Social Presencing Theater
Social Presencing Theatre (SPT) is a social art that encourages people to see and sense current reality and possible futures of a social system. Arawana Hayashi and Beth Mount have co-created these theater performances to reveal ways that people with disabilities, elders and their organizations are “stuck” in old ways, and then make true moves toward expanded possibilities.
Capacity Works Social Presencing Theater
Arawana Hayashi and Beth Mount brought Social Presencing Theater (SPT) to Job Path, an innovative New York City social justice agency which fosters “lives of distinction” for people with developmental disabilities. The SPT performance created a reflective and creative space for fresh ideas and meaningful conversations to emerge which resulted in powerful insights for the people involved.
Haverstraw: We See You
These are snapshots of “We See You,” a Social Presencing Performance created in collaboration with Arawana Hayashi, Beth Mount, John O’Brien and the staff of Centro de Amigos in Haverstraw, New York. The performance explores health care for seniors as Latino families experience it now and as they envision a future worth co-creating. Act One (red zone) shares the player’s sense of some ways the system now falls short of its highest potential. Act Two (green zone) presents their vision of the benefits of a deeper capacity to work together as a community that sees and involves seniors as whole people. Act Three (blue zone) describes seeds of the future ready for cultivation. The performance concludes with an opportunity for discussion and expressions of commitment.
The Impact of Social Presencing Theater with Arawana Hayashi
This film conveys key elements of Social Presencing Theater (SPT), a social technology developed to enable, and facilitate systems change. Through interviews and SPT demonstrations, this film conveys the impact of Social Presencing Theater in a wide variety of settings.