
CANCELLED

F 4: Ability to Love
Norman Fedder, PhD, RDT/BCT
Andrea DeCrescenzo, BA
Darcy Hildebidle, BIS
This performance explores what it means to be disabled in an ableist world, particularly with regard to intimate relationships. The struggle of a woman with cerebral palsy, using a motorized wheelchair, to realize her ability to love in the dating scene will be followed by a discussion and art-making process. 

Early Morning Offerings

8:00am - 9:00am

SM 1: Yoga
Nicole Brucato Cooley, MA, RDT, LMFT, RYT
Mira Rozenberg, MA, RDT
Yoga is both active and restorative and a great way to ground, centre and connect to our bodies. Come join Mira and Nicole for this early morning before-the-conference burst of energy! We will indulge in a series of physical postures, stretching, breath awareness and restful meditation. Please wear comfortable clothing, yoga mats are welcome but not necessary.

SM 2: Alternative Track Meeting
Jennifer Wilson, RDT, LCAT, Education Chair
Open to anyone who is curious or who has questions about Alternative Training in drama therapy.

SM 3: Drama Therapy Review Meeting
Meredith Dean, MA, LCAT, RDT, CASAC, ICADC
Nisha Sajnani, PhD, RDT/BCT
Christine Mayor, MA, RDT
Participants are invited to meet with members of Drama Therapy Review's Editorial Team and invited guests to explore topics related to the writing, editing and publishing process.

SM 4: Ethics Meeting
Maria Hodermarska, MA, RDT/BCT, CASAC, LCAT
Join a discussion with members of the Ethics Committee about issues pertaining to ethics, the organization and this year’s conference theme.

Saturday Morning Long Workshops

9:15am - 12:15pm

B 1: Gender Performance, Role Concepts and the Therapeutic Encounter
Nadya Trytan, MA, RDT/BCT
Mark Beauregard, MA, RDT, LCAT
Anke Schäfer, DGfT
Ross Stone
Explore culturally defined gender roles performed in daily life, and create new archetypes validating experiences beyond the binary male/female. Participants will examine their attractions/repulsions to gender notions, and the impact on the therapeutic encounter. Attendees are asked to attend A 3: LGBTQI Foundations workshop or have knowledge of those concepts.

B 2: Pushing Boundaries: Playing with Pleasure and Aggression in Sexual Abuse Treatment
Lucy McLellan, MA, RDT/BCT, LCAT
This workshop will address the potential of play and story-making to explore and transform the hurt, aggression and sometimes confusing feelings of pleasure experienced by children during and after sexual abuse, applying best practices of trauma-focused treatment within the reparative realm of dramatic play.

B 3: Life AND Death: Creating a New Paradigm
Pamela Edgar, MA, RDT, LCAT, CDP
In this experiential workshop participants will explore death stories and rituals from different cultures to discover their own personal response to death and dying. We will review how such stories and rituals can be used in clinical practice. We will also discuss how examining death impacts our daily lives.

B 4: Instant Messages: Exploring the Impact of Assumptions, Biases & Stereotypes
Britton Williams, MA, RDT, LCAT
This workshop will explore the impact of assumptions, biases and stereotypes on individuals, relationships and communities. Didactic and experiential processes will be employed to assist participants in identifying the many ways assumptions and biases are internalized and how they impact an individual’s ability to connect or not connect with others.

Saturday Early Morning Short Workshops

9:00am - 10:30am

B 5: Improvising Co-Culture: Youth "At Risk" and University Students Meet on Stage
Gideon Zehavi, MA, RDT/BCT
In Jerusalem (a diverse, vibrant, some say volatile city), hybrid co-cultures evolve from planned or spontaneous meetings between two or more urban cultures. This presentation will examine the aesthetic and drama therapy based processes pertinent to creating a youth-at risk and university students co-culture in a semester long improvisation lab.

B 6: Performance as an Empathy-Building Tool: Experimental Integration of Playback and Ethnodrama
Stephen Snow, PhD, RDT/BCT
Eric Mongerson, MFA
Charles Smith Metellus, MA
Reem Hashem, BA
Eliane Gendron, BA
Shannon Rzucidlo, BA
Alana Goldscheid, MA
Katia El-Eter, MA
Miranda D'Amico, PhD
Shelly Snow, PhD, MTA
Mira Rozenberg, MA, RDT
Simon Driver, MA
Our Pro Bono Playback Ensemble, made up of Concordia University students, graduates, and faculty, will perform excerpts from the Ethnodrama that is being created with caregivers of the mentally ill; elucidate how they were developed through our unique integration of Playback and Ethnodrama; and demonstrate our methods of empathy-building performance with the audience.

