Playback Charlottesville Theatre Troupe

Welcome!

Playback is an original form of improvisational theatre, a unique collaboration between performers and audience. Someone tells a story or moment from their life, chooses actors to play the different roles, and then watches as their story is immediately recreated and given artistic shape. Many artistic variations are possible within the structure and rhythm of a performance event.

Inspiration includes the rich oral tradition of storytelling, traditional community rituals, and the psychodrama of J.L.Moreno. Playback Theatre allows every voice and any story - however ordinary, extraordinary, hidden or difficult - to be heard and told. Each person's uniqueness is honored while at the same time building and strengthening our connections to each other as a community of people.

Since 1975, Playback has spread all over the world, and is now practiced in many different countries, languages and contexts.

~Adapted from International Playback Theatre Network

Music Dance and Theatre
Full size (PDF, 2.2M)
Photos: Nancy Mulrine

Can you imagine how it would feel to allow the space and time to share your experience of life and hear another’s? Then see and hear them expressed artistically through Music, Dance, and Theatre.

Playback Charlottesville offers two formats:

Presentation Ensemble & the Support Program

The Presentation Ensemble performs for a range of audiences including public shows and private venues. Our public performances are at our home in McGuffey Art Center, 201 Second Street N.W. in downtown Charlottesville. Private performances can be arranged at this location or by the hiring organization.

The Support Program generates interactive workshops which are designed to serve organization and community needs. Workshop participants can choose to become actors and story tellers.

Ways in which Playback Theatre can be used in your organization or community are:

Theme-based Performances and workshops:
Possible themes- Leadership, Community Building, Celebrating Success, Diversity, Stress and Conflict, Serious Illness/Healing, Power and Powerlessness, Love, and Transition.
Possible occasions:
Honoring or celebrating a team, individual, or organization: If you're planning a celebration - annual conference, anniversary, graduation reunion, festival, wedding, birthday - Playback Theatre is a unique, engaging and lively way to honor it. Just imagine the delicious stories living in the minds of your guests!
Other Playback Applications:
A Playback performance may begin with an specific theme, and this thread links the stories that follow. On other occasions, the concerns of those present will emerge as the event unfolds. The flexibility of the Playback form permits a high degree of sensitivity to the needs of specific groups. Here are some brief examples of how Playback Theatre has been used:
Social Activism
- A group in the Northern Territories of Australia performed for Aboriginal communities as part of a program to enhance self-esteem and recovery from substance abuse.
- Playback has been used to hear both sides on the Palestinian/Israeli issue.
- In Argentina, Playback helped the people reconstruct a collective memory of their social/political history.
Corporate Contexts
- An audience of Swiss engineers and accountants shared stories through Playback Theatre about organizational re-structuring.
- An audience of Post Office workers in Washington DC used Playback to address issues of task redundancy.
Education
- In Alaska, schoolchildren used Playback Theatre to deal with their grief over the death of a fellow student.
- In Hong Kong, teenagers perform Playback as part of their community service program.
Psychotherapy/Counseling
- Playback Theatre is used as an additional tool for psychotherapists in their group work.
- In Chicago, a group of schizophrenic outpatients at a psychiatric unit met regularly to do Playback Theatre for each other, sharing their stories of coping with everyday life.
- At Shands Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida, 10 volunteers from the Arts in Medicine Program do spontaneous Playback performances for long-term care patients.
Community Events
- In Sydney, Australia, Playback Theatre was part of a wedding celebration.
- In London, England, it was performed at a Remembrance Evening.
- In Japan, a Playback group performed monthly for mentally handicapped people and their friends and family.

Public Performance / Presentation Ensemble

Playback Theatre is performed for the general public at theatres and art centers all over the world. It's been said that Playback is a theater of neighbors: you may arrive as a stranger but almost certainly, by the end of the event; you'll feel a sense of aliveness and ease in talking with those around you.

How might Playback Theatre be used in your organization or community? Performances and workshops can be theme-based and are designed to offer a fresher, more creative way to explore familiar issues by focusing on the heart of the story and the personal integrity of the storyteller.

Playback Theatre is a unique, engaging and lively way to honor and enhance a conference, festival, reunion, wedding, birthday or other special occasion.Playback Theatre is a unique, engaging and lively way to honor and enhance a conference, festival, reunion, wedding, birthday or other special occasion.

Imagine the wonderful stories, just waiting to be told!