HowlRound Theatre Commons: A collaborator of mine, the poet, playwright, and activist Kristiana Rae Colón, once asked me: “What would a people-centered theatrical process look like?” As a director, it was definitely one of those record-scratching moments. I had thought my process was great, that the rehearsal room was a joyous one. And while it did have its moments, I realized it didn’t truly center people; I was focused on telling the story. By operating from the assumption that everyone in the room was there to tell the story at all costs, the rooms I created required a sacrifice for the good of the play both, from myself and those working with me. After all, the show must go on, right? I have harmed people, or, more specifically, I have allowed those under my leadership to be harmed by the steadfast practicing of this adage that every theatremaker is taught as Truth.
1 comment:
This idea that we must sacrifice our emotional and mental health to put together a good show is ridiculous, and it has to stop. We do not need to destroy ourselves to make good theater, and in fact, it's more likely to traumatize us and impede the process. One story that comes to mind is the torment that Shelley Duvall suffered at the hands of Stanley Kubrick. Perhaps her performance was better because of his tormenting, but was it really? Was it really necessary to traumatize and torment her alone for over a year with the explicit intention of placing her inside a horror movie? I don't think that this made The Shining any better, and it traumatized Shelley Duvall. It's not "art" to torment and traumatize someone just so they better understand a character, it's f*cked up and essentially torture. The fact that we let Kubrick get away with it, just like we more recently let Jared Leto get away with sending his costars used condoms for a similar "method acting" reason, really speaks to how screwed up the entertainment community is and how we literally sacrifice mental health for the sake of movies and theater. We sit here and wonder why there's such a high instance of drug and alcohol abuse in the entertainment industry, but honestly, the reason is clear. When you stop treating people like people they start searching for anything that might make that trauma hurt a little less.
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