B 7: Rule Breaking: Disability as Performance
Maria Hodermarska, MA, RDT/BCT, CASAC, LCAT
Craig Becker, MS
Nick Bruner, MA
Delia Camden
Bernardo Carlucci
Cecilia Dintino, PsyD, RDT
Maya Hormadaly
Lillian Houghton
Henry Houghton
Ethan Jones
Alec Silberblatt, BA
Ming Yuan Low, MA
This didactic workshop includes performed material from a participatory action research theater project at NYU, with presentation of the co-researched concepts and the disability and queer theories that inform it. We ask how (or if or when) developmental disability impacts intimacy in “caregiver/care-receiver” relationships and use Sajnani’s "loving enquiry" to answer.

B 8: A Patient Centered Care Approach to Group Programming in Acute Psychiatry
Barbara Bornmann, MA, MA, RDT/BCT, LCAT
Carlos Rodriguez Perez, MA, RDT/BCT, LCAT
Kings County Hospital is a safety net service for citizens with complex psychosocial stressors such as poverty, immigration, underemployment, and stigma. A group treatment model that utilizes group prescription to target categorized group treatment and skill building was developed to provide a patient-centered care approach. Group metrics presented. Discussion.

Saturday Late Morning Short Workshops

10:45am - 12:15pm

B 9: Aphasia Groups; Daring to Disturb the Silence on Inclusion and Creative Expression
Keith Whipple, MA, RDT
Ann Oehring, MA, CCC-SLP
Since 2009, ITA Drama Therapists and participants in RIC's Outpatient Aphasia Programs have built a place where those with Aphasia, including all levels of severity, can powerfully express their experiences and ideas, and advocate for better understanding and more just treatment. Outcome studies show the positive impact of this approach.

B 10: Taking Narrative Transportation into and out of the Transitional Space
Sally Bailey, MFA, MSW, RDT/BCT
Joanna Abillama, MA
Jessica Munoz, MA
Jessie Greenfield, MA
This session introduces the construct of Narrative Transportation and presents methods and instruments used in a multiple production research study conducted at Kansas State University. Implications exist for research in NT to validate the power of therapeutic theatre and identify levels of immersion clients feel when engaging in role-play.

B 11: Embodying an Epistemology of Aloha: A Post-Colonial/Indigenous Perspective of Drama Therapy
Rachel Lee Soon, MA, LCAT-P
What is the relationship between drama therapy and colonization? In this workshop we will "talk story" about the role of colonization in our own narratives on a personal, professional, and political level, and begin to play with how we can enter into the therapeutic encounter with a little more aloha.

B 12: Trauma, Performance, and the Drama Triangle: Wrestling With the Ethics of Therapeutic Theatre
Laura Hix, MA
Nick Brunner, MA
In therapeutic theatre, challenging questions regarding ethical practice emerge. Instances of harm demand to be explored with authenticity, but at what expense? How does the therapist's own trauma impact her ability to act ethically? In this experiential presentation, participants will wrestle with these questions and more.

Keynote Speaker: Zeina Daccache, MA, RDT

Peaceful, Constructive Riot: How can Drama Therapy Bring About Change on an Individual and Systemic Level?
12:30pm - 1:30pm

Zeina Daccache has a theory: ‘Theatre can live in the most forgotten places and grow in the most difficult situations.’ As a play director, drama therapist and film maker who has worked in Lebanon’s prisons, refugee camps and psychiatric hospitals, she is on a mission: to alter the public’s perception of marginalized populations by creating a platform to allow them to tell their own stories and lobby for policy change. The question remains, however: How can this process of clients telling their own stories bring about change? As drama therapists, we often see the therapeutic impact on an individual level, but how does it create systemic change? Through illustrations of Daccache's own work, this keynote presentation will critically examine the relationships of power, privilege and oppression embedded in working with marginalized clients to share their personal stories, both within a therapeutic setting as well as in public spaces as part of a larger movement to affect change.

Bio: A recipient of many awards for her distinguished contributions to the field of social initiatives and services, Zeina has been implementing drama therapy processes in Lebanon and the Middle East since 2006. She is the founder and Executive Director of Catharsis - Lebanese Center for Drama Therapy, and is renowned for her film and theatre projects including Scheherazade’s Diary (2014), and her production of 12 Angry Lebanese inside Roumieh Prison.

