Moreno Museum Association presents the group MoMu Teatro in
"A HAT FOR MORENO"
Performance in Italian language
Psychodrama around the world
April 25 – 28, 2024, Vienna
https://www.psychodrama-austria.at/psychodrama-around-the-world/kongress-program-english/
This play shows various episodes of the European adventures of J.L. Moreno, who was born in Bucharest in 1889, lived in Vienna and in Bad Voslau, and migrated to the United States in 1925. The aim of this production is to illustrate the origin of certains aspects of psychodrama, a method that intially evolved from Moreno's personal life anecdotes, rather than teories. in the first part of his life, Moreno lived through many experiences, both in the private and in the professional spheres. These experiences intuitively provided him with an understanding the connection among healing, theatre, divinity, creativity and relationships. With this show, we aim to bring some of these experiences to life and focus Moreno's relationships, wich enable him to develop his personality and ideas. We want to explore how his complementary roles allowed him to sow the seed of the psychodramatic process here in Europe.
The piece is an artistic creation: it is not a documentary. The idea is to celebrate J.L. Moreno on the fiftieth year since his death. The director is Donatella Lessio, a psychodramatist from Turin, Italy, who proposed her idea to Marco Greco, the President of the Moreno Museum Association, of which she is also a member. The project involved a co-creative effort with a group of amateur actors who collaboratively decided on the text and theatrical performance. Lessio's expertise brought together the entire theatrical process and the group of actors collaborating for the first time.
The MoMu Theater Group consists of non-professional actors, many of whom are or where students of the Italian Institute "Studio di Psicodramma" (a member of FEPTO).
The title refers to Moreno's habit of wearing a long greatcoat in his youth and never wearing a hat, which was quite unusual for that time, showcasing his originality. The actors take on Moreno's role, alternating and embodying Moreno by wearing "his" hat. This is a psychodrama hat: a hat that we give to Moreno but also a hat 'for' Moreno, a symbol that represents him. The sources of reference were J.L. Moreno's autobiography and his other writings (The Words of the Father, The Theatre of Spontaneity, Handbook of Psychodrama - Theatre as Therapy), and the biography of J.L. Moreno written by Prof. René Marineau, "J. L. Moreno et la troisième révolution psychiatrique". Publisher: Métailié, 1989. In the performance you will recognise excerpts extrapolated (literally or adapted) from the above-mentioned sources and the three poetic texts recited in the original language to emphasise the international atmosphere that characterised J.L. Moreno's early life and life in Vienna at that time.
