Date of Award

Spring 5-22-2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

MA - Master of Arts

Department

Expressive Therapies

Advisor

Laura Wood, Phd., RDT/BCT

Abstract

As research regarding the effects of trauma has expanded, particularly the effects of intergenerational trauma and historic trauma, there has been growing examples as to how drama therapy can be used to help individuals and groups address and start healing from the effects of such traumas (Volkas, 2009; Sajnani, 2009). A component of drama therapy is autobiographical performance theatre, and is defined as a form of therapeutic theatre that specifically draws on an individual’s story to create an original performance piece. This paper will examine the use of autobiographical performance theatre and how it can be a helpful intervention to address historic trauma in Southern Ireland. The aforementioned interventions demonstrated that autobiographical performance has potential to be an effective intervention regarding addressing historic trauma through the act of having the client having autonomy over how the story is presented and told. This paper closes with examining how autobiographical performance can be an effective intervention regarding historic trauma related to the Potato Famine and the Magdalene Laundries.

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Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
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