The Theatre of Truth

Doctoral Dissertation, University of California, Berkeley ABSTRACT: Jacob Levy Moreno, M.D. (1889-1974) is known today as the founder of psychodrama, which he defined as "the science which explores the 'truth' by dramatic methods." This dissertation investigates Moreno primarily as a theatre artist. It starts with a philosophical analysis of the concepts of acting, improvisation and spontaneity and then consolidates the elements of Moreno's theory of the nature and function of theatre, which are dispersed throughout his writings and have never been thoroughly collected in one place. The dissertation also examines how Moreno discovered the healing power of drama while he directed his Theatre of Spontaneity in Vienna 1920s and in New York 1930s. The appendix contains Moreno's earliest theatrical text, The Godhead as Comedian, translated for the first time in its entirety from the 1919 German edition. (332 pages, including 19 pages of German and English references, chronology)