I've traveled to several cities recently, speaking with students and faculty at different universities and introducing performance and improv to them through workshops. It 's always provocative and eye-opening to challenge the knowing paradigm at a university (for obvious reasons). Inviting professional knowers and knowers-to-be to perform philosophy as a new...
It’s time to change how we think about and relate to people whose makeup is or appears to be different from the norm. We now think of what’s different—let’s say a biological or neurological difference—as the main source of disability and difficulty, and we focus help and treatment on this....
Piano stairs at the metro station show walking can be fun. Check out Fun Theory. 13,000 folks already have. ...
I spent the weekend with nine terrific people discovering and creating development. The occasion was the spring Discover Development-NYC, a twice-a-year three day adventure that I have the privilege of leading thanks to the East Side Institute. People come together and immerse themselves in developmental activities of the Institute, the...
I'm excited to share a new project of mine. I'm series editor for a new collection of books for Palgrave Macmillan on the topic of Play, Performance, Learning and Development. Over the next three years (and maybe beyond) researchers and practitioners will have a multi-disciplinary "home" to publish their work...
I just saw "Love and Information", the new play by the great playwright Carly Churchill. Unique in form (15 actors played 100 parts in 57 scenes that are seconds to a few minutes long), it's equally unusual in content—how our obsession with knowing and information permeates our everyday conversations and...
I'll be playing "Development Tour Guide" once again this coming May 16-18 as I lead another Discover Development NYC weekend. It's a unique small-group experience in seeing and making culture in one of the world's most vibrant cities. Contact Melissa Meyer at mmeyer@eastsideinstitute.org if you're interested. Click here for more information. ...
Announcing TEDxNavesink PLAY I'm happy to say that I'll be there in Red Bank NJ on May 10 2014. for this unique event on the subject of PLAY. I'll be one of two dozen presenters (list in formation). I titled my talk, "Unveiling the Mystery of How Play Helps Us to Grow at...
October 26, 2013 If you think that creativity, play and imagination are vital to personal and social transformation, then I have some folks you need to meet—Steve Dahlberg and Mary Alice Long. Steve is director of the Connecticut-based International Centre for Creativity and Imagination, which applies creativity to improve the well-being of individuals, organizations...
August 23, 2013 I’ve spent much of today gathering and reading bits of articles on imagination, play and creativity. Among them is a piece by Lev Vygotsky entitled, “Imagination and Creativity in Childhood”(translated into English from the Russian and published in 2004 in the Journal of Russian and East European Psychology)....