Stephen Snow, PhD, RDT-BCT

Education and training

• PhD New York University, 1987
• Psychotherapy training at the Institute for Expressive Analysis
• Psychodrama training with Peter Pitzele, James Sacks & Nina Garcia
• Board Certified Drama Therapist (RDT-BCT)
• Diploma in Playback Theatre

Biography

Stephen Snow, Ph.D., RDT-BCT, is a drama therapist and a theatre artist. With 40 years of experience in the field of drama therapy, he has practiced in psychiatric rehabilitation, geriatrics, with at-risk youth and in the domain of neuro-diversity. Dr. Snow is Emeritus Professor of Drama Therapy at Concordia University where he co-founded the Centre for the Arts in Human Development (1996) and the Graduate Drama Therapy Program (1997). He did his Ph.D. in performance studies at New York University where he experienced the work of many noted anthropologists and was mentored by performance theorist/theatre director Richard Schechner. This gave Stephen a sound background in cultural studies and ethnography. He has trained as a therapist both in psychoanalytic psychotherapy and psychodrama. As a theatre artist, he has acted in over 100 theatre productions, directed another 30 and written playscripts for a dozen more. He has created and performed three autobiographical theatre pieces: Seething Brains (1994), based on image of madness in Shakespeare and his own life, Nightride in the City (2003), about his experience of driving a cab at night in NYC, and most recently, Healing the Poisoned Tree inside of Me, his personal experiences of racism, growing up in 1950s New England. He has published 4 books, two of them co-edited works on assessment in the creative arts therapies, along with 22 chapters in books. He has presented his therapeutic theatre research in major cities all across North America as well as in Jamaica (West Indies), England, France, Italy, Egypt, Israel, Sri Lanka and China. Dr. Snow has received research awards from Concordia University, the North American Drama Therapy Association, the American Association for Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and AMI-Quebec Action on Mental Illness. His most recent work is in developing an integrative approach called ethnodramatherapy (EDT). His documentary on this work can be found on psychotherapy.net and his book on this topic, Ethnodramatherapy: Integrating Research, Therapy, Theatre and Social Activism, is available through Routledge, Taylor &Francis Group.

Selected publications / Works of interest

• Snow, S., Tanguay, D., & D'Amico, M. (2006). Élaboration d'un instrument de
     mesure basé sur le jeu de rôle en vue d'évaluer des personnes ayant des
     incapacités intellectuelles [The development of a role-play assessment tool for
     persons with developmental disabilities]. In H. Gascon, J.- R. Poulin, J.- J.
     Detraux, D. Boisvert & M.- C. Haelewyck (Eds.), Déficience intellectuelle :
     Savoirs et perspectives d'action. Vol. 2 : Formation, interventions, adaptation
      et soutien social (pp. 161-171). Québec : Presses Inter Universitaires.
• Snow, S., D'Amico, M., & Tanguay, D. (2003). Therapeutic theatre and well-
       being. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 30, 73-82
• The Alice Project, a documentary by Phil Herbison based on a therapeutic theatre
       production written and directed by Stephen Snow