Theatre of Witness

1. Introduction

Version followed: Teya Sepinuck's Theatre of Witness (ToW) as documented in published interviews and studies of her Philadelphia and Derry/Londonderry (Northern Ireland, 2009–2014) productions, plus her short-format workshops (Penn Memory Center 2016; Glencree 2024). The publisher pages for her book (Sepinuck, 2013, Jessica Kingsley; 240 pp.) confirm its contents, including a closing chapter called "Coda: Guiding Principles"; the book's text has no public preview, so the founder's own wording of her principles is not reproduced and book-only content is not reported [uncertain]. No formal training programme in the method is documented in the sources used. Clinical safety procedures for psychotherapists are marked [synthesis].

Theatre of Witness is not a psychotherapy. It is a model of testimonial performance in which people whose voices have not been heard perform their own true stories, and audiences bear witness to suffering, transformation and peace [source: Shapiro-Phim & Sepinuck, Brandeis; JKP book page]. Sepinuck developed it from 1986 in Philadelphia and later worked in Poland and Northern Ireland. Participants have included prisoners and their families, refugees, survivors and perpetrators of abuse, ex-combatants, people who are homeless, elders, war survivors, and most recently hospital cleaning staff [source: JKP book page; Texas Conflict Coach page; Bacha 2024]. Sepinuck describes her approach as a set of principles that generate guidelines, not as a systematised method [source: Grant & Jennings 2013, abstract].

Core idea of change (as the sources describe it): the work looks for "the medicine in the stories". That means the turning points, resilience, accountability and love inside an account of suffering, not the suffering alone. Telling that story publicly, in front of witnesses and alongside people from the "other side", is meant to humanise the other and build empathy in the performers and the audience. It also turns private pain into public ritual and shared grieving [source: Shapiro-Phim & Sepinuck, Brandeis; Blackburn Miller 2018; Bacha 2024]. Participants report autonomy and empowerment, but the process can also retraumatise and must be handled with care [source: Grant & Jennings 2013, abstract; Blackburn Miller 2018].

Professional frame [synthesis]: Theatre of Witness has no regulated profession and no credential of its own. None of the publisher pages, the Playhouse page or the interviews describes a formal training or certification programme in the method [uncertain]. Sepinuck does run short introductory sessions, such as an online interactive storytelling workshop for Glencree's intergenerational project in August 2024 [source: Glencree 2024]. These are not a training route. She works as a theatre artist and director and taught at Swarthmore College. The sources differ on how long: one gives 1974–2002, another "almost 20 years" in the dance department [source: Swarthmore archive 2015; Swarthmore 2015]. A psychotherapist who wants to build a testimony performance with clients should not direct one alone without training in group enactment work: drama therapy (UK: HCPC registration, "Dramatherapist" being an HCPC protected title [source: UK Regulated Professions Register]; US and Canada: the NADTA Registered Drama Therapist credential [source: NADTA RDT page]) or psychodrama (ASGPP/ABE) [uncertain: psychodrama certification details unverified]. They also need experienced theatre-making collaborators. The more usual clinical roles are (a) designated clinical support to a production led by an artist, (b) preparing and supporting an individual client who takes part in a production, or (c) running a smaller in-house adaptation under drama therapy supervision. Get informed legal and safeguarding advice before anything is performed in public.

2. Framework

Sequence documented for productions [source: Blackburn Miller 2018, unless tagged otherwise]:

