Deb Pierce McCabe
Author, Director, Playwright
Drama Therapist & Women’s Advocate
Those of you familiar with my work know that I love stories that interweave humor, poetry, social justice, and nature. My stories often explore dark themes, with a light of grace shining through them. Bringing light and humor into darkness has been a consistent thread in my stories, workshops, and work with clients.
My trainings workshops focus on power and control in personal relationships and domestic violence, and my writing groups help people to unlock their voices and tell their stories. Using interactive techniques and dialogue, I help to help people to listen deeply, to identify power dynamics, and to express themselves more effectively.
Background
I worked with numerous populations as a Registered Drama Therapist and with students as a Board Certified Trainer in Drama Therapy.
As a drama therapist I worked in schools, hospitals, prisons, treatment programs and in private practice, but the main focus of my work was with survivors of domestic violence. My play, Rule of Thumb, is based on the true stories of survivors. It toured for three years as an outreach project for women at risk, and a training piece for therapists, attorneys, and police officers in order to help them to understand the power and control tactics of abusers. Rule of Thumb is available as a reading with discussion. A contract is required for use of the script for performance.
I wrote a chapter about this project for an arts therapy textbook: Drama Therapy as Treatment for Survivors of Domestic Violence, in The use of the creative therapies with survivors of domestic violence, Stephanie Brooke, editor, Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas, Publisher, 2008
From 2011 -2013 I served on the board of directors for the North American Drama Therapy Association, and as a Board Certified Trainer I mentored students who were working to become Registered Drama Therapists.
Drama Therapy
Drama therapy is the intentional use of drama and theatre processes to develop social skills or achieve therapeutic goals. Drama therapy is active, engaging, innovative, and can be a lot of fun. Scene work, dialogue, movement, improvisation, and role reversals are some of the techniques we may employ, as well as identifying status and power dynamics in our relationships. Dramatic ritual or theatre games help symbolize change and significant moments in a person’s life story. The rehearsal process can help them to prepare for real life events, or replay or slow down past events to illuminate different aspects of an event for clarity. These techniques can be powerful catalysts for change and resolution.
Interactive drama unlocks the creativity of the mind, the felicity of the spirit, and the language of the body.
Recent and Current Projects
In December of 2020 I co-directed an international online audience-participation reading of my adaptation of A Christmas Carol, with actors from Romania, Germany, France, England, Texas, Washington state, and California, and with audience members participating from all over the world!
I have had the pleasure of participating in some of the 14/48 Play Festivals for the past few years, as a playwright. I wrote a total of seven short plays for consecutive Festivals from 2018 through January of 2023.
(The poster photo is from my show, On the Way to the Wedding.)
Staged readings of my adaptation of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol in 2016, 2017, and 2019. In June of 2019 I also co-directed a local musical review based on the music from Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?
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Back by popular demand:
Improvisational Writing from the Heart
An online writing group