Multiple protagonists, Mark two

[MKarp11444 at aol.com]

Dear Grouptalkers,
My God. Because many of you read my email in a disjointed way, Adam says I  
should do the whole thing over again, so here goes. The rigors of scholarship.  
My email began like this:
 
 Hi Walter, I am so glad that the discussion on multiple protagonists  has 
stimulated you to write after a decade. I am enjoying the discussion  too. I 
have emailed the discussion to my old friend, Malcolm Pines, now 82, a  group 
analyst who trained in psychodrama with Dean and Doreen  Elefthery in Amsterdam 
and Belgium. He is enjoying the discussion too as are  many of us. The second 
or third protagonist are distinguished from just an  auxiliary role because the 
second protagonist doesn't wait to express his/her  feelings and thoughts but 
expresses them in the existing scene. They take the  opportunity to do so in 
the scene that is being played out at that moment. That  is why they become 
the second or third protagonist, because they are ready to  give birth to their 
thoughts and feelings in a way that the original protagonist  isn't ready or 
prepared to express at that moment.The second protagonist  may want to express 
something different, in a different way to the original  protagonist. However, 
more often than not, they express something in the  neighborhood of the 
feelings and thoughts unexpressed from the primary  protagonist. They may have 
different details of course. I try to remember to ask  the auxiliary ego, playing 
the dead mother, for example, if she is willing to  stay in the role for the 
second protagonist. The first protagonist stays on the  stage and watches. You 
could say that the second and third  protagonists are a double but not really 
because the second protagonist  does it for him/herself and not to support or 
help the protagonist. Though,  unwittingly, he or she often does just that, 
supports and helps the original  protagonist like a brother or sister in the 
drama though not knowing they are  doing so. If there are left over thoughts and 
feelings from the second and third  protagonists, they can continue in the 
sharing. I try to have the second  and third protagonist make their own closure 
in the scene though, before going  back to the primary protagonist. I always 
end up the session going back to the  original protagonist. He or she, having 
watched the others express what they  need to may be warmed up in a new way and 
be ready to express what they were  afraid to say or do and may gain courage 
from his fellow protagonists. I ask the  original protagonist is there anything 
you would like to complete, finish or  express with your dead mother, for 
example and you can now put it in your  own words just the way you would like to 
say it or do it. Very often the  original protagonist gains in courage by 
watching the others. It seems to work  out well and the group feel they have done 
it together. All the best, Marcia  Karp
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