Topic and community. The director chooses a social-justice topic that matters to the community, such as the legacy of the Troubles, domestic abuse, gang violence, life imprisonment, exile, dementia or hospital work [source: Blackburn Miller 2018; Swarthmore 2015; Bacha 2024].
Outreach and listening circles. The director meets community members connected to the topic in small listening circles.
Individual interviews and preparation. The director meets prospective performers one to one, usually many times, before any group meeting [source: Blackburn Miller 2018]. In Northern Ireland, Sepinuck also told participants about one another before the group met, so nobody arrived "cold" [source: Shapiro-Phim & Sepinuck, Brandeis].
Selection for readiness. The director decides who is ready to work alongside the "other side". Prior therapy does not settle this; the person has to be in a personal place where they can do it. A cast is usually 6–10 people.
Informal relationship building. Performers get to know each other before creative work starts.
Group creative process and scripting. Group interviews and creative process techniques are used [source: Texas Conflict Coach page]. The script is built from interview excerpts and refined with each performer until they are comfortable performing it.
Artistic development and rehearsal. About eight months in total. There are no professional actors. The director shapes staging, lighting and music, and collaborators add film and original songs [source: Blackburn Miller 2018; Bacha 2024].
Performance and touring. Spoken testimony is combined with music, movement, imagery and film projection. In Northern Ireland, four productions gave about 70–80 performances over five years, and each performer did at least 14. There were no understudies, and Sepinuck reports that no performer missed a show [source: Shapiro-Phim & Sepinuck, Brandeis].
Post-show. There is a reception, audience engagement on the topic, and reflection sheets [source: Shapiro-Phim & Sepinuck, Brandeis; Blackburn Miller 2018].
Afterlife. Documentary films of each production are made and later used by former performers in workshops in schools, organisations and peace events [source: Blackburn Miller 2018; Derry Playhouse page].

Format: a closed group of non-actors, a single facilitator-director plus artistic collaborators, a host theatre (for example The Playhouse, Derry) and grant funding. The sources name EU peace funding, the Community Relations Council/T:BUC and the William Penn Foundation [source: Liverpool AfR case study; Derry Playhouse page; Bacha 2024]. Funding dates differ between sources: "2009–2014" (SEUPB) versus "Peace IV 2007–2013" [uncertain].

Short-format variant: Sepinuck has also run workshop series that may or may not lead to a production. At Penn Memory Center (Philadelphia, 2016), carers and people living with dementia met for six weekly 90-minute evening workshops. The focus was deep listening and creative expression, using talking, storytelling, drawing, singing and relaxation exercises. Carers could join a further six-week series, and a performance project was only a possibility [source: Penn Memory Center 2016]. In 2024 she led a single online interactive storytelling workshop for Glencree's intergenerational project [source: Glencree 2024]. The session-by-session content of these series is not published [uncertain].

Criteria for moving between phases: the sources give only these. The director judges readiness to meet the other side individually before group work. Script material is reworked until each performer is comfortable with it. Shows are cancelled or replaced with film when a performer's safety requires it [source: Blackburn Miller 2018; Shapiro-Phim & Sepinuck, Brandeis]. The explicit gates below are [synthesis] for clinicians:

Into the group: screening completed (section 4.1); the person can describe the story without losing orientation; they have a support person and a crisis plan; written consent to the process (not yet to performance).
Into scripting: the person can tolerate hearing their own words read back; they can name which parts are private.
Into public performance: a separate, written, itemised consent to disclose (section 4.3); any legal or safeguarding review is complete; a rehearsal run-through has been tolerated at least twice without dissociation or a crisis lasting into the next day; a withdrawal and replacement plan exists (film, a reduced part, or a cut).
Out of the run: planned closure and follow-up (sections 4.17–4.18).

3. Guiding principles

The book ends with a chapter of guiding principles ("Coda: Guiding Principles"), and a reviewer notes that Sepinuck distils her work into a set of principles [source: Woodslane book page; UBC Press book page]. That chapter's text is not publicly available. The principles below are assembled from interviews and studies and may not match her own list or wording [uncertain].

