VORTRAG: The Serious Business of Play: Rethinking Mechanisms of Change in Drama Therapy

Dr. Rinat Feniger-Schaal

Play lies at the heart of the arts therapies, across all modalities. Yet it is frequently regarded
as a therapeutic technique, while deeper questions regarding the processes through which it
promotes change remain insufficiently understood. Drawing on findings from a series of our
recent studies, this keynote addresses three interrelated questions.

What is playfulness? Findings from our recent European study of drama therapy core
processes identified play as a central mechanism of change. At the same time, a recent
systematic review of playfulness measures reveals that the construct is predominantly
conceptualized as a stable personality trait. Building on this evidence, I propose that
playfulness is more fruitfully understood as a malleable state, one that fluctuates across
contexts and can be deliberately enhanced.

What are the conditions for play? Prevailing assumptions hold that play requires conditions
of safety and comfort. Findings from our research with street children in post genocide
Rwanda, displaced families encountering humanitarian clowns, children with intellectual
disability, and older adults challenge this view. These studies suggest that playfulness can
emerge even amid profound adversity, provided that relational and creative conditions invite
it.

What is it good for? Integrating these findings, I present the Playfulness as a Coping
Strategy model, which conceptualizes entry into a playful space as a means of temporary
liberation from an overwhelming reality, through which individuals may reclaim a sense of
agency and connection.

Implications for practice. Playfulness serves a dual therapeutic role: it constitutes both the
process through which change occurs and an outcome of the therapeutic work itself. As a
natural resource available throughout the lifespan, it can be cultivated in therapy and carried
beyond it as an enduring capacity for coping.

Dr. Rinat Feniger-Schaal is a senior lecturer and researcher at the school of creative arts therapies at the University of Haifa. Dr. Rinat believes that well-being involves connecting to people, playing, laughing, movement and creativity. Therefore their main interests involve the interface between attachment, drama and theatre. More specifically their clinical interests and research areas are mother-child relationships, developmental psychopathology, drama therapy, clinical intervention and assessment.