What to read if you're a new drama therapist, a student in training, or just curious about how it works, the books the field keeps coming back to.
Twelve essential books for drama therapists, students, and curious clients. Includes Phil Jones (Drama as Therapy), Robert Landy (Persona and Performance), Renée Emunah (Acting for Real), Sue Jennings (Creative Drama in Groupwork), David Read Johnson and Penny Lewis (Current Approaches in Drama Therapy), and Bessel van der Kolk (The Body Keeps the Score). Curated for depth, accessibility, and clinical relevance, not just popularity.
Probably the most influential single book on why embodied therapy works. Van der Kolk synthesizes decades of trauma research into a clear case for why traumatic memory lives in the nervous system, not just narrative. Drama therapy programs treat it as foundational reading. The book that started a generation of clients asking specifically for embodied approaches.
Peter Levine's introduction to Somatic Experiencing, the framework for tracking nervous-system activation that drama therapists draw on regularly. Older but still the entry point. Pairs naturally with van der Kolk for trauma context.
If you're studying drama therapy, you'll be assigned this. Emunah's five-phase model is the most-taught process arc in the field. The 2019 edition adds new chapters on recent applications. Concrete, clinical, accessible, a practitioner's working manual rather than a survey.
Boal's compendium of theatre exercises has been the source for hundreds of drama therapy warm-ups, group activities, and structures since 1992. Used by every drama therapist, plus actors, educators, and community organizers. The cheapest book on this list and arguably the most-used.
Siegel's accessible introduction to interpersonal neurobiology, the framework drama therapists use constantly to talk about why integration, attunement, and embodied co-regulation matter. More approachable than his academic textbooks; written for general readers.
The current canonical text on trauma-informed practice in the field. Edited by Sajnani (NYU) and Johnson (Yale, founder of DvT), the 2024 second edition adds substantial new material on race, refugees, and collective trauma. Required reading once you start working clinically.
Landy's articulation of Role Theory. Even if you don't practice Role Method, the thinking here, that personality is a system of roles, that we have a role repertoire, shapes how the field talks about identity, character, and the self. Foundational.
Winnicott's classic on play, transitional objects, and the holding environment. Not drama therapy specifically, but every drama therapist returns to it. The concept of "potential space", neither inner reality nor external reality, underlies most drama therapy theory. Cited in nearly every program.
Jones's textbook is the other canonical text alongside Emunah, leaning more theoretical and international. Strong on the developmental and aesthetic dimensions of drama therapy practice. UK-leaning where Emunah is North American.
Edited by the field's two most prominent figures. Survey of every major approach in one volume. Role Method, Narradrama, EPR, Therapeutic Spiral, DvT, and more. The 2020 third edition adds chapters on cultural responsiveness. Saves you from buying ten primary sources.
Eight more worth owning once you've read the core ten, deeper specializations, popular companion reads, and texts every program library carries.
The most accessible introduction to polyvagal theory; small enough to keep on a clinical shelf.
The deeper companion to Waking the Tiger; integrates somatic trauma work with current neuroscience.
The canonical introduction to the UK Sesame method, movement, myth, and oblique therapeutic work.
The foundational text on Playback Theatre, by one of its co-creators.
Comprehensive reference covering UK, North American, and international approaches; the academic completist's choice.
Recent (2024) text on the CoActive Therapeutic Theatre model; gaining adoption in addiction and mental health settings.
Cattanach's foundational book for working with traumatized children. Influences play and drama therapy alike.
Anthology on self-revelatory performance, which most graduate programs require students to create.
For a comprehensive introduction to drama therapy, Drama as Therapy by Phil Jones (Routledge) is the most widely recommended text, it covers theory, practice, and key concepts accessibly for students and newcomers. For practitioners seeking clinical depth, Acting for Real by Renée Emunah provides the most thorough account of drama therapy process and technique.
Most NADTA-approved graduate programs use a core reading list that includes: Drama as Therapy (Phil Jones), Persona and Performance (Robert Landy), Acting for Real (Renée Emunah), Handbook of Dramatherapy (Jennings & Minde), and Trauma-Informed Drama Therapy (Sajnani & Johnson). Many programs also assign The Body Keeps the Score (Bessel van der Kolk) for trauma context.
Yes. While most drama therapy books are written for practitioners and students, The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk is essential reading for anyone wanting to understand why embodied therapeutic approaches like drama therapy work. There are also accessible accounts of psychodrama and expressive arts that give non-professionals a window into this form of therapy.
Key books for drama therapy with children include: Drama as Therapy with Children by Ann Cattanach, 101 Drama Games and Activities by David Farmer (practical activities for educational and therapeutic settings), and Jungian Analytical Play Therapy texts that overlap with drama therapy methods. Phil Jones' Drama as Therapy also contains significant sections on developmental drama therapy with young people.