Performers tell their own true stories, so there are no understudies [source: Shapiro-Phim & Sepinuck, Brandeis]. In practice, every safety decision is personal and cannot be solved by recasting. Plan alternatives (film, a cut part) from the start.
Look for the medicine, not just the wound [source: Shapiro-Phim & Sepinuck, Brandeis; Swarthmore archive 2015; Bacha 2024]. Sepinuck asks where the resilience, the beauty and the love are in a story. She sees participants' stories as "medicine for other people" [source: Brandeis; Penn Memory Center 2016]. In practice, interviewing and scripting look for turning points, strengths and accountability. The aim is not maximal disclosure of trauma detail.
Witnessing. Audiences are asked to put a face and heart to social suffering [source: Texas Conflict Coach page]. In practice, the audience has a role and needs preparation and a way to respond (section 4.15).
Humanising the other. Performers from opposing sides share a stage, and perpetrators' stories are included even though they are harder to identify with [source: Blackburn Miller 2018; Swarthmore 2015]. In practice, the cast mix and sequencing are clinical decisions as well as artistic ones, and they need readiness screening for meeting the other side.
The director as listener, not interrogator; deep listening [source: Grant & Jennings 2013, abstract; Penn Memory Center 2016]. Her workshops are described as centred on deep listening. In practice, interviews and group sessions follow the person's pace and choice of material. Do not probe for detail.
Readiness over willingness. Someone may have had therapy and still not be ready [source: Blackburn Miller 2018]. "This work is not for everybody" [source: Cassidy, Georgetown]. In practice, it is acceptable and expected to say "not now".
Performer comfort with the script [source: Blackburn Miller 2018]. In practice, the performer has a working veto over their own lines. Making this an explicit right is [synthesis].
Safety outranks the show. For example, a Stormont performance was cancelled as too dangerous for a participant, and some parts were filmed for safety [source: Shapiro-Phim & Sepinuck, Brandeis]. In practice, physical and political risk (threats, retaliation, being identified) is assessed alongside psychological risk.
Spiritual life and public ritual. Sepinuck frames the work as a humanist spirituality, invites discussion of participants' "prayer-life" and treats performance as healing ritual [source: Grant & Jennings 2013, abstract; Bacha 2024]. In practice, this is the founder's own framing. Clinicians should offer it, not impose it, and respect participants with no faith or a different one [synthesis].
Collaboration and art quality. The work is "very collaborative", with music, film and imagery woven in [source: Bacha 2024; Texas Conflict Coach page]. In practice, artistic form gives containment and distance, so do not skimp on it [synthesis].
Avoiding commodification. Safeguards are meant to stop stories being exploited [source: Grant & Jennings 2013, abstract; the specific safeguards are not described there, uncertain]. In practice, performers' interests outrank funders', venues' and the director's.
Peer community. Casts form family-like support over time, with growing pains [source: Blackburn Miller 2018]. In practice, build peer support in deliberately but do not rely on it as the only aftercare [synthesis].
Limits of distance. Critics argue that because tellers are so close to their stories, audiences may engage with them less freely than with fiction [source: Grant & Jennings 2013, abstract]. In practice, an audience may feel unable to question or disagree. Design the post-show so that is possible without exposing the performer [synthesis].

4. Intervention inventory

The available sources name the procedures below but give few step-level details. No published step-by-step protocol was found; steps marked [synthesis] are the writer's clinical operationalisation, not Sepinuck's documented practice. Workshop activities are named only in general terms: talking, storytelling, drawing, singing and relaxation exercises, and, online, a "pretend bell" and raised hands to acknowledge being heard [source: Penn Memory Center 2016; Glencree 2024]. How each exercise is run is not described in the available sources, including the book's public pages [uncertain].

4.1 Screening and readiness assessment

Purpose: decide who can safely tell their story publicly, and when. Sepinuck selects for readiness to work with the other side, not just willingness [source: Blackburn Miller 2018; Cassidy, Georgetown]. The structured screen below is [synthesis].
Steps [synthesis]:
1. Take a standard clinical history covering current PTSD symptoms, dissociation, suicidality and self-harm (assessed with standard risk-assessment practice), substance use, psychosis or mania, recent bereavement, and pending legal proceedings.
2. Ask what the story is for: why tell it publicly, why now, and what they hope will change.
3. Map external risk: perpetrators or paramilitary groups who could retaliate; family members who would be exposed; immigration or asylum status; ongoing court cases; employer or community reactions.
4. Check stability: can they talk about the core event for 10–15 minutes and come back to the present when you ask (grounding test)? Do they have a support person, and a therapist outside the production if needed?
5. Decide: ready now; ready for the group but not for performance; or not now, with a review date. Write the decision down and tell them plainly.
Relative contraindications [synthesis]: acute PTSD or a trauma less than about a year old without stabilisation; active suicidality; current abusive relationship with someone who would be named; ongoing criminal or civil case about the events (testimony can be used as evidence); severe dissociation; a person who mainly wants to expose or punish someone.
Example language (illustrative): "Being on stage with your own story is a big step. Before we talk about the show, I want to understand what you carry day to day and what would help you stay steady."
Watch for: eagerness driven by unprocessed anger, or by wanting to be rescued; pressure from family or a referring agency; people who agree to everything. Working indicator: the person can name what they will not share.

