Guthrie Theater

Whether you’re looking for new ways to inspire your team or to increase effective on the job, the Guthrie offers opportunities for corporations and organizations to hone their employee’s skills.  These innovative programs transform theater skills into applications you can use to improve job performance, team building, creative thinking, presentations skills, leadership skills and interpersonal communication.

Read how the Guthrie helped Nash Finch put its company's values on center stage
"Core values crucial to enduring companies" -- Star Tribune (8/10/09)

TEAM BUILDING
Without the support of colleagues we will forever be stymied by obstacles.  Learn how arists - specifically improvisers - use special techniques to foster participation, contribution and good faith in high-pressured environments, and help your team develop methods for creatively tapping their own potentail.  Beginning with an outline of objectives about how to tackle day to day workplace challenges, participants are guided through a series of improvisation exercises and performances that will leave everyone feeling energized and inspired. 

Location:  On site or in the Guthrie Learning Center
Fee:  $40 per person/hour (15 minimum)

LEADERSHIP TRAINING
Shakespeare and the Spirit of Leadership : The role of imagination in successful leadership as explored through the works of the Bard. 

How does the act of shared imagination affect our thought process, emotions and even our physical state to influence motivation, control and decision-making?  Vetern actor Nathaniel Fuller combines his presentation and performance with your participation to explore how Shakepeare's plays illuminate the challenges of modern leadership.  Examining extrodinary examples and approaches found in Shakespeare provides powerful insight into the idea that great leaders are made, not born. 

Location:  On site or at the Guthrie
Fee: Variable depending on size of group, average of $40 per person

PRESENTATION SKILLS TRAINING
Every "performer" must prepare for the physical process of speaking in public; preparation yields benefits and provides a foundation for performance under pressure.  Through a series of breathing exercises and muscle relaxation techniques, participants will learn to reduce the effects of preformance anxiety and to pave the way for communicating a clear and effective message.  This workshop features small group interaction, demonstration and coached scenario practice. 

Location:  On site or in the Guthrie Learning Center
FEE: $40 per person/hour (15 minimum)

PRIVATE PRESENTATION SKILLS COACHING
Our teaching artist have coached CEO's, political candidates and transitioning workers in presentation skills, the interview process, general interpersonal communication and everything in between.  Through private sessions our teaching artists tailor an action plan to the participant's goals.  Each session leverages any number of suitable theatrical exercises to meet one's needs - videotaping, scenario practice and even physical development.

Location: On site or in the Guthrie Learning Center
FEE: $150 per hour

INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS
Scientists tell us we acquire over 90 percent of the total impact of a mesage from nonverbal factors.  What we express or fail to express helps or hinders our message and how it's received.  This interactive seminar leaves participants with an understanding of and power over expression and what they're communicating in the corporate setting. 

Location:  On site or in the Guthrie Learning Center
Fee:  $40 per person/hour; suitable for groups 15 -30 (minimum of 15)

SPEAKERS
We'll take our act on the road...and right into your next meeting!  This program brings Guthrie staff, actors and artists to you.  From annual meetings to community group gatherings, Guthrie speakers will customize their presentation on a topic of your choice.  Previous topics have included (but are not limited to): The History of the Guthrie, Taking Plays from Page to Stage, Professional Theater Careers, and The Life of an Actor, among others. 

Fee: variable depending on request

ENTERTAINMENT
Tired of humdrum PowerPoint presentations at corporate functions?  Spice up your gathering or retreat with the improvisational humor of some of the Guthrie's most reputable performers.  Guthrie actors can bring the house down by doing what they do best -- thinking on their feet and spoofing stories customized to your group's interests. 

Fee:  variable depending on request 

CUSTOMIZE
Creating a productive work environment requires thinking outside the box, which is why the Guthrie not only offers structured programs on specific themes but the flexibility to customize programs suited to your company's needs.  From public speakers - with themes on a variety of topics - to casual classes by request, backstage tours and sheer entertainment, the Guthrie delivers customizable programs that allow for innovation and growth within your company. 

Fee: variable depending on request

For more information about any of the programs listed contact:  
Lily Shaw, Education Manage, at 612.225.6172 or e-mail