Research Article

Theatre Is a Valid Add-On Therapeutic Intervention for Emotional Rehabilitation of Parkinson’s Disease Patients

Table 1

Exercises included in a typical emotional theatre training session. It must be remarked that some but not all exercises were performed in each session.

Movement training

ProprioceptionVisualization; self-awareness; breath exercises; postural exercises

Basic motor skills practiceBreathing exercises; spinal column exercises; head exercises; limb exercises; foot exercises; hand exercises; muscle exercises; joint exercises; stretching; strength and flexibility; coordination; dissociation; active/passive motion; balance; memory; sequences; meaningful actions; nonfunctional, expressive movement

SpaceBody space; personal space; proximal space; medial and distal space; imaging space; spatial cues

TimeInternal time; external time; temporal cues; rhythm

RelationshipSound; solo work; couple work; group work; contact

Voice training

ProprioceptionVisualization; self-awareness; postural exercises

Basic motor skills practiceSpinal column exercises; head/neck exercises; limb exercises; foot exercises; hand exercises; pelvic exercises; shoulder exercises

BreathingDiaphragmatic breathing; movements of abdominal muscles; pelvis exercises; emission of breath for increasing time/with puffs; vocal emission of the consonant “S,” “SH,” and “TS” for increasing time/with puffs

ResonatorsVocal emission of the “M” consonant, with closed mouth and rhythmic movements, from low to high pitches

Vowels emissionIndividual emission of vowels following different orders with a single breath, from low to high pitches, from low to high volume

ArticulationMouth and tongue exercises; facial muscles exercises; articulation of single consonants; exasperated articulations of words; rhythmic articulation of lyrics

MusicianshipPerforming scales and arpeggios with different syllables/with two-syllable words from low to high pitches in different rhythms, from low to high volume

SingingImprovisation (solo work, couple work, and choral work); learning and performing a song (choral work)

Theatre training

Vocal techniqueBreathing; diaphragmatic breathing; vocal exercise; articulation of consonant; syllables and word exercises; increasing and decreasing voice

Improvisation and experimentationImprovisation linked on a given idea; timing and rhythm; variations about the story; including all the partners on stage in a common happening; self-collocate in a drama; fixing the acme; exit the situation; totally enter again in the drama; use of the text; apperceive a personal feeling; communicate it to audience; use of the stage like a chessboard; any step is an emotional stage; Performing with one, two, or three partners; create a story, interpreting and closing it with a comic end. Control and experience the emotional states associated with the story and, finally, reinterpret it with expressing the opposite emotion; exercises of theatrical strategies to be useful for partners; increase and decrease scenic rhythms; deconstruction of a drama, linked to bodily and vocal reps; positive training to prepare to facing audience

DramaturgyComedy of Arts techniques; techniques of pantomime; use of the body to create a feature; kind of walking to fix it; study of classic text; dramaturgical analysis; methods to memorize the learned techniques of the Comedy of Arts