Lunch on Your Own

1:30pm - 2:30pm

Saturday Afternoon Long Workshops

2:30pm - 5:30pm

C 1: Opening Conversation: A Trauma Model for Intensive Trauma Treatment
Renee Pitre, MA, RDT
Jesse Toth, MA, RDT, LPC
Cat Davis, MA, RDT
Antonietta Delli Carpini, MA, RDT
Erinn Webb, MA, RDT
Trauma happens. Society pressures individuals and systems into silence. Join the PTSC staff as they open up the conversation to confront the avoidance of individual and systemic trauma and learn more about the theory and steps of their intensive trauma treatment model.

C 2: At the Pyramids: Uncovering the Elusive Tomb of the Unplayable
Jason D. Butler, PhD, RDT/BCT, LCAT
Ingi Abouzeid, BSc
Examining the multiple intersections of identity in a drama therapy group in Cairo that culminated in a DvT intensive co-led by an Egyptian and an American. Looking at the layers of oppression and how they manifest in the playspace in a country in turmoil. A collective exploration of the unplayable.

C 3: Borders, Shadows and Spotlights: CANY Trauma-Informed Drama Therapy
Heidi Landis, RDT/BCT, LCAT, TEP
Meredith Dean, RDT, LCAT
Rachel Lee Soon, MA, LCAT-P
Alexis Powell, MA, LCAT-P
Britton Williams, MA
Karlene Brathwaite, MA
This mixed-method workshop will illustrate how Creative Alternatives of New York addresses and explores oppression and systemic trauma within groups, site partnership, and staff development. Failures, successes, hopes, and still unanswered questions will be explored. Participants will experience the CANY model in action exploring their own successes and failures within the systems they inhabit.

Saturday Early Afternoon Short Workshops

2:30pm - 4:00pm

C 4: Theatre for Change: Tackling the Complexities of Diversity through Performance Production
Renee Emunah, PhD, RDT/BCT
Aileen Cho, MA, RDT, MFT Intern
Marissa Snoddy, MA
A new video of excerpts of past Theatre for Change productions, followed by discussion revolving around what has been learned – of relevance to drama therapists - from 12 years of producing and collaborating on original theatre pieces aimed at raising consciousness about diversity and fostering social justice.

C 5: Yes Means Yes – Changing Rape Culture through Education and Drama Therapy
Jessica Munoz, MA
Samantha Hindle
Issues of sexual violence and consent need to be addressed on college campuses: one in four college-aged women are raped while they are students. Learn about a new training program involving drama therapy techniques called “Yes Means Yes,” which was premiered at Kansas State University last spring and resultant data.

C 6: Music Therapy and Social Change: Building Bridges across the Creative Arts
Kathryn Fathers, MA, MT-BC, LCAT
Through music therapy clinical case studies and musical participation, this session will address questions of ‘authentic encounter’ and ‘co-creating space for encounter, reflection and performance of change’. This workshop is presented from the perspective of contemporary practice and discourse in Community Music Therapy – an emerging social movement from Europe.

C 7: A Reflection on the Uses of Performance Art as Social Commentary
Angelica Pinna-Perez, PhD, RDT, REAT, LICSW, LCAT
Rachel Frank, MFA
We will reflect on the Sleep of Reason, an ensemble theater production as a form of hybrid art/theater making for social action which examines the theatrical/performance implications of abuse as depicted in the Abu Ghraib photographs.

C 8: Full Circle: Restorative Justice in Schools
David Perrin, MA, RDT
Come ‘circle up’ with fellow practitioners interested in restorative justice. Hosted by community members of the School for Democracy and Leadership this circle will explore the worldview and interventions of restorative justice. Share your experience, passions, frustrations, and dreams for a more just, equitable, and fruitful educational experience for all.

Saturday Late Afternoon Short Workshops

4:15pm - 5:45pm

C 9: Drama Therapy and Transdisciplinarity: The Experience of Mexico
Susana Pendzik, PhD, RDT
Rosalinda Ulloa Montejo, MA
Ma. Cristina Núñez Madrazo, PhD
This presentation familiarizes participants with the principles of Transdisciplinarity (a non-reductionist, relational, transcultural approach), linking this methodology to drama therapy concepts and practices. Through lecture, videos, and experiential techniques, participants will be introduced to the work being done in Veracruz, Mexico, focusing on Theatre as a Healing Agent using Transdisciplinarity.

