What I liked
I really appreciated getting to directly interact with Ryan and the rest of the group, most of whom I had never met before. As Ryan mentioned, the sort of exercises we were engaged in are not meant to make us “known” to each other right away, but would be part of an ongoing process of familiarization and recognition; it felt good to be amongst new people again and imagine new friendships could be formed (difficult during COVID).
What I didn't like
It might have helped to have a little bit of priming coming into the experience so we could spend a little less of the session on explanation and more on being together and doing exercises, but this is really just a general comment that it was really lovely to be with everyone and the hour flew by pretty quickly :)
My overall impression
Ryan did a phenomenal job of introducing the field of drama therapy and of working with a very generous audience on a series of exercises that addressed affinity, personal difficulties, and optimistic appreciation. Given the preceding year(s)+ and the ongoing pandemic, this workshop felt like an important opportunity to both hold time/space with others and to take a step back from anxieties of competition and “performance” (particularly for those folks who are also doing Fringe shows) and to remember that there is a ‘self’ to attend to beyond what we might do professionally.
