GBUS 8403 LEADERSHIP & THEATRE: ETHICS, INNOVATION & CREATIVITY

The purpose of this course is to build leadership skills and ethical analysis skills by reading, discussing, and performing dramatic scenes from great plays. The scenes will be chosen for their relevance to both leadership and ethics. The course is built around the conceptual apparatus in Dunham and Freeman (2000) that the task of the theatre director is akin to the task of the CEO. For example, students will examine how directors draw vision from particulars, emphasize good casting or “getting the right people on the bus,” get the best out of their team, and approach work collaboratively. The class will examine theater companies as high-performance teams and attempt to construct such teams throughout the course. The course draws on the expertise of the artistic community in Charlottesville by providing several technical workshops on acting and directing.

Academic course objectives:

· Build leadership, ethical analysis, and performance skills

· Better understand and put into practice team building, leadership, and the dynamics of collaborative work

· Build and enhance the participants’ creativity and innovation skills

· Enjoy reading and performing great theatre

Elements of the course grade:

Class contribution                   50%

Final examination                    25%

Individual paper/project          25%