I am a member of an international community called Reimagining Dementia: A Creative Coalition for Justice. Our group consists of people living with dementia, carers and care partners, family and community members, dementia activists, health professionals, advocates, artists, academics, policymakers, and allies. Together, we envision a transformative approach to care and support that emphasizes inclusion, meaningful relationships, creativity, joy, and the potential for growth for everyone impacted by dementia.
My own small role in this larger network is to do singalong music in memory care facilities for friends with Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia, which in my own mind I rename newmentia, because I feel that folks with these conditions indeed know things, though not in ways familiar to those who rely on short-term memory and executive functions. I volunteer twice a week at two centers; as I do so I an part of a family, an ensemble, a gathering, a church. There is something spiritual in it.
Recently, three members of our group--Mary Fridley, Lynn Casteel, and I—led a discussion at an international event called Performing the World 2024, sponsored by an organization called the East Side Institute. Our focus was on the role that religious and spiritual faith can play in reimagining dementia/newmentia. This was my first experience with our sponsoring organization, the East Side Institute, and I was deeply impressed. Founded in New York City, the Institute's mission is to advance performance-based approaches that empower individuals and communities to grow beyond their current circumstances. By emphasizing social therapeutics, improvisational play, and the transformative power of collective performance, the Institute seeks to challenge conventional barriers in psychology, education, and community development. Their projects span a wide range of initiatives, including grassroots leadership training, global play and performance workshops, and innovative social therapy practices, all aimed at fostering environments where individuals can co-create new possibilities for themselves and their communities.
Both Reimagining Dementia and the East Side Institute are especially interested in "social therapeutics" and "performance activism." Briefly, these phrases refer to approaches that view human development as a collective, creative, and relational process.
Social Therapeutics focuses on building community and fostering growth through collaborative, creative activities that emphasize relationships and dialogue.
Performance Activism involves using performance—whether artistic, theatrical, or everyday activities—to inspire social change, challenge norms, and reimagine possibilities, encouraging people to step into new roles and identities to create a more just and inclusive world.
As a process philosopher and theologian, I am particularly interested in the role that creativity, collaboration, and the arts can play in social transformation. As I read a description of social therapeutics on the East Side Institute website, I find many connections with process philosophy and theology. The intellectual foundations of the Institute are at least threefold: Karl Marx, Lev Vygotsky, and Ludwig Wittgenstein.
Karl Marx's contribution as a methodologist, especially in his early works like Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts and The German Ideology, highlights a deeply social perspective on human nature. He emphasizes that human beings are fundamentally social, with both actions and thoughts shaped by social contexts. For Marx, transforming the world and transforming ourselves are interconnected endeavors, and it is through this "revolutionary activity" that both individual and collective growth becomes possible.
Soviet psychologist Lev Vygotsky applies Marx's sociological insights to understanding human learning and development. He departs from the traditional focus on individual development, instead framing it as a social and cultural process. His insights provided clarity on therapeutic and educational practices, and his work on early childhood cognitive development has broader implications for emotional growth throughout life. Vygotsky paves the way for a new psychology of "becoming," where individuals embrace the social nature of existence and the transformative power of collective creativity.
The 20th-century philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein reshapes the landscape of philosophy, psychology, and linguistics by challenging foundational beliefs. He introduces a novel method of philosophy that discarded rigid structures and generalizations. Wittgenstein's analysis of the "pathologies" present in language and our conventional ideas about thought and emotions is especially influential for the East Side Institute. His belief that the search for hidden meanings "holds us captive" leads to a therapeutic approach in philosophy, inspiring the Institute to adopt social therapy as a method for helping individuals break free from limiting ideas, encouraging them to become creators of meaning in their lives.
For my part, I am drawn to a fourth potential influence on the work of the East Side Institute, not found in their literature but nevertheless relevant to my own approach to and appreciation of their work: the "process philosophy" of the late philosopher and mathematician Alfred North Whitehead. Whitehead's process philosophy resonates deeply with many aspects of East Side Institute philosophy.
Relationality: Process philosophy underscores the inherently social nature of the self, showing how we "feel the feelings" of others and how others are part of the very fabric of individual existence.
Collaboration: Process philosophy proposes that human life is best enriched, not through conflict and competition, but through cooperation and mutual (or relational) empowerment.
Improvisation: Process philosophy highlights the self-creative aspects of our relational being, such that at every moment of an individual's life, the individual creates themselves through a creative response to what is given to experience by the past.
Imagination: Process philosophy emphasizes the capacity to transcend limiting ideas and envision new possibilities for personal and collective transformation through leaps of imagination.
