Theater Therapy

Theatrical improvization program helps improve quality of life for people dealing with memory loss.
The New York Times (8/8, A21B, Reaves) reports that in a first-of-its-kind "collaboration between the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University and the Lookingglass Theater Company, the Memory Ensemble is" a program seeking "to improve the quality of life for people dealing with the early stages of memory loss" through the use of "theatrical improvisation, a method that treats all words as useful and welcomes the expression of feelings that emerge on the twisting path of memory loss -- terror, frustration, even joy." In addition, "the experience...helps participants learn to trust their instincts and make decisions based on the present, rather than the past."