THE REHEARSAL ROOM

What This Programme Is

The Rehearsal Room integrates Harvard Negotiation Project research, Nonviolent Communication, transformative mediation, and restorative justice into theatre-based practice for navigating conflict. This program addresses the reality that underlying every difficult conversation are three deeper conversations: the "What happened?" conversation, the feelings conversation, and the identity conversation. Through rehearsal methodology, participants practice difficult conversations before organizational stakes become real, building capacity for transformative dialogue that moves from positions to needs, from judgment to understanding, and from conflict avoidance to productive engagement.

Who This Is For

Leaders facing persistent interpersonal conflicts

• Mediators and HR professionals supporting conflict resolution

• Teams with high conflict avoidance or unproductive conflict patterns

• Anyone needing to navigate difficult conversations with clarity and compassion

• Leaders wanting to build organizational capacity for constructive dialogue

Format

Highly experiential. Participants practice through Kolb's experiential cycle using theatre methods, Meisner technique for deep listening, role reversal exercises, Forum Theatre testing multiple solutions, and scene work exploring root causes vs. symptoms.

What You'll Develop

Core Capabilities:

• Understanding needs, positions, interests, and values through dramatic structure

• Nonviolent Communication: observations without evaluation, feelings vocabulary, universal needs, clear requests

• Self-regulation strategies for emotional triggers

• Perspective-taking through character development and role reversal

• Deep listening for meaning beneath words

• Restorative justice approaches moving from punitive to healing responses

Key Competencies:

• Three-conversation framework (what happened, feelings, identity)

• NVC four-component model (observations, feelings, needs, requests)

• Transformative mediation capacity

• Empathic presence and listening

• Managing conflict as opportunity for growth

• Third-party neutrality and holding space