Lessons From the Stage

Embracing communication breakthroughs starts from within.

"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women are merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his life plays many parts."
-William Shakespeare, As You Like It Act II Scene VII

As beautiful and sincere as Shakespeare's words are, they are limiting. The selection only hints at the possibilities of human connection when breakthroughs are demanded. These words simply do not go far enough into the essence of who we are as vessels for change. The power of theater is more authentic than a 'mere' act of observation and interpretation. We are not marionettes.

Furthermore, our existence is more complicated than traditional notions of 'actor' and 'audience.'

Communication Breakthroughs

Men and women are not 'mere' in their connection to one another. Our paths conjoin in a meaningful way and are consequential to the fabric of a universal connection. Our exchanges are substantial, our power authentic in the potential to transcend negative opinion and entrenched notions. The power of theater teaches us that communication breakthroughs occur when we give of ourselves in a focused and mindful manner.

Theater has the power to teach us to create meaningful connections.

Our strength in promoting a message lies in becoming not just players on our individual stages, but rather directors of change. Having evolved over centuries through study, empathy and enlightenment we have within our abilities the power to create change through engagement and adjust the course of our events.

To create meaningful engagement, we must be aware of how we translate to our audience and how every projection will be accepted. We must be empathetic and weave that into the fabric of our performance.

Truth of Self

Last summer, I had the privilege of teaching at Gerry Spence’s Trial Lawyers College in Wyoming. It was an amazing experience, one I’ll never forget. The trial lawyers I worked closely with were introduced to the monologue. It is a powerful communications tool designed to help build the emotional connection to tell the winning story in the courtroom. Consequently, the monologue opens up the “storyteller” fully to their greatest storytelling instrument... themselves.

Working at TLC actually brought back a flood of memories attending The Juilliard School in New York City. At times at TLC, I had to remind myself I was working with trial lawyers and not actors… but I also understand now why that is the case. I believe the strongest connection between a great trial lawyer and a great actor boils down to one key word: truth.

Both “roles” carry an enormous responsibility to tell the whole truth of the person they are representing, on stage or in the courtroom. And that responsibility requires one hundred percent commitment to deliver the story, in the most authentic way possible, to the audience.

The Power of Theater

Lessons from the Stage begins and ends with the core focus of empowering individuals and teams with cutting edge communication skills in order to connect, lead and inspire audiences.

Anywhere.

Anytime.

Using raw, authentic power to engage audiences, practitioners transform lives and shift into an entirely new realm of effective communication. As a result, theater helps to ingrain this power so it becomes a natural extension of the speaker. Making a connection is much more than a recitation of a speech. It is more than an impassioned closing argument. Most noteworthy it is all-encompassing, drawing power from the mind and body as well as the mouth.