Process: Process philosophy emphasizes the flow of experiences and decisions that shape who we become over time. As the term "process," suggests, Whitehead's is a philosophy of becoming.
Richness of Experience: In process philosophy, value is understood as "richness of experience" or aesthetic value in the present and future, fostering a sense of purpose and fulfillment in everyday life.
Divine Eros toward Beauty: A divine Eros within the cosmos itself toward novelty. Beauty is not prettiness or the beauty of objects, but subjective beauty understood as harmony and intensity, which underscores the value of creating experiences that are both balanced and deeply felt.
Potentialities for Objective Relations and Subjective Feeling: Process philosophy supports and encourages the spirit of theatre and theatre arts by emphasizing that potentialities are as real as actualities, and that they include potentials for objective and subjective relations, involving (as theatre arts attests) a combination of these elements with set design and character development.
Social Justice as Richness of Experience: Social justice is the enjoyment of richness of experience through relational power, emphasizing that true justice is achieved when all individuals can thrive through cooperation, shared empowerment, and meaningful relationships.
Memory: In process philosophy, memory is seen not just as a passive recollection of the past but as an active ingredient in shaping the present and future. Memory allows us to carry forward past experiences, both individual and collective, into new moments of becoming. It plays a vital role in forming identity, influencing choices, and providing a sense of continuity. Through memory, we creatively integrate what has been into what can be, enriching the present with depth, meaning, and context while opening up new possibilities for transformation.
Play: Process philosophy highlights the spirit of play (or adventure) as fundamental to life. It encourages an adventurous openness to possibility, where individuals explore the world in a state of curiosity, flexibility, and joy. Playfulness fosters creativity, helps us adapt to change, and allows us to engage deeply with others and our environment in a way that transcends rigid rules or expectations, embracing the unpredictable nature of existence.
Withness of the Body: In process philosophy our bodies are "with" us. They actively co-creates experience through sensory input, movement, and visceral feelings from the past, making each moment participatory and embodied. This embodied presence is central to how we relate to the world, combining mind, heart, and body.
The Universe as Creative Advance into Novelty: The idea that the universe and all within it are engaged in a continual process of becoming, moving forward into new possibilities.
Whitehead situates all of these within a broader cosmological vision - a philosophy of organism, he calls it - offering a perspective that enriches my understanding of social therapeutics and performance activism, not only in humanistic terms but also with an ecological dimension.
Equally is not more important today is the social ideal that is now part of the international process movement: that of an Ecological Civilization in which people live with respect and care for one another and the larger community of life. This ideal is embodied in local communities that are creative, compassionate, participatory, diverse, inclusive, humane to animals, and good for the earth, with no one left behind. It is this ideal, this hope, that shapes my own work with Reimagining Dementia. If no one is left behind, this certainly includes people with dementia/newmentia, who have much to offer the world. I appreciate the East Side Institute because it promotes and supports a social therapeutics and performance activism that seeks to help cultivate and encourage these kinds of communities.
In pointing to this fourth source, my aim is not to encourage people at the East Side Institute to add Whitehead and/or process philosophy to their list of philosophical sources. Indeed, there may be tensions between process philosophy and the other sources. For example, Wittgenstein is well-known for his suspicion of metaphysics or cosmology, or for relying deeply on metanarratives. Whitehead's Process and Reality is indeed a metanarrative of sorts, albeit with no claim to finality of statement. And Marx, as a political economist (which is not the side of Marx emphasized by the East Side Institute), sees social change as coming about through violence and class conflict, whereas Whitehead emphasizes the power of persuasion rather than coercion, or what process philosophers speak of as "relational power." In addition, the religious or spiritual side of process philosophy may not fit with a more secular orientation that may be important to many at the Institute. I don't know.
However, it seems to me that for some of us (myself included) who wish to be part of the East Side Institute community, process philosophy can serve as a kind of fourth source for those so inclined. It supplements but does not at all replace Marx, Vygostsky, and Wittgenstein - sometimes through shared values, sometimes through enriching tensions, and sometimes through complementary differences.
More importantly, I believe that the work of the Institute, with its focus on social therapeutics and performance arts, can enrich and deepen our understanding of how social transformation—toward ecological civilization and just, sustainable, and joyful communities—is practiced locally. The East Side Institute has much to add to the international process community, many of whom live in mainland Europe and East Asia, including mainland China.
