Who we are
"One of the most important people I met in my first year as Artistic Director at Woolly Mammoth was Sara Mindel."
“One of the most important people I met in my first year as Artistic Director at Woolly Mammoth was Sara Mindel. We had a mental health crisis occur during one of my first productions at the theatre, and a board member connected us to Sara and her work at Embodied Psychotherapy. Within 24 hours, Sara expertly helped us navigate a very hard situation with clarity and compassion, providing resources for those impacted and stabilizing the situation. When an artist has the flu, the theatre often sends them to the doctor to support their recovery. What I have learned in working with Sara is that those physiological needs absolutely extend to supporting an artist’s mental well-being. When I told other theatre leaders in DC about the resources Sara could provide, it became clear that this was a service that was desperately needed. Many theatres have subsequently called on her just as I have over the last five years. The work of the theatre is to make brave work onstage, and to bring vulnerability to the art. I can’t imagine running an organization anymore without a licensed trauma-informed somatic therapist as a resource for artists to bring their courageous selves to their work.”
Maria Manuela Goyanes, Artistic Director, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
"In evaluations, participants note not only the healing nature of Jodi's workshops but also the joy they experience in the collaborative creative community she nurtures."
“Jodi Kanter's Theatre for Survivors workshop series is a combination of deep artistic principles about authenticity and strategies for healing and wellness through theatre. Participants uniformly talk about how it has helped them access new parts of themselves. Jodi offers practical strategies for participants to take care of themselves and others even as they share what are often difficult stories and experiences. In evaluations, participants note not only the healing nature of Jodi's workshops but also the joy they experience in the collaborative creative community she nurtures. We piloted this series, now in its fourth session, over a year ago and it has quickly become one of the most popular and essential offerings of The Theatre Lab.”
Deb Gottesman, Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director, The Theatre Lab
Sara Mindel
MSW, LICSW
For over two decades Sara Mindel (she/her) has been providing therapeutic trauma and somatic healing. She is the owner and practitioner at Embodied Psychotherapy LLC, where she specializes in Trauma, Sexuality and Somatic Psychotherapy. Sara is trained in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy and EMDR and has a long history and experience working in and for the LGBTQ and BIPOC communities. She received her Master’s in Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work and a BS in Human Development and Family Studies from Lesley University. In addition to her current work, she has held clinical positions at Whitman-Walker Health, SMYAL (Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League), and The Lambda Center at The Psychiatric Institute of Washington. Sara has lectured and presented throughout the area on issues of both Trauma and Working with LGBTQ clients and Sexuality.
As for her time with theater, Sara has been a friend of the theater for her lifetime. She was involved as an actor and production staff at City at Peace in 1990’s and has been an avid theater goer and supporter since then. Sara has supported the theater through her mental health work for the past ten years. More recently she has been formally contracting with the DCTheater Consortium to support theaters in the DMV. She is committed to creating safe spaces and a supportive community for the actors cast and theater community.
Jodi Kanter
PhD., LGPC
Jodi Kanter (she / her) is a faculty member in the Theatre and Dance Program at George Washington University, where she has taught acting, directing, and dramaturgy for fifteen years. In her work, she uses theatrical improvisation, oral history collection, writing and performance to strengthen communities. To this end, over the last twenty-five years, she has created dozens of workshops and performances in a wide variety of settings, including prisons, hospices, libraries and community-based nonprofits. She has led theater programs for mental health at the Smith Center for Healing and the Arts and at Theatre Lab. She has also served as a production dramaturg for many theaters around the city including Theatre J, Mosaic, Round House and Olney Theatre Center. Jodi’s scholarship includes two monographs, both published in the Theatre in the Americas Series at Southern Illinois University: Performing Loss (2007) and Presidential Libraries as Performance (2016). In 2023, Jodi graduated from Lesley University with a Master’s Degree in Counseling in the modality of Drama Therapy. Beginning in 2024, she will serve as the Director of Graduate Studies for the Academy for Classical Acting at Shakespeare Theatre Company.
Jodi is a native of Chicago, Illinois, where she worked as an actor for several years, and where she returned to earn her PhD in Performance Studies from Northwestern University in 2000.