4.2 Topic choice and listening circles

Purpose: anchor the production in a community issue and meet potential performers in a low-stakes setting [source: Blackburn Miller 2018].
Steps: (1) choose a social-justice topic with community partners; (2) invite people connected to it; (3) hold small listening circles where people speak if they wish and others listen without debate [source: Blackburn Miller 2018]. Circle ground rules, such as confidentiality, the right to pass and no cross-talk, are [synthesis].
Example language (illustrative): "Nobody has to speak today. If you do, the rest of us just listen — no advice, no argument."
Watch for: people who disclose more than they intended in a first circle. Follow them up individually within 48 hours [synthesis].

4.3 Layered consent to disclosure and the right to withdraw

Purpose: performers stay in control of what becomes public. The sources say performers refine material until comfortable, and that some consented to first names only. A formal performer consent protocol is not described [source: Blackburn Miller 2018]. The layered structure below is [synthesis].
Steps [synthesis]:
1. Consent to the process: interviews, group sessions, audio recording and transcription. Agree who holds recordings and when they are destroyed.
2. Consent to the script: the performer reads every line attributed to them, and to others about them, and can cut or change any line at any time.
3. Consent to disclose itemised content: list each sensitive element (names, places, crimes, sexual content, health, third parties) and record a yes or no for each, in writing.
4. Consent to film, photos and press: separate from the live show, including future use of the documentary in workshops and schools.
5. Right to withdraw: they can leave at any stage, including on the day of a show, without having to justify it. Agree in advance what happens then (a filmed segment, a cut, or a cancellation) so withdrawing does not feel like sabotaging the cast.
6. Re-confirm consent before the first public show and before any filming or broadcast.
Third parties: avoid identifying living people who have not consented. Get legal advice about defamation and about admissions of offences, especially from ex-combatants or perpetrators. Make sure the performer understands any duty you have to report risk to children or vulnerable adults [synthesis].
Example language (illustrative): "You can take any line out, any time, right up to the night. We've already planned what happens if you need to step back — it won't break the show."
Watch for: consent given to please the director or the group. Signs include agreeing without reading, or anxiety rising as the opening night nears. Working indicator: the performer actually exercises the veto at least once.

4.4 Repeated one-to-one interviews

Purpose: gather the story and build trust before any group exposure. Sepinuck meets each person individually, usually many times, and positions herself as a listener rather than an interrogator [source: Blackburn Miller 2018; Shapiro-Phim & Sepinuck, Brandeis; Grant & Jennings 2013, abstract].
Steps: (1) meet individually several times before the first group meeting; (2) let the person lead; (3) record with consent, since the script is later built from interview excerpts [source: Blackburn Miller 2018]. Pacing and grounding steps are [synthesis]: limit trauma-focused talk to part of each meeting; close each one by orienting to the present; leave at least a week between intense interviews.
Example language (illustrative): "Tell me as much or as little as you want. I'm especially interested in the moments where something shifted for you."
Watch for: signs of flooding, such as fragmented speech, a fixed stare or shaking. Stop, ground, and leave the topic for a later meeting [synthesis].

4.5 Readiness selection for meeting the "other side"

Purpose: put together a cast that can share a stage across a conflict divide [source: Blackburn Miller 2018].
Steps: the director decides individually who is ready to work with the other side. How ready depends on the production's topic, and prior therapy alone does not qualify someone [source: Blackburn Miller 2018]. Checking specifically for triggers linked to particular cast members, such as a person from the group linked to a relative's killing, is [synthesis].
Example language (illustrative): "In this group there will be someone whose history is tied to the side that hurt your family. How do you imagine being in a room with them?"
Watch for: an idealised wish to reconcile that hides unresolved rage. Delay them rather than exclude them [synthesis].

