Alan Powell

From my nearly 20 year career as a film director in educational drama working with trauma-based themes to my six years training in various therapeutic modalities, I remain passionate about empowering artists. My unique blend of skills sensitizes me to the needs of actors as they journey on the courageous path of character exploration - especially when it relates to portrayals of trauma-based stories. I am well equipped to guide you through the potential blocks, defenses and boundary challenges that may arise when using yourself as a vessel for dramatic art communication.

For over 30 years I've been working in the arts. Since 2005 I have directed hundreds of actors in trauma-based educational dramas under contract with Western University and the Centre for Research & Education on Violence Against Women & Children in London, Canada. In 2016, I was looking to expand my capacity for directing actors. Specifically those actors who struggled to be emotionally authentic when performing scenes of a traumatic nature. From 2016-2022 I trained in various therapeutic modalities at accredited institutes which included three years as a placement therapist under clinical supervision working one-to-one with clients with complex PTSD, anxiety and depression. After learning a great deal about trauma I turned my thoughts back to the actors I had encountered in the past. I realised that they may have been stuck in a trauma behaviour pattern and didn't feel safe enough to venture any further than their current comfort zone. After six years of educating myself on therapeutic approaches (which was richly rewarding from a professional and personal development perspective) I returned to working in the creative realm with actors. Adapting therapeutic modalities to inform my process, I developed and piloted Actor Care® (formerly known as ACES - Actualizing Characters by Expanding Self-awareness), a trauma-informed model inspired by TSM (Therapeutic Spiral Model) Psychodrama for actors developing emotionally challenging characters. It assumes that every character has experienced some form of trauma that has impacted their behaviour and uses it as a building block for an actors characterization. It supports authentic expression by prioritizing resilience before accessing vulnerabilities. I work cognitively and somatically having actors actively stepping into “roles” and taking the perspectives of emotional states, defense mechanisms, resilient qualities and anything that will help support a deeper exploration of their work. Ultimately the work makes explicit what is implicit or makes conscious what is unconscious and concretises it for the actor thus managing the emotional experience of their character while maintaining safeguards for their own well being.

Currently, Actor Care® forms part of the resilience research at Rose Bruford College in collaboration with London South Bank University in England. Although the process is not therapy, in the interest of my own continued learning and for ethical standards, I have chosen to have supervision with a qualified clinical supervisor. My academic work is also peer reviewed.

I have presented my work internationally at the International Association of Group Psychotherapy and Group Processes (Italy), Musicians’ and Performing Artists’ Health and Performance (Norway), the Australian Society for Performing Arts Health, Association for Theatre in Higher Education (USA), Stanislavsky Research Centre (England), Performing Arts Medicine Association (USA) and, Association of Acting Coaches & Educators (Canada). I work with educational institutions offering resilience workshops as well as with industry communities like Spotlight and the Association of Acting Coaches and Educators. I also work with entire casts as well as one to one with actors in rehearsal/production. Recent productions include the feature film Broken Bird (Catalyst Studios, Serbia/USA), Recollections (Adders Entertainment, UK), A Vampire Story (Greenwich Theatre, UK), Within These Four Walls (Judi Dench Playhouse, UK). I also work 1-1 outside of production with actors who want to develop a healthier/self-care approach to their work.

I am a member of Actors Equity UK, ATHE, and the Association of Acting Coaches & Educators (AACE) and abide by their code of ethics.

Certificates Awarded*: Humanistic Integrative Counselling, Psychodynamic Integrative Counselling, Psychodrama Theory & Practice, Therapeutic Spiral Model Experiential Trauma Therapy (level 2).

​

*I am not a therapist.