Transcriber: Maricene Crus Reviewer: Denise RQ
My initial impressions of homelessness were shaped by one incident.
I entered Preble Street Resource Center
as a first-year Master's of Social Work student intern.
I was wearing my very green social worker badge
practically proclaiming: "I am a fixer!"
(Laughter)
And so I put myself in the middle of a very dangerous physical altercation
between two men, and I was nearly punched in the face.
This led me to believe that the homeless were unstable,
violent and lost,
and I, too, was feeling a little lost.
In an effort to help me reconnect with my work,
my supervisor encouraged me to tap into my theater history and create a group.
At the time there were no active groups at Resource Center
and exposure to the creative arts had been historically limited.
I knew a group needed to be approachable, fun and safe,
so I figured improvisational theater was the way to go.
(Laughter)
I called the group Off the Cuff,
a space for all things crazy and impulsive.
and our first session met on November 7, 2012.
I facilitated movement
through several improvisational activities all with audience participation,
and I myself stood up and joined in the scene work
to usher out any nervousness from the participants.
The feedback was extraordinarily positive,
and I launched weekly sessions of the group.
The real life stories of the individuals began to emerge,
that is, the stories outside of their homeless label.
The homeless label,
I argue, it is the heaviest weight a person can carry in our society today.
Homelessness is an all-consuming, stigma-ridden label
paralyzing those who are in it,
so much so, they lose sight of who they are, who they once were,
and who they could ever hope to become.
And we all have an idea of what homelessness looks like.
I know I did.
After eight sessions I began to see a real need for therapeutic intervention.
I decided to introduce
basic drama therapy practice into the group,
specifically the idea of creating a space
for individuals to explore former roles and explore new roles.
And this experience it's shared with the audience
who offers live feedback and moral support.
And suddenly the idea
of actually playing out these roles in real life
becomes obtainable for the participants.
Fast-forward to my second year of graduate school,
I was busy working on my thesis.
I had one full year of experience with Off the Cuff
and in my research I realized there were virtually no attempts
to marry drama therapy with the homeless experience.
So, I set out to determine the usefulness and helpfulness of drama therapy
with the homeless population in Portland, Maine.
I conducted a qualitative field study and I interviewed six active participants.
After months of listening to these interviews,
I narrowed it to seven experiential themes.
Happiness, self-worth, relationship building,
mindfulness, honest expression, creativity, and witness,
which means seeing somebody having an aha moment
and understanding the possibility
of having your own aha moment and making your own change.
Some clients' quotes from the interviews:
"The roles you play can teach you how to do good stuff with your life.
It makes our lives happier."
"It engages folks in here to let folks out there know
we are not all stereotypical.
People have conceptions about homeless that are not true."
Drama therapy proved to be both useful and helpful to the homeless population.
And, by the way,
one of the participants I interviewed was a man named John.
John is the man that nearly punched me in the face.
John became the group's greatest success
and its biggest advocate.
He empowered all members
to find their own activity and find their own healing.
And I witnessed
a truly compassionate and mindful man emerge right before my eyes.
My interview with John took place in his apartment.
John said: "Off the Cuff reminded me of who I was, not just a homeless man."
He went on to say: "I felt noticed for the first time."
And that alone made me want to make change.
In theater we talk a lot about the fourth wall.
It's the invisible wall dividing the audience from the actor.
And as actors we were taught, to effectively communicate life,
you must keep the fourth wall in mind, and never break it down.
With Off the Cuff I not only broke down the theatrical fourth wall,
I also broke down the Social Work fourth wall.
I truly met the clients where they were at,
often in the depths of confusion and despair.
But I used their language, I used their prompts,
and I communicated with them as one human being to another.
And the results absolutely changed my impression of homelessness.
So now, I ask all of you:
Have you ever felt stuck in a role you felt was unjust?
How did that feel?
Have you broken free?
Thank you.
(Applause)