Personal stories, critical moments, and playback theater

Abstract

From the micro context of a personal historyto the story of the family to the macro context of the saga of a people, constructed narratives remind us of who we are, how we came to be here, and our primary purpose in life. Narratives are evocative rather than precise; emotional rather than logical; personal rather than objective. In this chapter, we explore uses of story (narrative) to enhance creative imagination, to examine values that impact one's ability to nurture creativity, to explore uses of symbolic models through unpacking the creative ways in which they dealt with critical life moments, and to describe a method for integrating theatre techniques with narrativesthat open pathways to new perspectives in everyday life.