Mary Schwabenland

Hello! I am Mary, the new Drama Therapy intern at common cathedral / Emmanuel Church. I am a few weeks into the internship now and have really been enjoying getting to know the community members. One of my goals for this internship is to aid community members in the creation of meaningful expressive art experiences and projects.  The first of which is our upcoming talent-show fundraiser, which was the idea of a long-time community member. We have about 14 sign-ups of varying talent acts, and I am very excited to see what everyone brings.

A few Fridays ago, common cathedral had its monthly Can We Talk group, which is essentially an open floor for community members to share their stories through speaking or performance, while the space is held in respectful witnessing and silence. As a poetry open-mic regular, I amusingly found myself fighting the urge to snap my fingers in applause after each person spoke. I was told I could participate, so when a silence stretched awkwardly long and no one else offered to come up to speak, I stood up and read an old poem called “Ode to Survival”, which was about simultaneous pain and power in resilience. I wasn’t sure how it would be received by this group, whose survival needs are pressing every day and much more prevalent than mine have ever been. I am still not sure how it was received, due to the whole silence thing, but I did not pick up on any reactions that would suggest offense or discomfort. If anything, it felt like their reaction to me was the same as any other community member, and I think that is the best I could hope for. It was powerful to witness their stories as well and feel so welcomed as a witness.

Showing up as a therapeutic witness in this space is something I have been discussing in my school’s supervision group.  I am looking forward to developing more of this in both common cathedral as well as in the Art & Spirituality prison group. It could be difficult to think of witnessing as an act that is effective enough in itself, as it might appear more as a lack of action. In drama therapy, however, we have a term active witnessing, which encompasses a way that witnessing can become an embodied act through shared experience in an aesthetic space. In the context of common cathedral that might look like my sharing in the Can We Talk group, as well as offering my reflections and impressions of the art shared in our upcoming talent show. In the prison group, it might be more subtle, in showing appreciation for the art and the meaningfulness of the greeting cards the women create. I am curious to see how my role as therapeutic witness changes and develops throughout this year, as I get to know these spaces and people more deeply.