Autobiographical therapeutic performance (ATP) is a key aspect of drama therapy that combines self-exploration, drama,
and psychotherapy. ATP involves participants choosing dramatic content and forms to reenact significant past memories, aiming
for therapeutic and transformative outcomes. Drama therapists, performers, and audience members are essential components of
ATP. Drama therapists help performers convey their life experiences to audience members through autobiographical plays. This
approach creates a “relational aesthetic” between performers and audience members, which in turn facilitates self-exploration
and transformation for performers. Most of the literature on autobiographical drama focuses on the roles and functions of drama
therapists and performers, emphasizing facilitators’ practical knowledge and methods and performers’ experiences. Few studies
have explored audience members’ perspectives.
Recent studies have indicated a shift in how humans perceive audience roles. Audience members are no longer viewed
as passive observers in the theatrical experience, who simply witness performers’ transformative healing processes. Instead,
audience members can reflect upon their own life roles through the performers’ creations and presentations. Audience members
are increasingly acknowledged as active cocreators, integral to the performance. Research has started exploring the audience
members’ participation in drama therapy. This study specifically examined the audience members’ perspective, exploring
the rich inner experiences that unfold within audience members as they engage with ATP. It also investigated the emotional
connections between audience members and performers, the self-dialog within spectators’ minds, and the long-lasting meanings
that theatrical encounters impart.
This study employed a phenomenological qualitative approach divided into two stages: performance and interviews with
audience members. In the first stage, the primary researcher prepared and planned a public ATP. In group workshops, four
volunteer performers were invited to explore their life journeys and identify core life issues. Subsequently, they engaged in
script creation and rehearsals for their individual ATPs. In the second stage, semistructured in-depth interviews were conducted
after the performances. A thematic analysis was used to examine the experiences of three audience members who watched
four ATPs. After more than a year, a follow-up survey was conducted, in which audience members were invited to share their
postviewing experiences and the effects of the ATPs on their daily lives outside the theater.
According to the research findings, ATPs enable performers to arrange and present their personal life experiences through
drama, providing a pathway for audience members to understand these experiences. While watching a theatrical performance,
the audience prepares mentally, setting psychological expectations regarding their engagement with the performer’s actual When audience members watch ATPs, they typically expect the performances to authentically reflect the performer’s reallife
experiences. This expectation helps them form a “you and I” connection with the performer, which immerses them in the
performer’s world. By establishing a relationship between the performance and their own life experiences, audience members
create emotional connections that can lead to revisiting past experiences.
When the experiences of audience members are similar to those in the performance, their emotional projections tend to
generate resonance and establish shared feelings. However, if the performance’s content is unrelated to the audience members’
life experiences, the audience members tend to select different internal experience pathways because of their unfamiliarity with
the performer’s life experiences. In dissimilar experiences, understanding is enhanced as audience members create connections
and dialogs between their own life experiences and the performer’s work.
In similar experiences, audience members tend to resonate with the plot, internally enacting their own drama and even
imagining themselves in the performer’s role. This approach enables them to re-experience unresolved psychological issues. By
contrast, in dissimilar experiences, audience members tend to use their imagination to empathize with the performer’s suffering.
When presented with unfamiliar performance techniques or plot elements, audience members may experience emotional
detachment or choose to disconnect emotionally.
After watching an ATP, audience members tend to engage in self-dialog, reflecting upon the performer’s perspective. This
process increases their sense of agency and affects their daily lives. Even more than a year later, audience members continue to
relate their own experiences with those of the performer, thereby offering support and reparative experiences. They also tend to
respond to their viewing experiences with concrete actions that reflect ongoing engagement and personal growth, and they tend
to find meaning in life and complete their journey of self-healing within the ATP.
This study visualizes and integrates various findings to create a structural diagram of the audience members’ internal
experiences, demonstrating how proactive engagement enriches their interaction with ATPs. The findings highlight how
audience members’ experiences in ATPs differ from those in conventional theaters. Recommendations are offered to inform
future research methodologies and drama therapy practices, specifically for ATPs. These recommendations enhance the artistic
process of ATPs. They also mitigate potential alienation due to disparate life experiences and foster meaningful therapeutic
effects for audience members, thereby promoting personal growth and self-reflection while encouraging discussions on societal
and personal issues raised by ATPs. Ultimately, these recommendations aim to link audience experiences with the therapeutic
process, optimizing the transformative potential of ATPs.
Further research is required to increase the diversity of audience experiences and analyze the nuanced interactions between
performers and audience members in real time. Additional research is also required to explore how these shared experiences
influence and shape life experiences inside and outside the theater. As a dynamic and evolving field, drama therapy should refine
the artistic process of ATPs by reducing alienation and focusing on the audience members’ psychological processes, emotions,
and cognitive responses as an integral component of the drama therapy framework. This approach would enhance the exchange
and integration of life experiences between performers and audience members in a profound and transformative manner.
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Seeing Oneself in Others’ Stories: A Study on Audience Experience in Autobiographical Therapeutic Performanc
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