Hear Them Out: How to utilize spoken word poetry & dramatic text to improve workplace culture

My father who worked his entire career in the auto industry always says you can't over communicate. Across my 20 plus year career in the arts as maker, producer, director, administrator and educator I have found this sentiment to be true. In the arts in particular, but of course not solely, collaboration and clarity of vision are the cornerstone of any successfully executed project. A culture of consistent, robust and varied communication is critical.?

The literary arts, the crafting of the written word:? poetry, lyric, creative writing elevates communication to elicit transcendent, soul wrenching, emotionally reflective experiences for people. As such they can serve as an effective tool across all fields to convey big ideas, express and activate organizational values and missions, illuminate cultural blindspots, contribute to more informed workplace culture and help in conflict resolution.?

Organizations and corporations need to let go of the idea of “controlling narratives” and focus instead on how they are crafted. There is not one narrative but multiple narratives that collectively make up an institution, organization, company or community. Those narratives can be facilitated and drawn out to deepen relationships.

Here's some advice drawn from two of the literary art forms I have primarily practiced for decades that have not only landed me on global platforms like HBO and Nickelodeon but also brought me into regional communities, classrooms and board rooms.???

Two things I want to acknowledge before we dive in

One: This isn't about entertainment or about creating amazing artists. Don't get me wrong, some of what I describe and lay out may lead to some entertaining moments, but the focus here is on the use of these forms as strategic tools in affecting/impacting institutional culture.

Two: I also acknowledge that public speaking, public reading, is not shared by everyone. There will be a second part to this with more of a focus in alternate approaches to this work among differently abled individuals and communities

Spoken Word Poetry

As? we saw with Amanda Gorman’s performance at the presidential inauguration and subsequent superbowl performance, this form, one of our most ancient, can help convey ideas and summarize collective sentiment. There is a fine line between a rousing speech and a spoken word poem as both draw from a similar literary technique. However, poets tend to steer more toward lyric, which the dictionary defines as “an outpouring of the poet’s own thoughts and feelings.” This writing is often rhythmic, image driven and concise, relying more on metaphor and symbol to carry the weight of the thesis.? So my first bit of advice is to consider a poet! There are a lot of us who do this in partnership with non arts organizations. Here is a piece I did for Rotary International .?

Across the country we are seeing a rise in local and regional poet laureates who are utilized in a myriad of ways to document and commemorate meaningful civic occasions, but also facilitate writing across specific communities.

Many poets are also facilitators and educators, devoted to helping unlock the stories and voices inside our communities. Having facilitated and taught spoken word across the country at almost every grade level and age, this form is most powerful because it? invites every individual to draw from their own vantage of the world.? In all of my years of facilitating spaces around the writing and sharing of spoken word, the biggest successes have come from creating a culture of safety, risk, and vulnerability. Thought leader Dr. Brene′ Brown writes and speaks extensively about the power of vulnerability. When it comes to vulnerability this is something artist know a lot about.?

Dramatic Text

While the use of “role play” exercises and techniques derived from Theater of the Oppressed pedagogy has been effective across fields, the collective reading of scripted text can also have tremendous benefits. When the pandemic hit back in March 2020 a handful of very wise theater companies pivoted to digital formats and quickly a movement towards “plays at home” was sparked. Instead of the family going to the local theater to see a play, the family would do their own play at home, around the table or in the living room. In April 2020, I wrote a piece for Kennedy Center’s “Play At Home” program. My play — “A Dinner Theatre” — was literally workshopped around the dinner table with the family.?

Soon after we experienced the? triple blow deaths of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd, and protests flared. In my neighborhood,? Black Lives Matter signs began to sprout in lawns, my then 7 year old son began to ask questions. As you can imagine, trying to explain these events to a child — watching their energy shift, watching them deflate — is a parenting experience that no one can prepare you for. But, I believe that through the arts, we can try and make the conversation easier. Never easy, but perhaps easier.

And somewhere between these dual pandemics, the light bulb went on.? My son couldn't have been the only one asking questions and thus Free Play was born.

Free Play is a series of five short plays — The Water Gun Song, Act Free, Nothing Rhymes with Juneteenth, #matter, and Black Flag — intended to spark conversation and serve as a catalyst for action. Each of these short works, written to be read across the multi-generational spectrum, offer different insights about disconnects in racial conversation and the Black experience in America.

You can learn more about the project and find a link for the plays here on Free Play Society where the open-source scripts can be downloaded by anyone and produced across communities. In just two years Free Plays have been downloaded in over 60 countries and produced widely from professional theaters to high school theater clubs to health care providers like Kaiser Permanente.? Dr. Tanya Menard, a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist at Kaiser Permanente shared that she, “found Free Play to be thought provoking on so many levels. [The project] allows for deep, open and honest dialogue and education when speaking with friends, family and colleagues.”

Let’s Talk, Let’s Listen

After two years of chaos and disruption to our careers, relationships and well being, we need to be talking more, listening more---we cannot over communicate. And we artists of the communications are here to help, to invite stories and help find the words. This can’t be periodic, quarterly or only during the staff retreat. This work needs to be week to week. We need to hear one another’s voices not just for information but also for passion, for insecurity, for curiosity, we need to hear one another’s souls.?