In a typical sociodrama, after some warmup activities, the group as a whole chooses some issue, theme or social situation to explore.  With the help of a qualified director, the group chooses the initial set of roles to begin the action.  Group members volunteer to take the roles initially, while other group members may remain in the role of witness to the action.

 Because the process is spontaneous, during the course of the action, new roles can be added and current roles dropped according to the needs of the group.  As with an individual protagonist in a psychodrama, the group is the creator of the sociodrama.  The initial role-players are not absolutely committed to their roles, but can spontaneous switch to a different role on their own, or at the suggestion of the director.  They can also choose to return to the role of group observer-witness.  Those initially in the Observer-Witness role are free to speak to or engage with a role, and even when invited by the director, to take that role themselves.  If an initial time limit has not been set, the action comes to an end when the group and director together decide so. 

 As with psychodrama, the final segment of the sociodrama is sharing among the group members.  Whereas in psychodrama the sharing is about related personal experiences, in sociodrama group members share about something each has learned or discovered about the issue or problem during the spontaneous exploration.