How do we hold the weight of human stories while remaining grounded, regulated, and resilient?

This immersive weekend is designed to help human service professionals build aesthetic and relational containers that foster deep transformation. You will move beyond traditional modalities, learning to weave psychodrama and Playback Theatre with the somatic grounding of music.

Previous psychodrama or Playback Theatre experience is not essential—just bring your willingness to explore.

When:
October 23rd – October 27th 2026

Friday 10/23, 5pm – 9pm

Saturday 10/24, 10am – 6pm

Sunday, 10/25, 10am – 5pm

 Where:
The Interplay Studio 

 2273 Telegraph Ave Oakland 94612

Registration Fee:

$500  

Some scholarship funding available. Space is limited, so please register early

ADDITIONAL DETAILS:

Hands-On Mastery: Engage in a “Get to Know the Instruments” experience and learn to co-create dynamic soundscapes that regulate the nervous system during intense therapeutic or performance work.

Exclusive Clinical Resources: Receive a PDF copy of Mario and Roni’s upcoming co-edited book: Psychodrama, Playback Theatre and Music – an Integrated, Regulation-based Approach.

Personal Restoration: After a weekend of deep learning, you will integrate your experience by receiving a culminating Sound Bath Healing Experience.

Appropriate for all human service professionals looking to invigorate their practice with experiential, regulation-based approaches.

Join facilitators Manda, Roni, and Mario from October 23–25, 2026, for an immersive weekend retreat in the East Bay, California. We are diving fully into the profound intersection of expressive action methods and sound healing to create a space for deep exploration and restoration.

Roni Alperin, LMFT, RDT/BCT, is a psychotherapist, board-certified drama therapist, and educator with a private practice in the Bay Area and Tel Aviv. An Adjunct Professor at CIIS, University of Haifa, and Ono Academic College, Roni also serves as Co-Director of the Institute for Playback Psychotherapy. As a certified Therapeutic Spiral Model practitioner, he facilitates Playback Theatre trainings, performances, and therapy groups with a specialized focus on healing personal and collective trauma.

Manda Stretch is a Certified Sound and Music Healing Facilitator, ordained Interfaith Minister, and interdisciplinary artist. With a degree in Production Theater from Emerson College, Manda weaves together energy healing modalities, somatic mindfulness practices, and expressive arts. She has extensive experience as a retreat facilitator, program co-developer at the New York Open Center, and creator of interactive, mindfulness-based musical storytelling events. Her practice is enriched by specialized training in Polarity Therapy, Prana Yoga, Playback Theatre, and trauma-informed modalities including Internal Family Systems and Compassionate Inquiry, allowing her to bring a unique alchemy of sound, synchronicity, and deep healing to her workshop spaces.

Mario Cossa, TEP is a Psychodramatist (Certified as a Trainer, Educator, Practitioner [TEP] by the American Board of Examiners), and Theatre Educator who has traveled globally offering trainings, retreats, and workshops in the USA, Canada, the UK, South Africa, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, South Korea, Hong Kong, Vietnam, and New Zealand. He is a Trainer in the Therapeutic Spiral Model ™ for the safe utilization of psychodrama with survivors of trauma and is recognized for his work with adolescents using action methods. Mario believes passionately in the ability of the Creative and Performing Arts to expand consciousness and to transform lives. He lives primarily in Antiga Kelod, Bali, Indonesia.