4.6 Informal relationship building

Purpose: performers get to know each other as people before working with the stories [source: Blackburn Miller 2018].
Steps: shared meals, social time and unstructured contact before creative work [source: Blackburn Miller 2018, informal contact only; the specific activities are synthesis].
Watch for: early alliances along conflict lines. Mix seating and pairings deliberately [synthesis].

4.7 First group meeting: sequenced story introductions

Purpose: each person enters the group by sharing a small part of their story, in an order that protects the most fragile [source: Shapiro-Phim & Sepinuck, Brandeis].
Steps: (1) everyone has already met the director individually, and the director has told each of them a little about the others beforehand [source: Shapiro-Phim & Sepinuck, Brandeis; Blackburn Miller 2018]; (2) each person introduces themselves with a little of their story; (3) the director chooses the order so a more fragile participant is not overwhelmed. In one first meeting, Sepinuck stopped a participant from going first because she judged that the next person would be too overwhelmed to follow [source: Shapiro-Phim & Sepinuck, Brandeis]. A time limit for each speaker and an explicit "just a little" frame are [synthesis].
Example language (illustrative): "Just your name and one small piece of why you're here. The rest can come later."
Watch for: someone who cries for several sessions before they are ready to speak. This happened in Northern Ireland and was allowed to unfold [source: Shapiro-Phim & Sepinuck, Brandeis]. Allow silence and passes.

4.8 Group interviews and creative process techniques

Purpose: generate more material and connection between stories [source: Texas Conflict Coach page].
Steps: productions are scripted from individual and group interviews and from "various creative process techniques" [source: Texas Conflict Coach page]. In the hospital-worker production, performers built on each other's accounts [source: Bacha 2024]. Her dementia workshop series used talking, storytelling, drawing, singing and relaxation exercises, aiming to build community, safety and joy alongside sharing struggles [source: Penn Memory Center 2016]. The sources do not say how each exercise is set up and run [uncertain]. Clinicians adapting the work can use standard drama therapy warm-ups, drawing and writing prompts within their own training [synthesis], but should not present the specific steps as ToW technique.

4.8a Listening and acknowledgement signals in circles (including online)

Purpose: keep a sharing space safe and make listening visible. In an online workshop, Sepinuck used a "pretend bell" and had participants hold up their hands to show a speaker they had been heard. Participants described her instructions for keeping the online space safe as gentle and direct [source: Glencree 2024].
Steps: the source names the signals but not how they are used [uncertain]. A workable version [synthesis]: (1) agree the signals at the start; (2) sound the bell (real or mimed) to open and close each person's turn, leaving a pause before the next speaker; (3) after each speaker, listeners silently raise a hand to acknowledge them, without comment or advice; (4) close the session with the bell.
Example language (illustrative): "When someone finishes, just raise your hand so they know they've been heard. No need to say anything."
Watch for: speakers who want a response and seem let down by the silence; check in with them afterwards. Sign it is working: people pause and settle before the next turn rather than rushing on [synthesis].

4.9 Finding "the medicine" in the story

Purpose: shape each story around its turning points, resilience, accountability, beauty or love, not only around the trauma [source: Shapiro-Phim & Sepinuck, Brandeis; Bacha 2024].
Steps [synthesis built on that principle]: (1) after the core story has been told, ask about the moments it turned; (2) ask what helped them survive and what they now know; (3) for performers who harmed others, explore accountability and what changed; (4) mark these passages as the spine of the script.
Example language (illustrative): "When did something begin to change, even a little? Who or what got you through?"
Watch for: forced redemption arcs. Do not push a performer to forgive or to perform healing they do not feel [synthesis].

4.10 Exploring spiritual life (optional)

Purpose: Sepinuck invites participants to talk about their spiritual life, or "prayer-life", and frames the work as a humanist spirituality [source: Grant & Jennings 2013, abstract]. How she does this in practice is not described in the available sources [uncertain].
Steps [synthesis]: ask an open, optional question about what sustains them, and accept secular answers as equally valid.
Example language (illustrative): "Some people draw on faith, some on nature or family, some on nothing in particular. Is there anything like that for you?"
Watch for: participants from religiously divided communities, where faith is part of the conflict. Never make it a requirement [synthesis].