C 10: "Says who?": Using Drama Therapy In-Home to Foster "Good Enough" Parenting
Jodi Rabinowitz, MA, RDT, LPC
Rebecca Versaci, MA, CCLS
Isabel Shanahan, MA, LCAT-P
What happens when parent and therapist differ in their cultural conception of parent/child roles? This workshop presents the use of drama therapy during in-home psychotherapy sessions, includes a discussion of the embodiment of power and privilege, and explores how culture influences the therapist's responses to their client's parenting styles.

C 11: 50 Shades of Understanding
Jennifer Hays, MA, MFTI
Truc Nguyen, MA, MFTI
Presenters explore differing perspectives from a drama therapy cohort that went through an experiential process attempting to address an act of racism that unraveled, impacting cohort members awareness around issues oppression. Presenters explore how racism impacted interpersonal relationships and people personally and professionally over 5 years.

C 12: Exploring Oppression and Personal Choice Through Metaphor and Creation of Original Plays
LaVonne Canfield, MA
How do we deal with systemic oppression and issues of privilege and assumption? Hear about the journey of a group of incarcerated women navigating their own narratives through adaptation of traditional fairy tales. View excerpts of their performance and develop your own brief creative drama.

C 13: Licensing & Creative Alliances:The Challenges/ Realities of Finding Work as a Drama Therapist
Karimah Dillard, MA, RDT/BCT, Government Affairs Chair
Nadya Trytan, MA, RDT/BCT
Sara McMullian, RDT/BCT, LCAT
Barbara McKechnie RDT/BCT, LPC, LCAT
In this ever expanding field, drama therapists are often competing for the same jobs as our creative arts therapy counterparts as well as other licensed clinicians. This workshop explores how leveraging the distinct experience of drama therapy creates opportunities to advocate for the field and find work in unlikely places.

BOK: Diversity Committee Presents Body of Knowledge:
NADTA Intercultural Practice Guidelines Come to Life
5:45pm - 7:15pm

Jessica Bleuer, MA, MEd, RDT, CCC, OPQ Psychotherapy Permit
Nisha Sajnani, PhD, RDT/BCT
Daniela Bustamante, MA, RDT, LCAT
Jami Osborne, MA, RDT/BCT, LMHC, CAGS
Patrick Tomczyk, MA, CCC
Mandy Carr, MA
Ditty Dokter, PhD
We invite participants to a community conversation about the newly adopted NADTA Intercultural Best Practice Guidelines and discussion about what these guidelines mean for practicing drama therapists and students.

S 1: Student Meet & Greet with the Board
7:45pm - 8:30pm

NADTA Student Committee
Nadya Trytan, MA, RDT/BCT
All student members of the NADTA are invited to a meet and greet with the NADTA Board of Directors.

R 1: President’s Reception
8:30pm onwards

Join President Nadya Trytan in a celebration of our community. We will honor our newest Registered Drama Therapists (RDTs) & Board Certified Trainers (BCTs) and express gratitude to the many volunteers who gave of their time and energy to bring this conference to fruition. Cocktails and hors d'oeuvres will be served with entertainment that is sure to delight. 

Early Morning Offerings

8:00am - 9:00am

SU 1: Yoga & Developmental Transformations
Nicole Brucato Cooley, RDT, LMFT, RYT
Mira Rozenberg, MA, RDT
Join Mira and Nicole for an embodied playful experimentation of Yoga and Developmental Transformations (DvT). Yoga is an all encompassing practice that leads to taming the mind so we can be free in our bodies, relationships and every aspect of our lives. We will explore concepts of yoga philosophy as it relates to the body, mind and play. Please wear comfortable clothing.

SU 2: BCT Meeting
Jennifer Wilson, RDT, LCAT, Education Chair
This is a required meeting for all Board Certified Trainers, moderated by Education Chair Jennifer Wilson. Bring your questions and concerns.

SU 3: RDT Application Process
Liz Muckley, LCPC, RDT/BCT, Registry Committee Chair
This one hour session will take you step by step through the application requirements. Download and print out a blank application, make a list of your questions and meet Liz Muckley, Chair of the Registry committee, your guide through this important and sometimes confusing process. Don't let mistakes and a lack of foreknowledge delay your achievement of this important goal.

