With more than 40 programs, Community Action is one of the largest human service agencies in the area.

The Brain Show: Who Do You Think You Are?

The Brain Show: Who Do You Think You Are? is a theater piece offered by The Mediation & Training Collaborative and The Community Crisis Response Team, that combines entertainment and trauma-education. It explores, with wit and humor (and through the musings of three zany characters—the reptilian, the mammalian, and the human brain) how the various parts our brains cooperate (or not!) to keep us alive and safe.

On January 21, 2012, Community Action's Suzy Polucci, the creator of The Brain Show, was among a select group of speakers invited to present on how learning happens at TEDxPioneerValley, a local version of the renowned TED franchise devoted to "ideas worth spreading." A video of this version of The Brain Show will soon be available at the TEDxPioneerValley website. See www.TEDxPioneerValley.com to learn more.

Email TheBrainShow@communityaction.us or call 413-475-1509 to learn more about booking The Brain Show for your group or organization.

About Suzy Polucci: theater artist, conflict resolution trainer, and trauma educator. Suzy has a lifelong mission to make people laugh. Dubbed a “New Age Lucille Ball” by the Boston Globe, she brings her talent to bear in her quest to understand man’s inhumanity to everybody and everything. Sparked by the flood of information coming out of the field of neuroscience, Suzy has become a brain enthusiast and marvels at the triune brain (3-part brain) and how this team of rivals keeps us on our claws, I mean, toes.

In her theatre work, Suzy focuses her creations on two themes: love and war  (“. . . like there’s a difference,” she observes). Combining her education in anthropology and art history with her training in mime, commedia dell’arte and physical comedy, Suzy’s satirical take on human brain function puts her solidly in the long tradition of artists who explore tragedy through comedy. In her writings, Suzy explores such themes as “Which Part of Me Is Me?” “Melotrauma” and “Why Do Fools Fall In Love?”

Suzy works with The Community Crisis Response Team and The Mediation & Training Collaborative.  In this work, she mediates conflicts and listens to people’s traumas. In working with teens, seniors, crime victims and police, she explores the healing potential of our brains, bodies and spirit.