4.11 Script composition and performer review

Purpose: turn the testimony into a performable script that the performer owns [source: Blackburn Miller 2018].
Steps: (1) the director composes the script from interview excerpts [source: Blackburn Miller 2018]; in the hospital production Sepinuck wrote the performers' parts [source: Bacha 2024]; (2) performers work with the director to refine their material until they are comfortable performing it [source: Blackburn Miller 2018]; (3) performers' own phrases can give the production its title or song themes [source: Bacha 2024]. Formal read-back sessions, line-by-line veto and itemised consent are [synthesis] (see 4.3).
Example language (illustrative): "Here is what I've drawn from our conversations. Read it as if you're hearing it from the audience's seat. Mark anything that feels too exposed or not quite true."
Watch for: a performer who cannot read their own words without dissociating. Reduce the detail, move to a more distant form (third person, a song, or a film segment), or postpone [synthesis].

4.12 Artistic layering: music, movement, imagery, film, song

Purpose: weave stories with original music, spoken word, movement, visual imagery and film projection [source: Blackburn Miller 2018; Texas Conflict Coach page]. Examples: a couple affected by domestic abuse dancing together on stage [source: Swarthmore 2015]; life-sentenced prisoners performing an original composition [source: Swarthmore 2015]; the cast singing together, with songs drawn from a performer's line [source: Bacha 2024].
Steps: the director shapes staging, lighting and music, and collaborates with a filmmaker and a musician [source: Blackburn Miller 2018; Bacha 2024]. Using art form as aesthetic distance is [synthesis]. For example, a song can carry content too raw to speak, and film can carry a part a performer cannot deliver live.
Touch and movement [synthesis]: any choreography involving touch, especially between people with a history of abuse or conflict, needs explicit consent each time, a rehearsed opt-out signal, cultural sensitivity, and no sexual or genital touch.
Watch for: art choices that override a performer's comfort for the sake of effect.

4.13 Rehearsal, pacing and session structure

Purpose: build performance capacity over about eight months without overwhelming performers [source: Blackburn Miller 2018, duration only].
Steps [synthesis]:
1. Open each session with a check-in on mood, sleep, triggers since last time, and any line to cut.
2. Work the most intense material early in the session, never last.
3. Rehearse a personal grounding routine for use on stage and in the wings.
4. Agree a stop signal any performer can use.
5. Close with a check-out and a stepping-out ritual (4.16).
6. Increase exposure gradually: reading alone, reading to the director, to the cast, to invited supporters, then to the public.
Watch for: rising nightmares, sleep loss or absences. Reduce the rehearsal load and review consent [synthesis].

4.14 Safety substitutions, anonymity and cancellation

Purpose: protect performers from external danger and from being overwhelmed [source: Shapiro-Phim & Sepinuck, Brandeis].
Steps: (1) film a performer's part when live presence is unsafe; (2) let a performer attend shows incognito; (3) cancel a performance in a venue judged too dangerous for a participant, as with the planned Stormont show [source: Shapiro-Phim & Sepinuck, Brandeis]. First names only, by consent [source: Blackburn Miller 2018]. Pre-planned threat assessment with the venue and, where relevant, the police is [synthesis].
Watch for: threats, social-media exposure, or a performer's reluctance to admit fear.

4.15 Audience safety and preparation [mainly synthesis]

Purpose: audiences witness traumatic material and may include survivors, perpetrators, or relatives of either. ToW engages audiences directly on the topic and collects reflection sheets [source: Blackburn Miller 2018; Shapiro-Phim & Sepinuck, Brandeis].
Steps [synthesis]:
1. Put content information in publicity and at the door.
2. Brief front-of-house staff on what to do if an audience member is distressed.
3. Have a quiet room and a trained support person on site; list local support lines in the programme.
4. Set norms for the post-show: performers are not interrogated, and questions may be declined.
5. For school audiences, prepare in advance with teachers and have safeguarding leads present.
Reflection sheets: audience members write reflections, which are read aloud to the cast before the next performance [source: Shapiro-Phim & Sepinuck, Brandeis]. Screening sheets before reading them to the cast, so that hostile responses are filtered out, is [synthesis].
Watch for: audience members who seek out a performer to confront or disclose to them. Staff should step in [synthesis].

