Stage Directions: As the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) celebrate their 125th Anniversary, they have created a short video reflecting on the history of the organization. Since their founding in 1893, the strength and solidarity of their members has bettered the lives of many workers throughout the entertainment industry.
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This well-produced video effectively pays homage to the thousands of dedicated members of the IATSE union, which is celebrating 125 years. The beginning mirrors the anticipation and excitement of the beginning of a show, with layered audio of cues and warnings being called. The video then fades into many clips of a wide variety of entertainment, from talk shows, to sports events, to concerts. This shows the viewer the multitude of venues IATSE members dominate—which is not limited to the theatre industry. As students in the School of Drama, one can often overlook how applicable our skills are to other facets of entertainment. For example, the video notes how when silent films, and eventually the “talkies”, gained prominence, members of IATSE expanded into movies. Designers and technicians did not limit themselves, but rather they latched onto the opportunity to continue creating and exploring. It is important for us to recognize how broad our future opportunities really are, especially with the support of the union. This video reveals that even through economic hardships, one must remain true to their passion. This is why IATSE has the unique opportunity to say that they have been thriving for well over a century.
This video gave a very general history about the formation and development of the IATSE which was informative for me because I hadn’t previously known much about the history of the union. It was great to see how the development of the union grew alongside the entertainment industry and became such a large part of the work that goes on in a great portion of the entertainment industry. I found it interesting as well that two of the four pillars that the union base themselves upon included activism and leadership. In some ways it does make sense because I feel as though in general many people I’ve dealt with in the theatre world value those qualities. Yet what I found interesting is my second hand perception of IATSE crews has been far from those values. I’ve heard a great deal of horror stories mostly involving sexist older men not listening or causing problems while working. I think it’ll be interesting throughout my career to see first hand what my interactions with IATSE end up being.
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