“Theater is about finding ways of...conveying deep truths to your audience. This requires pushing through blockages to discover your own truth, exploring and examining your own internal experience so that it can emerge in your voice and body on stage.”
-Bessel van der Kolk, The Body Keeps The Score
Theater as Healing
What is Devised Theater?
Devised theater is a collaborative process where an ensemble creates a performance piece together, guided by shared themes and collective creativity rather than a fixed script. It is a practice that values exploration, experimentation, and authentic expression over perfection. This approach allows every member of the cast and creative team to tap into their inner voices, discover new facets of themselves, and experience a sense of belonging and healing. Although Devised Theater is intended to be an artform, rather than a therapeutic modality, I believe that it can be inherently therapeutic, so it is one of my favorite ways to merge art and healing.
In addition to my local devised theater offerings, I am available to lead devised theater workshops for groups and organizations around the world. If you would like to inquire about a collaboration, please fill out a contact form. I'd love to hear from you!
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Offerings
Explore my Therapeutic and Devised Theater offerings.
Workshops
Experience the transformative power of therapeutic and devised theater through an immersive workshop.
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What to Expect:
Spend a day or a weekend engaged in playful embodiment, self-exploration, and collaborative expression. Through these theater "experiments," participants often report deep moments of self-discovery, processing, and insight. -
Benefits:
These workshops are designed to be collaborative, fun, and transformative, providing a non-judgmental space for all—from experienced pros to beginners—to explore creativity and self-expression. Past participants have reported that these workshops helped them:-
feel more mindful
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feel more in touch with their bodies
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process emotions
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understand themselves better
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connect deeply with other participants
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In short, it is a fun, creative way to get "unstuck" and understand yourself on a deeper level within the container of a supportive community.
Classes
Join a multi-week program that builds a collaborative devised theater ensemble.
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Program Highlights:
Collaboratively choose a theme for the piece, participate in a range of exercises and practices, and collectively devise a work of theater. Depending on the desires of the group, it may be performed for an invited audience of friends and family. -
Purpose:
The focus is on creation, self-expression, and the joy of play, rather than perfection or a specific outcome. Informed by my mental health training, these classes are trauma-informed and may offer therapeutic benefits even though they are not formal therapy groups.
Performance Company
Be a part of a dynamic group committed to creating high-level devised pieces for performance.
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About the Group:
Based in Lawrence, KS, the Embodied Arts Devised Theater Company is dedicated to pushing creative boundaries and producing original work that reflects a deep commitment to artistic expression and transformative storytelling. -
Collaboration:
Ideal for those looking to engage more deeply with the art form, this performance company offers a collaborative space to refine your craft and share your creative vision with the world. Interested in joining us? Contact below to inquire.
Why Therapeutic Theater?
Theater is not just a performance—it's a transformative experience that can unlock deep emotional healing. Through movement, expression, and creative play, theater offers a unique way to access and process stored tension and trauma. When we engage in the creative process, we invite transformation, connection, and renewed vitality. In my theater offerings, I aim to create a trauma-informed space centered around community, self-expression, and empowerment.