4.16 Post-show reception and stepping out (the de-roling equivalent)

Purpose: performers play themselves, so classical de-roling from a character does not apply. They still need to step out of the testimony and the heightened state of performance. In Northern Ireland, performers left the stage to regroup and hug, then chose whether to mingle at a reception, where audience members shared their own stories [source: Shapiro-Phim & Sepinuck, Brandeis].
Steps: (1) the cast regroups offstage first; (2) mingling is optional [source: Shapiro-Phim & Sepinuck, Brandeis]. The stepping-out ritual is [synthesis]:
1. Name one thing in the room now.
2. Say aloud "that was then; this is now" in your own words.
3. Take off a costume item or prop.
4. Drink water.
5. Do a buddy check before leaving.
6. Text the support person on arriving home.
Example language (illustrative): "Before you go out there, let's take two minutes. You told it; it's told. You're here, with us, tonight."
Watch for: audience disclosures to performers that the performer then carries home. Train performers in a short way to redirect people to support staff [synthesis].

4.17 Closure of the run [synthesis]

Purpose: the cast forms family-like bonds [source: Blackburn Miller 2018]. The end of a long run is a loss.
Steps [synthesis]:
1. Hold a final closing session separate from the last show.
2. Each performer names what they take with them and what they leave behind.
3. Return or agree what happens to recordings and scripts.
4. Agree contact norms after the production.
5. Mark the ending with a ritual the cast chooses.

4.18 Aftercare, films and community workshops

Purpose: continuing support and impact. A documentary film is made of each production. Former performers later use the films in workshops in schools, organisations and peace events, in Northern Ireland and internationally [source: Blackburn Miller 2018; Shapiro-Phim & Sepinuck, Brandeis]. Formal aftercare is not described in the sources [source: Blackburn Miller 2018]. The Playhouse in Derry/Londonderry publishes the current workshop format: about two hours, for groups aged 14 and over, group size adapted as needed; participants watch footage of the original production, the former performers (among them former police officers, former paramilitaries and relatives of people killed or injured in the Troubles) speak about their own experiences, and the group asks questions about subjects that are rarely discussed. Workshops are free to groups from all communities in Northern Ireland and are funded through the Community Relations Council and the T:BUC programme [source: Playhouse workshops page; CRC 2021].
Steps [synthesis]: follow up individually at about 2 weeks, 3 months and 6 months, and on anniversaries; refer to a therapist where needed; prepare performers before each workshop in which their film is shown, since seeing themselves can re-trigger; review consent to film use periodically.

5. Handling problems

The sources acknowledge that the work can retraumatise, that early sessions are highly emotional, that bonds bring growing pains, and that some venues are unsafe [source: Blackburn Miller 2018; Shapiro-Phim & Sepinuck, Brandeis; Cassidy, Georgetown]. Most concrete responses below are [synthesis].

