Actually, Tim, I found the phrase "high play" first in reading (and
workshops with) Jeanne Houston, a marvelous free spirit, thinker, doer,
and explorer of the human spirit and the whole of creation. She seemed to
use the term to point in the direction of play at the edges of human
knowledge and awareness. As I understand it, it is a spiritual level of
play, an enlightening experience of the cosmic dance. Complexity, chaos,
paradox, wisdom, and foolishness abide there, and occasionally a few souls
experience that realm and return to tell of it. That doesn't mean what you
are doing doesn't qualify, however, especially if it includes the high
elements of a ropes course!
You are on the right track when you describe how the participants can
"play" with a new set of possibilities and behaviors and then take them
back with them as they begin to make changes in their "real life". I
think, perhaps, Jeanne Houston would simply apply the same process but
encourage us to consider this life as another "play world" and allow for
other dimensions to become equally "real" worlds.
Your comment about using theater techniques brings to mind the work of
"Play-Back Theater" which is something I have just had some exposure to
and which looks very interesting for individual and group transformation.
I forget the name of the originator of this approach, but if you would
like, I'll track it down for you. Anytime we can involve more of the body
and the imagination, I think the outcomes will be more intense and long
lasting. After all, when we were wiser, we all played that way....
-- Tobin quereau@austin.cc.tx.us