I sense an openness to the "ecological" side of this vision in the language of Lois Holzman. Lois Holzman is a prominent developmental psychologist, author, and co-founder of the East Side Institute for Group and Short Term Psychotherapy. Holzman's work challenges traditional views of psychology by focusing less on diagnosing and treating individuals in isolation and more on collective transformation and growth. She has authored several influential books, including "Vygotsky at Work and Play," in which she explores how Vygotsky’s ideas can be used to reimagine education, therapy, and community organizing in a way that emphasizes collaboration, creativity, and human potential. Her focus on play as a transformative force underscores her belief that growth happens not just by learning skills but through expanding our capacity for creativity and improvisation in social settings. In her description of development, she writes:
"By develop, I mean create new responses to existing situations..The world—the earth, the sky, the animals, the children, the elders, the families, the villages, the towns, the cities—needs to develop...Without creating new things out of existing things, we continue to kill. Developing (creating the new) isn’t easy."
But, she adds, people can do it together and the practice of performance activism, itself a social therapeutic, offers a way.
In his book Performance Activism: Precursors and Contemporary Pioneers, Dan Friedman, co-convenor along with Lois Holzman, of Performing the World, and on the faculty of the East Side Institute, identifies six ways in which performance activism can function, all of which are vital to the process vision of an Ecological Civilization.
Educating: Providing people with knowledge, critical thinking skills, and awareness of issues to empower them to take informed action.
Politicalizing: Encouraging active political engagement, raising awareness of social injustices, and inspiring people to participate in the political process to bring about systemic change.
Building Bridges: Connecting individuals and groups across divides—cultural, social, political, or ideological—to foster mutual understanding and collaboration.
Creating Community Conversation: Facilitating open and honest dialogue among community members, addressing concerns, sharing ideas, and building a collective vision for the future.
Reigniting Creativity: Inspiring creative expression as a way to explore new ideas, foster hope, and find innovative solutions to societal challenges.
Healing Trauma: Recognizing and addressing the emotional wounds that individuals and communities carry, providing support and spaces for healing, and fostering resilience.
Building Community: Strengthening social bonds, nurturing relationships, and creating spaces where people feel valued, supported, and connected.
These are exactly the areas where those in the international process movement hope to make a difference in the world. Performance Activism can help guide those of us in the process movement, and perhaps our own understanding of "performance" can add to the larger movement.
In a lecture titled Performance Activism: A Reconstructive Approach to Social Activism and Generating Possibility, delivered on September 12, 2022, at the Lyon Honors Institute at the University of North Carolina Greensboro, Dan Friedman discussed the role of performance in reimagining and reconstructing social activism. To conclude, I build upon his lecture in a process way.
In process philosophy, a "self" is not a single reality enduring unchanged over time but rather a series of selves, extending from birth (and perhaps before) to death (and perhaps afterward). Each self is itself an act of experiencing the world in the immediacy of the moment. Each moment of experience in a person's life is both what it has been and what it is in the process of becoming. Performance, as Friedman describes it, is the conscious activity of being who-you-are while simultaneously exploring who-you-are-not, embodying a process of growth and becoming, rather than a fixed state. In a process philosophy interpretation, this echoes the dynamic tension between the past and future within the process of concrescence—the process through which a momentary self synthesizes its past into a new creation. In each moment, we draw upon our inherited past (who we are) while being open to the lure of novel possibilities (who we are becoming).
Friedman also speaks of "relating to yourself as a dynamic process who is always coming-into-being, not a static thing." This is central to the process philosophy notion that actuality is fundamentally relational and processual. Every moment of performance is an opportunity to explore different aspects of one's identity, relating the self to new possibilities and new expressions. In a process philosophy frame, this is akin to the interplay between the subjective aim—the purpose or goal guiding the becoming of an actual entity—and the new, novel forms that emerge from each new synthesis.
The example of a baby learning to speak is particularly resonant with process philosophy ideas of prehension and creative emergence. Babies "babble in response to their words" by prehending their environment—including the relational dynamics of family members—creatively synthesizing it into their own developmental process. This mutual relationality exemplifies process philosophy’s emphasis on the social nature of becoming, where growth is not simply about the individual but about the individual's participation in a broader relational field. Performance, then, becomes an act of creatively prehending the world and participating in the ongoing creative advance.
Furthermore, the process philosophy idea of creativity as the ultimate reality suggests that performance is a fundamental expression of our creative nature, the ongoing process of self-creation and re-creation. When Friedman speaks of performance as a developmental skill inherent to all human beings, it underscores the process philosophy view that creativity is at the core of existence—something natural and accessible to everyone, a process of becoming that is fundamental to human life.
In this process philosophy reading, performance as Friedman sees it is not a mere façade but an authentic engagement with the self as process—a creative, relational, and ongoing exploration of who we are and who we might become. It captures the essence of existence as a series of dynamic moments, always in the process of becoming something new, creatively transforming the past into novel futures.
