The video includes two films:
- Playing & Pretending
- The Pleasure of Play
Playing & Pretending is about spontaneous dramatic play, puppetry, movement, storytelling,
and dreams by normal children of all ages in school and community settings. It demonstrates many forms of drama with preschool and latency age children, including creative movement, puppetry, roleplay, and improvisation. It’s also about the nature of creativity, the importance of impulse control and expression, and the cognitive and affective learning that is possible through drama. The role of the leader is emphasized.
The Pleasure of Play provides a series of vignettes from sessions led by six drama therapists, the dreams, traumas, and anxieties of youngsters with special needs are the core of the drama therapy experience. It shows work by different drama therapists in residential schools, rehabilitation centers, and outpatient clinics with children who have neurological, cognitive, sensory, and emotional disabilities. Also, it stresses the leader’s role in facilitating therapeutic growth and change.
As a co-founder of the National Association for Drama Therapy and a licensed psychologist, Dr. Eleanor Irwin has helped countless young patients find creative ways to express themselves and achieve emotional healing. She has also taught and written widely on the subject, helping to raise awareness of the life-affirming power that comes from acting out stories, scenarios, and feelings.
