Collaboration Play Labs

Welcome to

Projects

“Brilliant presentation!! As an ER doctor and also someone who lost a mother to Alzheimer's I love how the importance of saying goodbye is highlighted and OK and can be the ultimate act of love.”

“I feel like I just experienced a preview of many conversations I will have with loved ones one day, and now I have many of the answers and/or guiding thoughts. The value of that is enormous and I'm extremely grateful.”

“Brilliant! Bravo! That was deep and intense and meaningful on so many levels!”

“Several times I reminded myself that I was watching a play. I felt like I was eavesdropping on a family’s conversation that was real and heartfelt and beautifully done. Thank you so much for all your work!”

“Terrifically stimulating—collectively and intellectually.  Breakout groups after video—well timed.”

“I gave my 5’s in the ratings because I felt this was one of the most moving workshops I’ve ever attended.”

“ Excellent program in every way!  The use of the dramatization helped to bring the issues to life and the commentary plus the breakout rooms worked to weave everything together in a highly effective way!”

♦ Collaboration Play Labs

At Play Labs we create interactive and scenario based offerings for business and educational institutes to Play…With a Purpose. Engaging the imagination and respectfully approaching difficult subjects in the spirit of exploration, creates an accessible and non-threatening entry point into hard to talk about topics, increasing resilience, practical preparation, and life and end of life education.

Using a custom “build your own adventure” model, participants gently approach triggering subjects, with less resistance, more investment, and greater vulnerability. Participants work with a sliding scale of experience, from audience member with a short Q & A after the performance to full participation, interacting in their role as student and professional, or in character through improvisation and scripted scenarios.

Examples of our work:

♦Wooden Nickels

In WOODEN NICKELS, producer and playwright Devorah Medwin uses her unique Mixed Reality Theatre approach in Play Labs, to explore challenging topics, and hard to talk about subjects, this one on Death & Dying.

♦Dr. Jeff Gardere

In this Play Lab, the characters in the play Wooden Nickels have a real life session with psychologist Dr. Jeff, one of the most widely sought-after experts in the field of mental health. In addition to having a private practice in Manhattan, he is an Associate Professor and Course Director of Behavioral Medicine at Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine in New York City.

Dr. Jeff & Devorah Medwin are using Play Labs to collaborate with communities of color and create versions of the play Wooden Nickels to address for diversity and cultural competence.

“America’s Psychologist” Dr. Jeff Gardere

♦Devising Theatre

Dr. Brian Rhinehart brings play, creativity and brain based training to Play Labs using Devised Theatre. According to the Kennedy Center, devising is “the process of collaboratively creating a new work without a pre-existing script wherein the collaborators are also the performers. In devised theatre, the collective artists begin without a script. A devised piece of theatre can literally start with anything: a painting, a song, a real-life event, a novel to adapt, etc.“

♦Arts & English

An international, interdisciplinary and intergenerational mixed reality experience with Play Labs and Producer Patty Rangel to promote the wisdom of a small community of young students (6 - 14) in Tijuana, Mexico, through collaboration with college aged acting students and mental health clinicians in Manhattan, and theatre professionals in Italy - playing together, with a purpose.

♦Medical Improv

Play Labs team members, Dr. Howard Silverman & Jacque Arend, work with Medical students and clinicians to encourage, and elevate “play…with a purpose”. This practice increases communication, cognition, and collaboration in the field of medicine, and in everyday interactions. On top of that, we believe that improv play contributes to emotional resiliency and tolerance of uncertainty. The support and acceptance improvisation re-enforces leads to valuable results, like, connected relationships built on trust; heightened awareness, hyper listening skills and support for healthy collaborations and team building.


♦ Participant Feedback

“Heartfelt exploration of difficult topic.”

“Brilliant! Bravo! That was deep and intense and meaningful on so many levels!”

“Thank you so much. Very touchy and important discussion to have!”

“Amazing and so important!”

“I feel like I just experienced a preview of many conversations I will have with loved ones one day, and now I have many of the answers and/or guiding thoughts. The value of that is enormous and I'm extremely grateful.”

“Brilliant presentation!!-as an ER doctor and also someone who lost a mother to Alzheimer's I love how the importance of saying goodbye is highlighted and OK and can be the ultimate act of love.”

“Powerful performance. So glad we watched.”

“Wonderful experience. It was so real and accurate.”

“Several times I reminded myself that I was watching a play. I felt like I was eavesdropping on a family’s conversation that was real and heartfelt and beautifully done. Thank you so much for all your work!”