What social therapeutics adds is that performance, thus understood, can be a community affair—a matter of ensembles amid which selves grow together, as selves, persons as persons. Process philosophy further adds the idea that not only human beings, but all sentient beings have selves of a sort, and that more-than-human selves are growing too; they are "performing." That is, they are (to use Whitehead's awkward term) "superjecting" themselves, or presenting themselves to the broader worlds around them, even as they are receiving and internalizing those worlds within themselves. People do this all the time, but so do plants and animals, hills and rivers, trees and stars. We live in a performative universe.
In a fundamental sense, the universe itself is an ensemble—an improvisational drama in the making. The "togetherness" of which Holzman speaks includes, but is more than, the human. A process approach to social therapeutic performance activism will always keep this in mind and be sensitive to the fact that there is something in the universe—something more than the human and more than all finite entities added together—that is on the side of life. The ensemble includes a spirit of creative transformation, a healing and whole-making spirit, that is inside each and all, but also more than each and all.
This spirit, too, is performing—not in a unilateral way (which is not even possible for it, given the self-creativity of all selves) but always in a relational way. To be sure, this is not a theme found in Marx or Wittgenstein; I am not sure about Vygotsky. But it is a theme important to Whitehead. As we perform ourselves again and again, with others, we are being inwardly lured by something deep, wide, and divine, the efficacy of which depends on our response—again and again, together. And in our togetherness we are performed by the world, too. All is mutual performance.
It is this mutual performance that I myself sense, twice a week, as I do singalong music with friends and staff at memory care centers. I am not performing by myself. I am being performed by friends in the room, sometimes clapping their hands, sometimes singing along, and sometimes crying, especially with the sad songs. And those who are unable to do any of this are performing, too, although not in overt ways that are obviously interactive. Whatever is happening inside them is an act of performance, of being with their bodies, their emotions, their moods, if not with the world outside them; and we, the rest of us, are with them in love and care. All is community. All is ensemble. All has its own kind of beauty. With no one left behind.
- Jay McDaniel, 10/3/2024
Social Therapeutic Performance Activism
An Overview
Social Therapeutic Performance Activism is an approach that combines social therapeutics with performance arts to foster individual and collective transformation. It is built on the idea that human development is a collective, creative, and relational process that can be nurtured through performance. Here are the key components:
1. Social Therapeutics
Social therapeutics is a methodology that focuses on human growth and well-being through creative collaboration and community-building. It emphasizes the importance of social relationships and dialogue in the development process. Instead of viewing individuals as isolated entities, social therapeutics recognizes that people grow and heal best within social contexts, where they can participate in creative and collective activities. It challenges traditional models of therapy, which often focus solely on the individual, by highlighting the significance of relational dynamics and community in achieving well-being.
2. Performance Activism
Performance activism uses performance (such as theatre, art, music, and even everyday activities) as a tool for social change. It draws from the idea that everyone is inherently a performer, able to take on new roles and step outside of their usual identities to enact change. Through performance, people are encouraged to explore new possibilities for themselves and their communities. This kind of activism is not limited to professional artists—it includes everyone as an active participant who can help challenge norms, inspire dialogue, and create new social realities.
3. The Integration of Performance and Therapy
In social therapeutic performance activism, the idea is that human beings are always in the process of becoming, and performance can serve as a medium for this transformation. Through role-playing, improvisation, and collaborative performance, individuals can break free from limiting identities or circumstances and discover new ways of being. This kind of activism sees the entire community as an ensemble working together to create new "scenes" in life—much like actors on a stage but focused on real-world transformation.
4. Collective Transformation
This approach is not just about individual growth; it is about transforming society as a whole. By using performance as a way to bring people together, social therapeutic performance activism aims to inspire collective action toward a more inclusive, just, and compassionate world. It encourages people to step into roles that challenge oppressive social structures, thereby empowering communities to work towards social justice and systemic change.
5. Core Concepts
Improvisation: Improvisation is a key element—just as performers adapt to the flow of a scene, individuals and communities can learn to adapt creatively to changing circumstances in real life.
Creativity and Play: Creativity is central to social therapeutic performance activism, which encourages participants to engage in playful, imaginative activities that foster a sense of possibility and freedom.
Relationship-Building: Social therapeutics emphasizes the importance of relationships. The approach seeks to foster trust, empathy, and mutual understanding within communities.
Stepping into New Roles: Performance activism encourages people to adopt new roles that can challenge their existing ways of thinking and interacting. By doing so, individuals and communities can create new identities that align with a more just and transformative vision for society.
6. Goals
Personal Growth: Helping individuals overcome limiting beliefs and embrace new possibilities for growth and healing.
