(1947)
Summary:
In the “classical” version of sociodrama the client is a group of individuals, an association of families, an industrial committee, a village, or a town. They come with their problem and ask for treatment, similar to the individual client in psychodrama. Out of the consultations with the group a dramatic production on the stage emerges and develops step by step. Like a bit of life the processes of information and consultation, as well as the processes of production and analysis are extemporaneous in their presentation. The material is, of course, drawn from the long and deep experiences of the group with the issue on hand; and it is shaped by a director and counselor who should have had a long, deep experience and skill with the sociodramatic handling of problems of every type. In the classical version the sociodrama is carefully thought out and planned but it is not rehearsed. The production is not constructed or created by an anonymous stranger, someone who imagines the problems of the group, trying to give them an appropriate dramatic form, but is constructed in cooperation with the group itself.
There are versions of sociodrama in which the gathering of information and the form of production differ from the classic, spontaneous-creative version. Information is gathered in many places, at different times and the production is written down piecemeal, conserved, rehearsed and finally enacted. These and similar versions of sociodrama have usefulness in communities where the talent for spontaneity is low and the fear of expression considerable. A gradual preparation of the people for more spontaneous-creative and therapeutic forms is then justified.