We are creating nothing new; the artists have known these truths forever.

-- Sigmund Freud

Early on in my career I was powerfully influenced by Bruno Bettelheims’s brilliant book: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales. This led me to a career-long fascination with the relationship between psychotherapy and the arts.  

For the many years I coordinated the series Psychology Goes to the Movies series on behalf of the Boston Institute for Psychotherapy.

In 1996 I had the opportunity to engage in intensive acting in performing Shakespeare with the Shakespeare and Company In Lennox, Mass. The focus of the training was to help actors connect word and body when speaking Shakespeare’s passion laden words. This experience opened up a second career–more about that in a moment. It also has helped me immeasurably to be a better therapist. (for more on this see the end of this page)

In addition to helping develop me as a psychotherapist I have also written and performed original works intended to demonstrate the relationships between psychotherapy and theater.

In 2002 I wrote (with Marjorie Zohn) Interplay  a one person play, that tells the story about an elderly psychoanalyst and his treatment of an actor who keeps forgetting his lines (click on the link below to see the trailer). I performed the play over several years in Lenox, Boston, Santa Fe and St. Louis.

Vimeo Video link_Trailer "Interplay" 

Vimeo Video link_Full Video "Interplay" 

Recently, I wrote (with Amy Goldfarb) and performed an hour long story: -To Know or Not to Know: That Has been the Question. In this story I explore complex conflicts generated in me by the loss of my mother’s family in the Holocaust. 

Vimeo Video link_Trailer "To Know or Not to Know" 

Vimeo Video link_Full Video "To Know or Not to Know" 

In addition, I have worked for many years with The Ariel group a company of actors who use acting techniques help others develop Presence.  

Addendum: Thoughts on the relationship between acting Shakespeare and therapy:

The task of an actor is to embody words and speak them back to the world as if she means what she says. This task is especially difficult and energizing when trying to perform Shakespeare because Shakespeare’s sensuous, affect-laden words make great demands on the actor’s emotional life. Intriguing learning possibilities await the therapist willing to embody Shakespeare’s words. Therapists would learn both about what it feels like to be unable to connect words and body, and also experience what it is like to make better connections between word and body. As a result therapists will have opened up new ways of understanding themselves and their patients. Also, by saying Shakespeare’s words, therapists will be developing their capacity to use sensuous words carrying much meaning, and thereby make it more likely that they make strong impressions when they speak in the therapy hour.

To make an appointment, please call 617-232-3458 or email me at rongoldman@comcast.net