Community Building: Strengthening social bonds through collective creative activities that emphasize interdependence and mutual support.
Social Change: Using the power of performance to challenge the status quo, dismantle harmful social structures, and imagine and enact more equitable and inclusive communities.
Social Therapeutic Performance Activism is thus a creative and community-centered approach to social change, leveraging the power of performance and relational development to encourage both individual transformation and collective action. It embodies a vision of human flourishing where the arts, creativity, and social connection are at the center of what it means to grow and thrive, both personally and as a society.
About Dan Friedman
Dan at Montauk harbor, 2022 ( Photo by Pei Spirito )
Dan Friedman is a distinguished faculty member of the East Side Institute, an international research and training center specializing in social therapeutics and performance activism. At the Institute, he is involved in researching and writing about political theatre, performance activism, and cultural politics, while also teaching classes, organizing webinars, and helping lead workshops. Dan is the managing producer of the Institute's podcast, "All Power to the Developing," and serves as project manager for Let's Learn!, a global community-engaged educational project in collaboration with Lloyd International Honors College at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He is also instrumental in organizing "Performing the World" (PTW), a conference that brings together performance activists, play revolutionaries, and developmentalists from around the globe.
Dan is also recognized as the Artistic Director Emeritus of the Castillo Theatre, a community-based experimental political theatre he co-founded in 1984. In 2003, he launched Youth Onstage!, a free after-school youth theatre program through Castillo, and later helped initiate UX in 2010—a community-based school for continuing development for people of all ages, drawing primarily from New York City's working-class communities of color. These initiatives are part of the All Stars Project, Inc. (ASP), which engages poverty and transforms the lives of youth and poor communities through performance across several U.S. cities and abroad.
With a doctorate in theatre history from the University of Wisconsin, Dan has been a progressive political and cultural organizer since the late 1960s. He is the author of Performance Activism: Precursors and Contemporary Pioneers (Palgrave, 2021), as well as an editor of numerous books on political theatre. His involvement extends to teaching courses and giving talks at universities and conferences worldwide. For more on his writings, including plays, poems, and articles on cultural politics and performance activism, visit his archive at www.danfriedmannyc.org.
Performance in Process Perspective
Friedman's concept of performance aligns quite beautifully with process-relational (Whiteheadian) philosophy. In this framework, performance can be interpreted as a creative advance into novelty and a way of becoming, rather than simply being a static self.
For process-relational philosophy, a "self" is not a single reality enduring unchanged over time but rather a series of selves, extending from birth (and perhaps before) to death (and perhaps afterward). Each self is itself an act of experiencing the world in the immediacy of the moment. Each moment of experience in a person's life is both what it has been and what it is in the process of becoming. Performance, as Friedman describes it, is the conscious activity of being who-you-are while simultaneously exploring who-you-are-not, embodying a process of growth and becoming, rather than a fixed state. In a process-relational interpretation, this echoes the dynamic tension between the past and future within the process of concrescence—the process through which a momentary self synthesizes its past into a new creation. In each moment, we draw upon our inherited past (who we are) while being open to the lure of novel possibilities (who we are becoming).
Friedman also speaks of "relating to yourself as a dynamic process who is always coming-into-being, not a static thing." This is central to the process-relational notion that actuality is fundamentally relational and processual. Every moment of performance is an opportunity to explore different aspects of one's identity, relating the self to new possibilities and new expressions. In a process-relational frame, this is akin to the interplay between the subjective aim—the purpose or goal guiding the becoming of an actual entity—and the new, novel forms that emerge from each new synthesis.
The example of a baby learning to speak is particularly resonant with process-relational ideas of prehension and creative emergence. Babies "babble in response to their words" by prehending their environment—including the relational dynamics of family members—creatively synthesizing it into their own developmental process. This mutual relationality exemplifies process-relational philosophy’s emphasis on the social nature of becoming, where growth is not simply about the individual but about the individual's participation in a broader relational field. Performance, then, becomes an act of creatively prehending the world and participating in the ongoing creative advance.
Furthermore, the process-relational idea of creativity as the ultimate reality suggests that performance is a fundamental expression of our creative nature, the ongoing process of self-creation and re-creation. When Friedman speaks of performance as a developmental skill inherent to all human beings, it underscores the process-relational view that creativity is at the core of existence—something natural and accessible to everyone, a process of becoming that is fundamental to human life. In this process-relational reading, performance as Friedman sees it is not a mere façade but an authentic engagement with the self as process—a creative, relational, and ongoing exploration of who we are and who we might become. It captures the essence of existence as a series of dynamic moments, always in the process of becoming something new, creatively transforming the past into novel futures.