Playback Theatre

Playback Theatre is an original form of improvisational theatre in which audience or group members tell stories from their lives and watch them enacted on the spot. Playback Theatre is sometimes considered a modality of drama therapy.

History

Founded in 1975 by Jonathan Fox and Jo Salas. Fox was a student of improvisational theatre, oral traditional storytelling, psychodrama and the work of Paulo Freire.

The original Playback Theatre Company made its home in Dutchess and Ulster Counties of New York State, just north of New York City, USA. This group, while developing the basis of the Playback form, took it to schools, prisons, centers for the elderly, conferences, and festivals in an effort to encourage individuals from all walks of society to let their stories be heard. They also performed monthly for the public-at-large.

The Playback theatre idea has inspired many people. Playback companies now exist on five continents. The "International Playback Theatre Network" was founded in 1990 to support Playback activity throughout the world. As of 2004, the IPTN has 100 company and 300 individual members from 40 countries. International Playback conferences have taken place in Sydney, Australia (1992), Christchurch, New Zealand (1993), in a village north of Helsinki, Finland (1993), in Olympia, Washington USA (1995), Perth, Australia, (1997), York, England, UK (1999), Shizuoka, Japan (2003) and São Paulo, Brazil (2007).

To meet the demand for training which this level of growth has created, Jonathan Fox, Jo Salas and guest faculty run the "School of Playback Theatre", which has provided beginning, intermediate and advanced levels of training in Playback Theatre since 1993.

Theatrical form

The Playback 'form' as developed by Fox and Salas utilises component theatrical forms or pieces, developed from its sources in improvisational theatre, storytelling, and psychodrama. These components include:
*the 'Conductor': a key role combining elements of a Master of Ceremonies, Theatre Director, Interviewer and Group therapy leader
*vignettes
*oppositional pairs
*the 'oracle'

Resources

* "Acts Of Service: Spontaneity, Commitment, Tradition in the Nonscripted Theatre" - Jonathan Fox, 1986
* "Improvising Real Life: Personal Story in Playback Theatre" - Jo Salas, 1993
* "Gathering Voices: Essays on Playback Theatre" - Edited by Jonathan Fox & Heinrich Dauber, 1999
* "Performing Playback Theatre" (training DVD) - co-produced by the School of Playback Theatre and Hudson River Playback Theatre, 2006
* "Half of My Heart/La Mitad de Mi Corazón" - Edited by Jo Salas and Leslie Gauna, 2007

ee also

*Improvisational theatre
*Psychodrama

Locations of Playback theatre companies

Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Cuba, England, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Norway, Singapore, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Uruguay, USA

External links

Networks

* [http://www.playbacknet.org/ International Playback Theatre Network]
* [http://playbacknetz.de Deutschsprachiges Playback Theater Netzwerk e.V.]

chools

* [http://www.playbackschool.org School of Playback Theatre (New York)]
* [http://www.playback-theatre.it Italian School of Playback Theatre (Sondrio)]
* [http://www.playbackschule.com Deutschsprachige Schule für Playback Theater]
* [http://www.playbackschool.org/japan/ School of Playback Theatre (Japan)]

Playback companies

* [http://www.playbacktheaternw.org Playback Theater Northwest (Seattle, WA, USA)]
* [http://www.hudsonriverplayback.org Hudson River Playback Theatre, Inc. (New York, USA)]
* [http://www.villageplaybacktheatre.org Village Playback Theatre (New York, NY, USA)]
* [http://www.opendoorplayback.blogspot.com Open Door Playback - based at maximum security psychiatric hospital (Texas, USA)]
* [http://www.livingartscenter.org/Playback/ensemble.html The Living Arts Playback Theatre Ensemble (Oakland, USA)]
* [http://www.houstonplayback.org Houston Playback Theatre (Houston, USA)]
* [http://www.playbackmontreal.org Montreal Playback Theatre Co. (Canada)]
* [http://www.melbourneplayback.com.au Melbourne Playback Theatre Company (Australia)]
* [http://www.playbacktheatre.com.au Sydney Playback Theatre (Australia)]
* [http://paperbagpb.tripod.com PaperBag PlayBack Theatre (Sydney, Australia)]
* [http://www.bellingenplaybacktheatre.asn.au/ Bellingen Playback Theatre Co. (Australia)]
* [http://www.yourstruly-theatre.com Yours Truly (Bangalore, India)]
* [http://www.playback-az.com/pz/index.html Playback-az(Japan)] 　
* [http://www.trueheart.org.uk True Heart Theatre(UK)] 　
* [http://www.projektpurpur.de Playback Theatre Projekt PurPur, Mobile Stage on a Doubledecker Bus (Europe)]
* [http://www.markus-huehn.de PurPur Playback Theater (Kassel, Germany)]
* [http://home.arcor.de/playbacktheater/links.htm Germanspeaking Playback Theater Groups / Deutschsprachige Playback Theater Gruppen]
* [http://www.playback-theatre-alnair.it Alnair Playback Theatre Company (Torino, Italy)]
* [http://www.metapt.it Meta Playback Theatre (Italy)]
* [http://playbackparis.chez-alice.fr Playback Théâtre Paris (Paris, France)]
* [http://www.randomacts.freeuk.com Random Acts Theatre Company (London, UK)]
* [http://www.hedim-playback.com "Hedim" Playback Theater in Binyamina(Israel)]
* [http://www.playbackgushetzion.com Playback Theater in Gush-Etzion (Israel)]
* [http://www.kartoshkes.com Kartoshkes - The Modern Bonfire Theater (Tel Aviv, Israel)]
* [http://www.marotplayback.co.il// Marot Playback Theatre (Tel Aviv, Israel)]
* [http://www.playback.com.br/ Sao Paulo Playback Theatre (Brazil)]