Retraumatisation during interviews or rehearsal (flashbacks, dissociation, panic). Stop the material and ground: orient to the room, slow the breath, use the senses. Do not finish the scene "to get through it". Afterwards, review which detail triggered it, cut or distance it (film, song, third person), and slow the timetable. If symptoms persist for more than a few days, pause participation and refer to trauma-focused therapy. [synthesis]
Flooding on stage during a show. Plan for it beforehand: agree a signal; have a cast member or the stage manager ready to step in; prepare a recorded or filmed version of the segment, or a planned cut-to-music; and let the performer leave the stage without explanation. Debrief that night and check in by phone the next day. [synthesis]
Delayed reactions after the show (insomnia, shame, "vulnerability hangover" after public disclosure). Normalise them in advance. Do the post-show check-in (4.16) and next-day contact. Increase support around anniversaries and media coverage. [synthesis]
Regret about what was disclosed. Honour the right to withdraw material for future shows, film and publicity. Ask distributors to take down clips where possible. Be honest that a live audience cannot "unhear" it, which is why itemised consent comes before the first show. [synthesis]
Wanting to withdraw close to opening night. Treat it as a legitimate choice, not a resistance to overcome. Explore the reasons (fear, a threat, family pressure, symptoms) without pressure. Offer the options agreed in advance: a reduced part, a filmed segment, or stepping out. Manage cast disappointment without blame. [synthesis]
Stuck or silent participants. Allow time; in the Northern Ireland work one participant cried for several sessions before being ready [source: Shapiro-Phim & Sepinuck, Brandeis]. Offer more individual meetings, non-verbal or written contributions, or a smaller part. Being involved does not require being a lead. [partly synthesis]
Conflict across the divide (anger at someone from the "other side", blame, walk-outs). Sepinuck screens for readiness to work with the other side [source: Blackburn Miller 2018]. When conflict happens anyway: separate and meet individually; name the conflict in the group with agreed rules; do not force reconciliation scenes; revisit the cast mix if the safety of any member is at stake. [synthesis]
Perpetrators' and ex-combatants' stories. These raise risks of retaliation, prosecution and harm to victims in the audience. Get legal advice before anything is performed. Avoid identifying uncharged offences or victims. Frame accountability without glorifying violence. Prepare victim-performers and audiences. [synthesis] Including perpetrators is integral to the model [source: Swarthmore 2015].
External threat. Reassess at each venue. Use film substitution, incognito attendance or cancellation, as was done in Northern Ireland [source: Shapiro-Phim & Sepinuck, Brandeis].
Missed rehearsals and non-adherence. These are often signs of avoidance or rising symptoms. Check in privately before treating them as a commitment problem, then renegotiate the schedule or the size of the part. [synthesis]
Rupture with the director or clinician ("you twisted my story", "you're using us"). Take it seriously. Re-read the script together. Restore the performer's veto. Acknowledge power and commodification risks openly, as the founder herself discusses them [source: Grant & Jennings 2013, abstract]. Put the performer's wellbeing ahead of funders and press. [partly synthesis]
Dependency on the director or cast after the run. Plan the ending from the start (4.17). Offer a graded step-down of contact. Refer on for continuing therapy. [synthesis]
Dual roles for psychotherapists. Your own therapy clients should not be performers in a production you direct. Keep the clinical support role separate from the artistic director role, and keep production records separate from clinical notes. [synthesis]
Children and young people. Productions have been intergenerational, including younger people still affected by the Troubles [source: Blackburn Miller 2018]. For any participant under 18 [synthesis]:
- Follow local safeguarding and mandatory-reporting duties, and tell them at the outset that a disclosure of current risk will be passed on.
- Get parental or carer consent and the young person's own assent, separately for performance and for film.
- Avoid identifying details.
- Use shorter sessions.
- Have a named safeguarding lead present at every session and performance.
- Be cautious about permanent film of a minor's testimony.
Testimony as evidence. A performed story is an artistic account. Do not treat it as clinical or forensic evidence, and do not use the process to investigate allegations. [synthesis]
Physical and production safety. Check stage edges, steps and cables. Get blackout and lighting changes checked for photosensitive performers. Keep amplified music and singing at moderate levels and do sound checks. Keep movement sequences within each body's capacity, allowing for older performers. Use clear exits and a quiet room. [synthesis]
Spiritual framing that does not fit. Make spiritual and ritual elements optional and plural, and attribute them to the founder's approach rather than presenting them as required for healing [source: Grant & Jennings 2013, abstract; synthesis].

Sources

Pages used:

Further pages used:

Books cited:

Sepinuck, T. (2013). Theatre of Witness: Finding the Medicine in Stories of Suffering, Transformation, and Peace. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Sepinuck, T. We Are the Ripple Effect: Theatre of Witness in Northern Ireland. Profiles ten Northern Ireland performers (survivors, former combatants, former security-force members and witnesses of the Troubles) and their paths into peacebuilding, with testimonies and script excerpts; sold through The Playhouse, Derry [source: Brandeis conversation; Playhouse book page]. Publisher and year are not stated on these pages [uncertain].

Note: the 2013 book's text, the official Theatre of Witness site, the full texts of the Grant & Jennings (2013) and Upton (2010) interviews, any formal evaluation of the Derry/Londonderry productions and any official training materials are not cited in this guide. The founder's own list of principles may therefore differ from section 3 [uncertain].

← Previous · VIII-119Image Theatre and Forum Theatre (Boal)Next · VIII-121 →Prison theatre