1 Running Larps as a Drama Therapist Uri Koren * Live action role playing games (larps) have significant points of tangency with drama therapy. Not only can a drama therapeutic experience occur as a natural outcome of a larp experience, but larps are in fact a valid vessel for intentional drama therapeutic process. The link between drama therapy and role playing games (rpgs), larps included, first occurred to me during my post-graduate vocational training when both drama therapy theory and my actual experiences as a therapist reawakened my interest of rpgs, a childhood hobby of mine. Before we examine the elements that these two fields have in common, let us first define the fields. Larp can be defined as "a type of role-playing game in which each participant assumes a particular character and acts out various scenarios at events which last a predetermined time" (larp 2017). For the most part the style of acting is improvisational and a predominant focus is on experiencing oneself in character interacting with other characters within a shared fictional narrative. Drama therapy is the use of drama and theatre techniques and concepts for therapeutic, preventive, and educational purposes. The approach is based upon the healing potential inherent in drama, theatre, play, stories, and the creative arts. It is deeply rooted in the wisdom of many cultures and civilizations – both ancient and modern – which consistently used the arts as therapeutic aids in order to assist people in life transitions, help them to cope with difficult conditions, facilitate change, restore emotional balance, deal with conflict and tension, and alleviate grief, pain or mourning in individuals and groups. Drama therapy makes *Contact: uri.koren@cantab.net Citation: Koren, Uri (2018). Running Larps as a Drama Therapist. In C. B. Nielson, K. Jacobsen Meland, Y. I. Kot, & L. Pulertis (Eds.), The Larpwriter Summer School Collection (pp. 112-131).