The Arts in Psychotherapy. Vol. 23, No. 1. pp.
85-87, 1996
Pergamon
SSDI 0197-4556(95)00060-7
BOOK REVIEW
Acting for Real: Drama Therapy Process, Technique,
RenCe Emunah,
(New York: BrunneriMazel, 1994, 336 pp., $24.95 paper, $49.95 hardcover)
Renee Emunah, one of drama therapy’s most
gifted and experienced group leaders and teachers has
at last put her knowledge and insights into print. Act-
ingfor Real is a tremendous achievement to be trea-
sured by drama therapists and all others who cherish
the therapeutic nature of acting. It is Emunah’s con-
viction that a powerful relationship exists between the
stage act and the life act. Through dramatic enact-
ment, we can benefit from the behaviors, roles and
emotions we portray. Acting is liberation. The stage
offers the exhilarating freedom to surpass our usual
limitations and social or psychological confinements.
The magic here is that, with proper guidance, this
newly found emancipation can be brought to life, ex-
tending our perspectives and expanding who we are as
humans. Written with perceptive clarity and intellec-
tual depth, Acting for Real delves into the heart of
drama therapy process and practice. The purpose is to
provide an integrative framework that can lend coher-
ence to drama therapy concepts and techniques while
presenting the skills that are fundamental for all
drama therapy practitioners to master. Illustrating the
text are many vivid and moving case stories of clients
Emunah has worked with over the years.
In Part I of Actingfor Red, the author lays out the
primary conceptual roots that form the theoretical
base for drama therapy. Tools are borrowed from the
multidisciplinary sources of dramatic play, theatre,
role play, psychodrama and ritual. At the same time,
treatment goals are integrated from the central tenets
of humanistic, psychodynamic and cognitive-behav-
ioral psychotherapies. As a result, her description of
drama therapy is “an active and creative form of psy-
85
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and Performance
MA, RDT
chotherapy that engages the person’s strengths and
potentialities, accesses and embraces the person’s
buried woundedness, and enables the practice and re-
hearsal of new life stances.”
Emunah believes that even though early familial
and social experiences have a profound impact on
development, human beings remain possessed of the
unique potential for change throughout the life cycle.
Treatment objectives in drama therapy generally in-
clude: the expression and containment of emotion;
the development of an observing, reflecting self; the
expansion of role repertoire and self-image; the fa-
cilitation of social interaction and the development
of interpersonal skills. However, the course of treat-
ment is always determined by an individual client
or group’s distinctive issues, needs, strengths and
weaknesses.
The backbone of Acting for Real is Emunah’s in-
sightful model of group process. The author has re-
peatedly noted, during her extensive observation of
groups, a particular progression in clients that is re-
flected in the content and nature of their dramatic
work. She hypothesizes that these observations rep-
resent an organic, five-part succession intrinsic to the
course of treatment. The “five phases” of a drama
therapy group are not meant to be viewed as rigid
entities, but rather as fluid guides in analyzing the
gradual unfolding of the therapeutic process. The
great advantage of Emunah’s phase model is that the
drama therapist is assisted in pacing, identifying
needs, assessing progress and determining appropri-
ate techniques and interventions throughout long- or
short-term treatment.
86 BOOK REVIEW
The first phase lays a supportive foundation for the
work to follow. Largely based on the traditions of
dramatic play and humanistic psychology, a non-
threatening, playful environment is established. Tech-
niques that are physically active and socially interac-
tive are prominent and the development of trust and
spontaneity is encouraged. Not unlike children at
play, Phase One clients should ideally experience “a
sense of permission, freedom, and joy.” In contrast,
the focus of Phase Two is on sustained dramatic
scenework, involving developed roles and character-
izations. As in classical theatre, the clients play char-
acters that do not reflect directly on their own lives.
The use of less immediate self-disclosure is an im-
portant step in the gradual development of trust and
spontaneity.
In Phase Three there is a shift from dramatizing the
imaginary to acting what is real. Clients are now able
to use the dramatic medium in an inquiry of their own
lives. Typically, current conflicts and concerns are
enacted and discussed. Phase Three exemplifies the
idea of drama as a rehearsal for life. The stage be-
comes a living laboratory in which troubling issues
can be explored and experimented with safely. Thus,
relying primarily on role play techniques and a cog-
nitive-behavioral approach, clients are able to gain a
clearer perspective on the roles and role patterns they
play out in life.
The culmination of a drama therapy series is fre-
quently the psychodramatic scenes of Phase Four.
This stage marks a movement from concrete, present-
day problems to the core issues in one’s life. The past
now bubbles to the surface and unconscious material
becomes more readily accessed. The treatment focus
shifts from the group to the individual, as the inner
life of the protagonist is dramatically examined and
exposed. Often, as long buried emotions are ex-
pressed, a powerful experience of catharsis occurs.
