Dr. Stephen Snow uses the term “emancipatory potential” to describe the impact of a unique therapeutic model on these actors with disablilites. As you watch the group develop, rehearse, and ultimately present their life histories onstage, you’ll learn how a model known as ethnodramatherapy builds on traditional drama and arts therapies techniques, along with Mienczakowski’s ethnodrama method, to bring expression to the challenges marginalized populations experience on a daily basis.
In this video, you’ll find educational commentary, personal interviews, and an epilogue by Snow, including ways to incorporate expressive arts, poetry, music, and dance into work with adults with developmental disabilities. You’ll be moved by the humorous, touching, and at times disturbing stories of Snow’s group, presented by the actors themselves. In addition, you’ll hear feedback from their receptive audiences, including young students, that illustrate both the show’s effectiveness and the attitudinal shifts that can occur as a result of seeing such a performance.
By watching this video, you will:
- Understand the objectives and methodology of the ethnodramatherapy approach.
- Identify ways to incorporate expressive and performance art into work with adults with developmental disabilities.
- Learn tools for measuring the therapeutic impact of an ethnodramatherapy performance featuring marginalized populations.
Length of video: 00:43:00
English subtitles available
Group ISBN-10 #: 1-60124-424-X
Group ISBN-13 #: 978-1-60124-424-6

Stephen Snow, PhD., RDT- BCT, is a registered drama therapist, board certified trainer in drama therapy, and a certified practitioner of Playback Theatre. Snow came to Concordia University (Montreal) in 1992 as an associate professor in the department of theatre, with the express purpose of founding a drama therapy graduate program. In 1996, he co-founded the Centre for the Arts in Human Development, an innovative research, clinical practice and training centre at the university. In 1997, he co-founded the drama therapy masters program in the department of creative arts therapies, where he is presently chair and professor of drama therapy. He is the originator of a unique approach to therapeutic theatre and has directed over 40 such productions in this genre; documentaries on this work have appeared on both NBC and CBC television. He has received foundation funding to produce this performance-based research, as well as two Social Science and Humanities Research Council grants for assessment and performance ethnography research, respectively.
He is author of
Ethnodramatherapy, Integrating Research, Therapy, Theatre and Social Activism into One Method.
Snow has been the recipient of research awards from the National Association for Drama Therapy and the American Association for Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. In 2001, he received the Gertrud Schattner Award for Distinguished Service to Drama Therapy from NADT. He is co-editor and co-author of
Assessment in the Creative Arts Therapies (2009) and
Assessment in Drama Therapy (2012). His present research integrates methods of drama therapy with ethnnodrama.
For information on workshops with Dr. Snow and his colleagues, please contact website:
ethnodramatherapy.com