“Play on Words”: An analysis of a participatory play-making process with speakers with aphasia

ABSTRACT

We describe the impacts that weekly drama sessions had on three speakers with aphasia who participated in a 16-week program to create and perform a ‘devised play’ about their own experiences with aphasia. Four months after performing the resulting play on stage, the participants sat for semi-structured interviews about the drama work and its impact on them. Additionally, a survey was administered immediately after the production, to measure audience responses to the play.

Participant interviews revealed self-reported improvements in communicative confidence in all actors with aphasia, with specific positive effects on their functional communication. The audience survey revealed four major themes: (1) deeper appreciation of real-life challenges for speakers with aphasia, (2) the emotional and personal impacts the play had on the audience, (3) the scope of what the audience learned about aphasia through the play, and (4) the interest in experiencing a devised play.

With this reportage, we attempt to construct a “convergent lens” through which to analyze the impacts of the weekly theatre sessions and performance of their devised play. We discuss the outcomes, as well as practical lessons learned from this drama project.

KEYWORDS:

• Aphasia
• Drama
• Theatre
• Life participation
• Quality of Life

Acknowledgments

This project was supported by a mini-grant from SC Humanities, a state program of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The authors thank all members of drama group “Play on Words” for their contributions to the project, and in particular actors Libby, Curtis, and Frank (pseudonyms).

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the SC Humanities Mini-Grant [19-1910-2].