GROUP

GROUP
Wednesdays, 7-8:30pm EST, May 19 - July 15

GROUP is a 2-month play laboratory aimed at exploring the big questions of self and other – what am I, who are you, and how does our togetherness shape us? GROUP will be led by Aaron Finbloom, who will hold the group (organizing openings/closures and comings/goings) as 8 facilitators from vastly diverse backgrounds will guide the group through relational exercises and creative togethering. Throughout the 2 months there will also be one-on-one sessions to process, integrate and reflect on the content brought up in GROUP. Participants from all backgrounds are encouraged to apply. We recommend participants come to GROUP with: curiosity, openness and compassion.

Details: GROUP will be held on from May 19 - July 15 on Wednesdays, 7-8:30pm EST. Our meetings will be held over Zoom. The cost is $450 USD, early bird registration until April 7. The maximum number of participants for GROUP will be 12. Participants must sign up for the entire GROUP series. Please contact deepplayinstitute @gmail.com for limited sliding scale tuition options if needed. Disclaimer: This series and its individual sessions are not therapy, and in no way should be a substitute for seeing a therapist, counselor, or other mental health specialist. Participants will be required to sign a liability waiver to this effect.

REGISTRATION

May 19 Beginnings w/ Aaron Finbloom

We’ll begin our GROUP with structured conversation guided by authentic relating, circling, question-asking, curiosity and embodied awareness – all meant to help us dive into a collective exploration of the unique togetherness that we are embarking upon.

Bio: Aaron Finbloom is a philosopher, artist and pedagogue. He is the co-founder of The School of Making Thinking (SMT) and the director of The Deep Play Institute (DPI). His practice involves expanding transformative inquiry through games, performance art and structured play. With training in Circling, Authentic Relating, and Psychodrama, he facilitates experimental individual and group sessions inspired by these practices. He holds a PhD in Interdisciplinary Humanities & Fine Arts from Concordia University in Montreal, and is currently teaching Philosophy at the City College of New York. www.finblooming.com

May 26 Fortitude! w/ Rosi Greenberg

We'll kick off the GROUP experience by creating sacred space into which we will invite your innate creativity, your joyful spirit (whether it's with you all the time or feeling a bit hidden), and your reflective self. We start by building blanket forts together to connect, reflect, and playfully delight in our creativity. You will need binder clips, blankets or sheets, pillows, and a journal.

Bio: Rosi Greenberg is an artist and facilitator of connection and creativity. Rosi offers storytelling workshops for leaders at all levels, focusing on seeing self and other in deeper ways. An artist, Rosi scribes meetings as they happen and helps people come into more joyful, creative contact with one another. Rosi draws on experience with storytelling, group dynamics, leadership, play, and her background in education. Rosi lives in Cambridge MA and is the founder of Drawn to Lead. https://www.drawntolead.org/

June 2 The Creature Comforts of Poetry w/ Steven Licardi

In this GROUP, we will be using the power of poetry to build a more loving relationship with our inner struggles, which will be identified as unique, embodied beings or creatures of our own design. Through a series of visioning and writing exercises, we will each -- collectively and individually -- go on a journey of playful discovery and curiosity together alongside this being/creature. Participants will leave this GROUP with tangible poetic tools they may choose to use to continue this work in their own personal practices (or not!).

Bio: Steven T. Licardi is an Autistic social worker, spoken word poet, and performance activist who uses the power of poetry to create empathic dialogue around, to confront the realities of, and to assist communities in dismantling the stigma surrounding mental health and mental illness. www.thesvenbo.com

June 9 Games for Human Being w/ Janet Howe

This workshop guides participants through a rapid game generation process, collaboratively creating new games. Through creating games we explore how play can be used to unpack challenging and complex topics. Our focus will be on pertinent themes of relationally and how we human together.

Bio: Janet K Howe They/Them is a non-binary creator working at the intersection of theatre and games. Their work focuses on creating positive change and learning through playful theatrical experiences and games. Janet has directed and created immersive and interactive theatre in five countries and is the former Artistic Director of Chicago based (re)discover theatre. Janet has trained with Punchdrunk, Third Rail Projects and worked with interactive companies such as Coney, ZU-UK, and Blast Theory www.janetkhowe.com

June 16 Embodiment Forum w/ Solomon Kruegar

This session offers an opportunity to feel more deeply connected to oneself and others. This is a transformative practice that involves expressing what is alive in the here and now, using the whole-body. It also involves offering mirrors back to the presenters: empathetic reflections, using voice, movement, metaphor, presence.

