Time for a Change: What If We Cut the Long Hours?

AMERICAN THEATRE: In late July, Baltimore Center Stage artistic director Stephanie Ybarra initiated some big steps to change her theatre’s practices in line with some of the anti-racist demands leveled by the We See You White American Theater movement, among them eliminating “10 out of 12” technical rehearsals—a practice that generally saw actors called to start rehearsal at noon, then released from rehearsal at midnight, with a two-hour dinner break in between—as well as a move to a five-day rehearsal week instead of the traditional six-day week and a commitment to pay playwrights for their time in rehearsal, among other changes. These, according to a press release, were steps intended to “dismantle the systemic exclusion and oppression of BIPOC artists, administrators, producers, and executives in the theatre industry.”