“Loved it. Greatly innovative as well … at home, on zoom interactive theatre.”

Collaboration Play Labs Team

  • Devorah Medwin

    Producer, Playwright and Founder of Collaboration Play Labs

  • Jacque Arend

    Actor, Improvisor and Admin Extraordinaire

  • Dr. Brian Rhinehart

    Director and Theater Arts Lecturer

  • Dr. Howie Silverman

    Family Physician and Educator

Co Play Labs

Team Bios

  • Devorah Medwin is the founder of Collaboration Play Labs and Mixed Reality Theatre. Playwright, educator and coach focused on Emotional & Practical Health through Edutainment, her work has been licensed and developed into interactive workshops for the national organization Compassion & Choices; Teachers College; Hospice and other organizations; in the Metaverse with the Avatar Repertory Theater; and she hosts an interview series for authors writing about end of life on bevival.com. Devorah has an MFA in Playwriting from the Actors Studio Drama School; holds a certificate in Thanatology Counseling on Death and Dying and Grief Education; and is an Emotional Health Coach working with individuals and couples via Zoom. Devorah is a member of the National Association of Drama Therapists, The Dramatist Guild, and the NYC Thanatology Group.

  • Jacque Arend is a freelance artist, instructor and administrator. In 2007 Jacque co-founded the Torch Theater, PHX 1st longform improv theater. There, she managed theater operations, training center, and annual festival. She was an established instructor & board member until 2017. Currently, she is Associate Artistic Director & coach at Arizona Actors Academy, General Operations Manager & Education Director for Camp Improv Utopia. Jacque teaches improvisation for actors/performers/artists & applied improvisation for everyone, such as team building, positive communications and personal development. Jacque is a regular performer on improv stages around Phoenix and an actor, most notably appearing as Joanie in Wooden Nickels. She's a skilled administrator with experience producing large scale events and performances, picking up marketing, graphic & web design skills along the way.

  • Brian Rhinehart is a freelance actor and director, and a full-time lecturer at The Actors Studio Drama School in New York City. He has given numerous seminars and workshops on ensemble-based playmaking in the U.S., Europe and Asia, and since 2001 has devised and directed productions seen in seven countries. He is an internationally published scholar of contemporary theatre and is co-author of a book on comedy acting, titled Comedy Acting for Theatre: The Art and Craft of Performing in Comedies, published by Bloomsbury/Methuen. He has an MFA in Directing from the Actors Studio Drama School and a PhD in English from the University of Florida.

  • Howie Silverman is a Family Physician and Professor in the Departments of Biomedical Informatics, Family & Community Medicine, and Bioethics & Medical Humanism at The University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix. He has formal training in improv and is engaged in using improv-based training techniques with medical students and practicing clinicians to improve resiliency, communication, and teamwork. Dr. Silverman earned a Master's Degree in Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and attended Stanford University School of Medicine followed by a residency in Family Practice at Good Samaritan Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona.

Mixed Reality Healing

  • Niki Patton

    Kiki ~ Wooden Nickels

  • Alison Hammond

    Kallie ~ Wooden Nickels

  • Debra Rich Gettleman

    Eve ~ Wooden Nickels

  • Jacque Arend

    Joanie ~ Wooden Nickels

  • Devorah Medwin

    Playwright & Director

  • Barbara Coombs Lee

    Guest Practitioner | Wooden Nickels

    An American activist, author, former family nurse practitioner and physician assistant, and president emerita/senior adviser of Compassion & Choices, a national non-profit organization dedicated to expanding and protecting the rights of the terminally ill.

  • Dr. Mario Garrett

    Guest Practitioner | Wooden Nickels

    Mario Garrett, PhD, is Professor of Gerontology at San Diego State University.

  • Lois Nachamie LMSW

    Guest Practitioner | Wooden Nickels

    Lois Nachamie, MFA, LCSW-R, is a board-certified psychotherapist and couples counselor in private practice in New York City and Wilmington, Delaware, specializing in life transitions from cradle to grave: Becoming parents; parenting; aging parents; end of life planning and decisions.

  • Dr. Howie Silverman

    Guest Practitioner | Wooden Nickels

    Dr. Howard Silverman, MD is a retired Clinical Informaticist in Phoenix, AZ and has over 42 years of experience in the medical field. Also retired professor from U of A School of Medicine. Dr. Silverman has extensive expertise in ritual and ceremony.