Courses and Events

Event Description:  Choose to attend this in-person activity either:
12 -1 PM at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist
OR
6 - 7 PM at UNC School of the Arts / Drama Gym (Gray Building # 296)
2007 Kenan Dr, Winston-Salem, NC 27127


Through audience participation and fun, this one-hour workshop expands the understanding of interpersonal communication for medical professionals. Theatre games and improvisational exercises provide participants with the tools they need to identify common pitfalls in communicating with patients, parents, and staff. Learn how to adapt your approach based on assessments of status and verbal & nonverbal communication, allowing you to meet people where they are. Through mirroring and role-playing activities, attendees will recognize their own patterns of behavior, enabling them to better connect with those they interact with in their daily routines

By participating in this 1-hour arts-based, either on-campus at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, or on-campus at UNCSA, learners are expected to improve their communication, empathy, collaboration, and teamwork skills. They will develop a greater sense of cultural humility, enabling them to engage with patients and colleagues in ways that respect cultural, social, and individual differences. The goal of this Arts-Based course is to improve the quality of effective communication, empathy, and teamwork for physicians.

Robert P. Moyer (he/him) was assistant director to, and student of, Viola Spolin, author of Improvisation for the Theater, her son Paul Sills, creator of Second City and Story Theater, and he has also worked closely with Paul’s daughter, Aretha Sills, the Associate Director of Sills/Spolin Theater Works, author, and director of The Predicament Players.
Robert created the United Stage, which performed story theater for over 1,000,000 people, appearing at both the Kennedy Center, and the Smithsonian. He co-founded and directed the High School Drama Program at UNCSA, currently ranked 3rd in the nation, as well as Artists Reaching Children in the Hospital, bringing UNCSA students into Brenner Children’s Hospital to perform story theater, circus skills, jokes, and close-up magic for the patients.

Heidi McIver (they/them) is the Interim Associate Dean of the UNCSA School of Drama and the Co-Artistic Director of Artists Reaching Children in the Hospital (ARCH). They teach the High School Drama students at UNCSA as part of the Acting faculty. A screenwriter, film and theatre actor, and director, Heidi specializes in Shakespeare and immersive theatrical acting, and in improvisation and drama games based in the pedagogy of Viola Spolin and Paul Sills.


Join us for other sessions in this series!