Theater Therapy
Introduction by Rick Burkhardt
Theater Therapy is a composed piece which involves no improvisation.
Our attempt was to demonstrate a social dynamic which is not often talked about: how the language of one endeavor (therapy) has been popularized and now dominates other conversations. We try to show the language of therapy first in its “home” setting, a group therapy session, and then follow this language as it emerges in electoral politics, the family, war, music theory, work, theater. In order to show this, we had to compose. No piece of “realistic” theater, with characters, stage sets, and chronological time could have shown a disembodied language floating over a diverse political landscape, appearing in many different contexts.
We did not have to make up most of the sentences in the piece. Policy makers really do “psychoanalyze”entire cities. During the Gulf War of 1991, our media kept us constantly informed of the national “mood”. The language of therapy promises that it can solve problems; our goal was to show that therapy language does not help people solve problems, but instead helps them to “cope with”and “live with”problems. On a national scale, therapy language reinforces disaster.
Thus the piece tries to identify an undesirable situation which was not identified before. Does the piece provide an alternative? Does the piece make it possible to imagine a desirable society in which the problems the piece identifies would be solved? These are legitimate questions; we don't know the answers.