Exploring potentials of theatre for economic planning and change management: Lessons from julie Okoh’s <i>Throes of Leadership</i>

Abstract

Economic recession and quest for survival are major issues that threaten the existence of an average Nigerian presently. Change is a constant variable in  every society, particularly in that which strives to fulfil human needs. Hence, the attitude of people towards adaptation and change management is  usually daunting. Suffice it to say that, it takes committed and visionary leadership to accomplish a propitious economic change in the society. This  involves re-orientation of the people into adopting proactive measures and values, with sophisticated skills and highly motivated workforce. This paper  uses Julie Okoh’s Throes of Leadership to substantiate this fact. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the academic conversation about the way  out of the prevailing economic recession. The work uses mainly content analysis of the selected play text to show that leadership is about making positive  differences, by creating a climate in which people turn challenging opportunities into remarkable success. Julie Okoh posits that the travails of  leadership goes beyond mockery and dissatisfaction from the people, but the ingenuity and practice of a leader to mobilise and transform values into  action, visions into realities, obstacles into innovations, separateness into solidarity, and risk into innovations. Thus, the process of engendering change  demands the institution of sound economic policies to diversify the nation’s mono-product economy.