Taking Center Stage: Making Sense of the Middle Manager’s Muddle by Applying Creative Techniques of the Theater Director

The purpose of this capstone is to show the link between the middle manager within the business organization and the theater organization’s director. The roles of middle manager and theater director will be clearly defined so that one may examine the middle manager through the lens of the theater director. Using five techniques of the theater – production teams, casting, scripting, scene staging and blocking, and rehearsing – ideas and examples will be shared so that middle managers are better able to make sense of their “muddle” and become more successful and efficient in their roles. Techniques will be defined in the sense of the theater organization and then through the lens of the business organization using the theater organization as a metaphor for this reflection. Examples and models for implementation will be shared along with the value and need for the connection between the two fields.