Bio: Exploring what is alive and true in our shared human experience is where my full heart and commitment live. I have nearly 20 years of experience in organizing and facilitating groups, workshops, and retreats. I'm the Founder and Co-Director of Authentic Relating Go, a virtual platform for authentic connection and interpersonal development. https://www.ar-go.live/

June 23 Voice Dialogue: Speaking From Your Parts w/ Ilana Simons

This workshop explores Voice Dialogue, a branch of Jungian therapy that focuses on the internal voices or parts inside us. We are made of various parts - for instance: our lover, our eccentric, our pleaser – and accepting each part is central to confidence and peace of mind. The group will include an actual Voice Dialogue session with one volunteer and then group work in which we identify inner voices, dare to express them more fully, and decrease the guilt around our contradictions.

Bio: Ilana Simons is a clinical psychologist who has been in private practice for 11 years, largely working with Voice Dialogue. She has PhDs in both literature and psychology and is author of A Life of One’s Own: A Guide to Better Living through Virginia Woolf. She also makes short films that have been featured at Cannes, Hyperallergic, and Poets & Writers. ilanasimonsart.com ilanasimons.com

June 30 The Squishy Volume of Now w/ Sarah Ledbetter

The ancient Greeks had two very different words for time: in one, humans seem to enter a flow state of presence and joy. Yet the other--also called 'clock time'-- is where most of us hang out day in and out. In this session we'll play with choice and changing gears between the two using the common sense magic of embodied awareness and household props.

Bio: I'm a dancing writer and therapist who's devoted to the creative process as a social, existential playground. I've been leading and sharing body-based, trauma-informed, playful group practices and individual work since 2016. I use she/her pronouns. www.avastandhumbleabode.com

July 7 Here and Now w/ Sybil Ottenstein

An illuminating experience for those of us who grew up in families (and cultures) with elephants-in-the-room, walking-on-eggshells moments, secrets and unspeakable thoughts, “here and now” work offers the opportunity to hear and share the raw, honest thoughts and feelings with other people in the present moment. Deep rooted relational patterns that cause stress and discontent in the “real world” will undoubtedly manifest in the group dynamic as well. The difference is that here, we collectively invite awareness, discussion, and curiosity into the subterranean workings of our interpersonal world.

Bio: I am a trauma-informed relational and somatic psychotherapist, which is a fancy way to say I support people to heal themselves through connecting with the wisdom of their body and the power of relationship. I integrate talk therapy with somatic practices such as breathwork and movement to allow individuals to heal from past experiences and live a life of greater connection and freedom. https://selfworksgroup.com/nyc/therapy/sybil-ottenstein-ma/

July 14 Ensemble Making to Make an Ensemble w/ Ezekiel Baskin

We will find new ways to play together and be together by devising ensemble performances/rituals in small groups. We'll embrace experimentation and the power of constraints to foster quick thinking and playfulness. At the end of our time together we will make a performance within our group, about our group, using our group togetherness as material.

Bio: Ezekiel Baskin is a theatre director, facilitator, designer, and educator. They are a Governing Member of Real Live Theatre, a Founding Member of Theater Between Addresses, and Resident Lighting Designer for Pauline Productions. They love to facilitate collaborative spaces where people play, work, make, learn, grow, and heal together. https://reallivetheatre.net

July 15 (Thursday) Closure w/ Aaron Finbloom

A session of closure immediately following our last session to wrap up, integrate and reflect upon our collective findings.

Image Credits (from top to Bottom): Untitled, Aaron Finbloom / Untitled, Rosi Greenberg / Untitled, Steven Licardi / Untitled, Janet Howe / Embodiment Forum, Tanya Williams / Untitled, Sarah B. Ledbetter / Straight On, Ilana Simons / Untitled, Samantha Keely Smith / Untitled, Ezekiel Baskin / Untitled, Aaron Finbloom

GROUPWednesdays, 7-8:30pm EST, May 19 - July 15

​May 19 Beginnings w/ Aaron Finbloom