The Drama Therapy Institute of Los Angeles
All classes are held on Zoom and count as CE credits for NADTA. Instructors may offer a hybrid in-person option for local students, depending on enrollment. In order to ensure we receive the correct contact information, you must officially register through the form button below. (Information can be lost/mistakenly altered if passed through email communication.) Thank you so much, and we look forward to seeing you in class!
Core Classes (3 Units)
Sociodrama and Advanced Psychodramatic Techniques
Dates: March 15, 22, 29, April, 12, 19, 26, and May 3
Times: 9:30 am to 2:15 pm (PST) – (March 10th is a shortened meeting time: 9:30-12:30pm PST)
Cost: $899
Facilitator: Pam Dunne, Ph.D, RDT, BCT/NT
This course focuses on Sociodrama and advanced psychodramatic techniques, based on the work of Jacob Moreno and contributions of international leaders in the field. In Sociodrama, participants will explore empty chair sociodrama, pre-rehearsed dramaturgy, dramatic multiplication, living newspaper, re-plotting and other specialized techniques for sociodrama. Participants will also explore psychodramatic techniques of living sculpture, psychodramatic interviewing, role reversal, mirrors, and other advanced psychodramatic techniques as well as sociometric techniques (i.e. spectrograms, locograms). Selected videos and targeted assignments will assist participants in planning and facilitating these processes in community, education, business, and in other settings.
14 Hour Classes (1 Unit)
Independent Project for Ethics or Research
Teacher: Pam Dunne
Cost: $338
Schedule: TBA. Contact instructor if signing up (pamdunnedtila@mac.com) for date to meet to begin project.
This is a research based or ethics based independent project designed for students who need additional units to meet their ethics or research requirements.
7 Hour Classes (.5 Unit)
Affirming Identities: Mixed Media Art Approaches for LGBTQ+ Individuals
Dates: March 9 and 16
Time: 12 pm to 3:30 pm ( PDT)
TBA Time: 1 hour
Cost: $169
Teacher: Georgie Landy, LCAT, ATR-BC
This workshop focuses on mixed media approaches with the LGBTQ+ community to honor individual choices of expression through storytelling, art and film to re-story issues of identity and preferred modes of expression.
Exploring Playback Theatre
Date: March 23 and 30
Time: 9 am to 12:30pm ( PDT)
TBA Time: 1 hour
Cost: $169
Facilitator: Rachel Brousseau. LMFT, RDT/BCT, NT
Explore Playback Theatre and the unique collaboration that occurs between the teller, conductor, actors, and musician. Experience Playback Theatre’s embodied exercises and methods for warming up the audience for a teller to emerge. Discover the challenge of Playback from the point of view of the actors who play the story back and reflection processes for the audience witnessing the story. Whether in a classroom, hospital, conference, or in a theatre, tellers of stories witness the profound experience of being seen, heard, and honored.
Embodying Safety in the Body through Somatic Practices
Date April 6 and 13
Time 9 am to 12:30 pm (PDT)
Cost: $ 169
Facilitator: Terhi Korkiakangas, Ph.D, CI. Hyp
Embodiment in is an important part of the drama therapy process, allowing people to express themselves in the present moment. In Somatics, embodiment provides access to the internal felt sense, which is easily ignored when we are busy living dis-embodied lives in our heads and minds. This class focuses on nervous system regulation through the core practice of building safety in the body, even when the body feels activated rather than neutral or comfortable. Students will learn and practice techniques from the field of Somatics, including using personal stories as the gateway to the felt sense where some deep processing can happen. Combining psychoeducation and body-based exercises, the class intends to helps drama therapists guide others to be discover ways to guide others to be present in their bodies even in times of distress.
Therapeutic Improvisation: Knowing What to Play to Enhance the Therapeutic Process
Date: June 22 and 29
Time: 9 am to 12:30 pm ( PDT)
Cost: $ 169
Facilitator: Rachel Brousseau, LMFT, RDT, BCT, NT
1 hour arranged
Participants will experientially learn to adapt the intentional use of improv games and scenes to support clients across multiple settings such as acute inpatient hospitalization, residential treatment, and community mental health. Games will also be applied to educational settings.
Embodying Ethics: Navigating Uncertainty Through Drama Therapy
Date: July 20th
Time: 10 am to 6:30 pm ( PDT)
Cost: $ 169
Facilitator: Kamran Afary, PhD, RDT/BCT, NT, Lynn Baker-Nauman, MA, LMFT, RDT
1 class hour arranged
How do we hold steady when the ground shifts—when clients fear leaving home, loved ones are taken, markets crash, or old certainties collapse? In this workshop, we approach uncertainty not as paralysis, but as a generative ethical space. Drawing on drama therapy’s embodied tools and narrative imagination, we’ll explore how ethics are lived—not prescribed—especially amidst loss, migration, systemic injustice, and fear.
Participants will engage in experiential practices to externalize moral dilemmas, explore power and privilege, and rehearse grounded responses to real-world rupture. Rather than offering fixed answers, this workshop invites presence, play, and collective reflection as we navigate the tensions between responsibility and survival, care and complexity.
Open to drama therapists, students, and helping professionals seeking creative, embodied ways to stay ethically alive in uncertain times.
Abroad Program 2025: Rouen and Paris
Join an inspiring workshop where participants create memoirs, personalized transformational maps, and performances by reimagining freedom as a foundation. Together, we will explore its profound connections to ecology, hope, and identity, revitalizing our relationships with nature and the environment. Through Ethnodrama, participants will delve into the concept of the flâneur and the culture of the café, drawing inspiration from the city’s rich history, art, and dramatic expression. A half-day trip to Monet Gardens in Giverny will provide deeper connections with nature. These explorations will unlock new dimensions of self-reflection and creativity, re-energizing both personal and professional lives.
Credits given for CHED and NADTA CE’s
Regular registration – $2,550
To reserve a space a $400 deposit is required
*Train, lunch, and expenses in Monet Gardens are not included in registration
For more information on the Abroad Program, email: dramatherapyabroad@gmail.com