RENO GAZETTE
2/1/98

WORKPLACE
Anita Bruzzese

Theater group brings business issues to heart

It was war.

The two companies that had worked together for nearly 100 years were on the verge of a melt-down. Feelings were running high as Company A began to test its wings and look at other manufacturers for its product besides Company B. Company B was incensed that the Company A would even consider using someone else after such a long business relationship.

There was so much resentment and so much hostility from employees at both companies it looked like the long-term connection was about to go down the tubes.

It was decided that it was time to take some drastic action to try and rescue the situation. That’s when the actors were brought in.

Actors? It may sound odd, but a group of performers actually helped a bunch of extremely ticked off people sit down in a room together, discuss their feelings, and walk away with a new understanding that helped save a century of business dealings.

The actors were part of "TransFormance Theatre," a group of performers with a unique talent for helping companies tackle some extremely difficult – and emotional – situations in the workplace.

"We’re able to intermediate for people who find that they cannot express some of their emotions that are inappropriate in the workplace," says Jonathan Rosen, the group’s creator. "But we, as actors, can express those emotions for them."

Emotions like frustration, anger, sorrow, hurt and resentment were certainly part of the landscape when Company A and Company B got together, and often are on the agenda for less explosive sessions that may deal with changing company cultures or leadership development.

Rosen says a typical TransFormance Theatre project begins with a meeting to determine the issues to be addressed. Rosen then talks with employees, taking notes that will be transformed into a script and acted out by the performers using various props. Before beginning, however, the person who provided the script material stands in the front of the audience and tells his or her story.

"But then what we bring out is the feelings and the emotions of that story," Rosen says. "For example, with the two companies having that huge disagreement, we had several examples. One company felt like the college student who had just graduated from college but then the parents refused to give up the keys to the family car, while another company felt like a loyal, faithful wife that had been left behind for a mistress."

Rosen says that often through a mixture of long and short stories, employees begin to feel that others fully understand their viewpoint.

"We don’t judge," Rosen says. "We make sure everyone’s story is seen and heard and that there is a shared understanding. We’re presenting it from their point of view. It allows people to be able to let go of those hostile and bad feelings."

Rosen notes that in the near-breakup of Company A and Company B, one employee told the emotional story of how he was a fighter pilot in Vietnam and was shot down three times. Each time, however, he kept himself alive by concentrating on his wife and children. When he returned to the United States, however, his marriage fell apart and he was divorced.

"He told those at the meeting that was exactly how he felt again when the other company was going to use another manufacturer. He felt truly betrayed," Rosen says.

And while not all of TransFormance Theatre’s gigs are so highly charged, Rosen says the focus always remains the same: connecting hard business matters to the emotions at hand.

"We’ve got to deal with it authentically. People don’t want to be treated like idiots. It’s very important to engage people in order to make change, because you cannot separate the mind and the heart," he says.

Rosen says that with the mounting pressure of the workplace, the driving demand for change and quality and the increasing global competition, more employees bottle up their emotions to the point that acrimony and hostile gossip become the order of the day.

"By addressing these emotional issues, we can then get them working together toward a common goal," he says.

"Stories are the most effective means of getting the message across," Rosen says. "We show them through our stories what successful behaviors look like in a real company, and we address all those doubts and challenges. We bring back the full human dimension to the workplace so that they’re then able to find the solutions they need."

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