Sunday Morning Long Workshops

9:15am - 12:15pm

D 1: Who Am I to Run a Business?: Stepping into Private Practice
Kristin Long, MA, RDT/BCT, LCAT, LP
Craig Haen, PhD, RDT, CGP, LCAT, FAGPA
Therapists aren’t immune to internalized messages about what they should/shouldn’t be. The presenters will examine myths that act as barriers to starting a business. Resources on practice building, ethical business approaches, and managing financial risks will be offered. Dialogue will be fostered about the realities of private practice.

D 2: The Reflective Practitioner: Exploring Intercultural Connections Within and Across Borders
Mandy Carr, MA
Ditty Dokter, PhD
Based on an MA dramatherapy module at Anglia Ruskin University UK, this workshop aims to develop interculturally reflective practitioners who are able to draw on the richness of their own cultural background. Story, myth and embodiment, along with intercultural good practice guidelines developed with the BADth and NADTA, will be employed.

D 3: Performing Paradox with H.E.A.T.
Jessica Litwak, MFA, RDT
A dynamic practical workshop in which participants are introduced to creative tools and applicable theory to use when assisting clients to face and embrace paradox, confront oppression, build community and transform conflict. We will build short solo and/or group theatre pieces creating useful, generous, and provocative art that serves.

D 4: Gender Privilege through the Lens of Masculinities and Femininities Theories
F. Antonio Ramirez Hernandez, Psy.D.
Jami Osborne, MA, RDT/BCT, LMHC, CAGS
The gender binary and its distribution of power and privilege is one of the most widespread systems of oppression. To eradicate this oppression, it is necessary to understand how gender identities affect individuals and their relationships. Drama therapy modalities demonstrate ways to explore gender identities and assumptions.

D 5: Bridging Documentary Filmmaking and Drama Therapy: Women's Narratives on Skid Row
Mimi Savage, PhD, RDT
Alina Skrzeszewska, MFA
Kelly Parker, MFA
The documentary filmmaker, Skrzeszewska, approaches creating narratives of women on Skid Row in a novel way through a drama therapist’s facilitation of a marginalized group of homeless women. Creating narratives with women via expressive arts groups, a collage of stories occurs over two-years resulting in Game Girls, the film.

D 6: Toward the One: Transpersonal Transformations for Social Justice
Daniel Wiener, PhD, RDT/BCT, LP, LMFT
Saphira Linden, MA, RDT/BCT, LCAT, TEP
Drawing from a diversity of cultural and spiritual traditions, the transpersonal drama therapy approach offers distinctive techniques to dissolve prejudicial distinctions resulting in social injustice. Through enactments of personal stories, guided meditation and sociodrama, culminating in a co-constructed celebration of unity, we shall explore the transcendent journey from individual to universal consciousness.

Sunday Early Morning Short Workshops

9:00am - 10:30pm

D 7: Working with "Disenfranchised Youth" in Inner City Schools
Diana Feldman, MA, RDT/BCT, LCAT
ENACT Inc. has successfully used its innovative drama therapy program to work in some of NYC's "toughest" inner city schools for the past 25 years, serving over 150,000 marginalized youth. Founder Diana Feldman presents her experiences through storytelling and interactive experiences. Best practices, challenges and successes address issues faced by our systematically oppressed populations in school settings.

D 8: A Rare Exhibition of Homo Elitus: Confronting Our Collusion with Authority
David Johnson, PhD, RDT/BCT
Nisha Sajnani, PhD, RDT/BCT
In this piece of performance art, participants will explore the dynamics of collusion with authority, especially with those in the dominant class. The discussion will be informed by a simultaneously occurring performance consisting of a member of the dominant class inside a metal cage engaged in the enactment of privilege.

Sunday Late Morning Short Workshops

10:45am - 12:15pm

D 9: Fiction Fueling Neurobiological Healing from Traumatic Stress in Underprivileged Communities
Michelle Farivar, MA
Scientific underpinnings from the latest neurobiological trauma research demonstrate that traditional therapy does not suffice. Scientific support for the use of dramatic techniques with underprivileged communities with a history of marginalization and trauma are outlined. Neurobiological integration, flexibility, and the polyvagal theory for affective co-regulation are explored.

D 10: Student Forum
Student Committee Co-Chairs
Do you want to connect with other drama therapy students? Come and meet students from other programs, regions, backgrounds and experiences to foster your personal relationships and create a stronger drama therapy community. Join the NADTA Student Reps as we get messy exploring the successes and challenges that come with being a drama therapy student. We hope to see you there!

CC: Closing Ceremony

12:30pm - 1:15pm