Emunah is adamant that the degree of group trust,
together with the level of dramatic skill, be on a par
with the therapeutic intensity of the emerging psycho-
dramatic scenework. Furthermore, the content of the
scenes ought to be emergent, stemming from the pro-
cess gradually over time. These guidelines enable a
greater degree of depth, subtlety and complexity than
if a group were to launch into psychodramatic work
prematurely.
Phase Five highlights transition and closure and is
conceptually linked to dramatic ritual. Through rituals
and other dramatic processes, clients are helped to
review the series and their individual progress, give
and receive feedback, experience the rewards of ac-
complishment and express the ambivalence of both
joy and sadness at completion. Closure is an impor-
tant part of development, facilitating the integration
and assimilation of the therapeutic process. Yet clo-
sure does not necessarily imply that a solution or res-
olution has been reached. The focus in Phase Five is
on helping clients take the changes made within the
context of drama therapy into the outside world.
The five phases described above may also be ap-
plied to the course of a single drama therapy session.
In this way, Emunah analyzes in detail the progres-
sion of an individual session, emphasizing the impor-
tance of an aesthetic perspective. Each part should be
allowed to flow seamlessly into the next until the final
moment of closure, which is often poignant or poetic.
Endings in drama therapy, like those in theatre, have
an almost sacred significance. “The aestheticism is
emotionally and psychologically stirring, reaching a
place inside the person that often cannot be expressed
in words. ” Emunah exemplifies the therapist as artist.
In her work she constantly brings together therapeutic
and theatrical considerations, believing strongly that
each enhances the other. In fact, it is her opinion that
the aesthetic and therapeutic aspects of drama therapy
are inseparable.
With regard to special challenges in the drama
therapy session, Emunah reviews resistance and the
ways in which a facilitator might respond to this
sometimes threatening phenomenon. She also dis-
cusses “choice points, ” the subtle decisions that must
be continually made on the spot during a session and
that can be one of the most difficult and engaging
aspects of the therapist’s work. Such choice points
commonly involve considerations of group versus in-
dividual needs, pacing and timing and enactment ver-
sus verbal discussion.
Next, Emunah focuses in on the core of the ses-
sion, viewing the dramatic scene in extreme close-up.
Dramatic scenes in drama therapy are generally im-
provisational rather than scripted and fall into several
categories representative of their level of inherent
structure. The therapeutic objectives commonly con-
sidered when directing the development of impro-
vised scenes include: uncovering the meaning of a
role, finding alternative or new behaviors, heighten-
ing or containing emotion, and introducing an internal
nurturing parent. Emunah also reviews the primary
tools and techniques of scene direction and the meth-
ods and rationale of scene resolution.
Part II of Acting for Real is devoted to drama ther-
 BOOK REVIEW
apy techniques and is an incredible resource in and of
itself. More than 100 techniques are described and
integrated with therapeutic considerations, applica-
tions and illustrations. They are listed according to
phases of the session and treatment series and further
categorized according to therapeutic objectives. It
should be noted that the classifications are not meant
to be inflexible and there is a large degree of overlap
between them. The therapist’s own creativity in using
and adapting these techniques is encouraged. The ex-
tensive list of techniques presented here may be ap-
plied to many diverse contexts and populations, in-
cluding: individual, family and group therapy; day
treatment centers; psychiatric hospital units; and rec-
reational work. The majority of the techniques were
devised by Emunah as she found herself challenged to
meet the needs of particular groups and therapeutic
situations.
The final section of the book discusses the impact
of self-revelatory performance and tells the story of
Beyond Analysis, a threatre company of ex-psy-
chiatric patients that Emunah founded in 1979. To-
gether they learned about the relationship between the
process of drama therapy and the creation of a theat-
rical product and about the very thin line separating
life and art. Over the course of a year this group of
seven individuals, each grappling with his or her own
personal issues, produced a play called Inside Out. In
an absorbing and insightful account Emunah relates
the profound therapeutic and theatrical experiences
that they shared.
Although the focus of Acting for Real is on the
process and techniques of drama therapy, Emunah
realizes that even more significant is the quality of the
interaction between therapist and client. “In the final
analysis, the effectiveness of models and modalities,
of approaches and tools, hinges on the personal char-
acteristics of the practitioner who applies them . .
the most important aspects of treatment are not the
therapist’s knowledge of theory and techniques, but
rather his or her capacity for genuineness, acceptance
and caring, and deep understanding of each unique
client .”
RenCe Emunah is a group facilitator who is blessed
with unusual talent, sensitivity and integrity. For over
twenty years she has been challenging herself, her
students and especially her clients in a process of
discovery regarding the nature and potential of drama
therapy. Drawing inspiration from her clients, she
states that: “In them I witness the confrontation with
pain more intensely than elsewhere in life . . ” And
from them, she has learned to what extent, and with
enough spirit, we can all change. As a drama thera-
pist, Emunah has stood by her clients and students as
they courageously mapped “dark unknown territory”
together. Now, as an author she has likewise shone
her light clearly, making the realm of drama therapy
process and practice plainly visible to all those who
read her words.
Siobhan 0. Korman, Ph.D.
Woodside, CA