Stage Directions: Formerly the EDI Committee, the Council for Equity and Advocacy (CEA) has been created by the Stage Managers’ Association of the United States (SMA). The CEA is led by chair Kat Meister and includes members who are SMA Members as well as industry professionals from outside the organization. The Council advocates for the ideals of equity and champions all stage managers in their efforts to build an equitable industry.
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I’m currently very interested in stage management, so reading about these new changes make me feel hopeful for the future of the field. I know that is not very diverse regarding race, which is an indicative of the current systems in place provoking them. Regardless of intention they are there, and it would be foolish to ignore that fact. I really have no way to gage how effective these changes will be, but it is definitely a step in the right direction. It looks like it will create a space to start breaking down the mechanisms of the system itself, which is again, a good place to start. As part of their action plan, the SMA mentioned making an effort to make their hiring process more diverse. This makes me ask the question of why was this not always the norm? It makes me wonder how engrained the biases and racist tendencies run in the field, and how they will affect how it chooses to move forward.
Reading about these new changes in the SMA was exciting for me. Stage managers are the backbone of the rehearsal and production process, so when we increase diversity in the stage managers, we can hope that we will also increase diversity on stage. I am glad that the SMA is actually taking action, as opposed to simply putting out a statement. Not only are they creating a new council for equity and advocacy, they are also increasing funding for bias training and anti racism training. All of these actions will hopefully move the SMA forward in the right direction.
In the words of the former president of the Kennedy Center Michael Kaiser, I don’t want to hear another statement. It is nice to see some familiar names on that list and some names in high places like the PSM of Wicked but it seems like another group of people doing the same old same old. It is good to have new energy but I feel like a name change is creating an unnecessary press that is like look at us we are so cool because we are having a diversity initiative. I’m unsure as to why this organization thought it needed to rename their EDI committee. It seems like they are working on internal and external change but much more internal change and I don’t know how effective this organization will be. I think a critical step that the SMA could actually engage in is opening up the pipeline and going into schools to get more diverse applicants into Stage Management Programs and work on actually changing the make-up of stage management, which is very white and very female-dominated. I’d been interested to see the actual changes that CEA committee helps bring to stage management and the theatre industry.
My favorite part of this is the first sentence where they say that all they actually did was change a previously existing committee to meet the moment. The title of the article is misleading because this isn't new work, this is them trying to revamp an initiative thats been around and just hasn't been working. I'm sure that in the theater world, white stage managers would be the first ones to stand up and say that they are advocates for diversity and inclusion in their workplace. That is however until their job is on the line, then its suddenly about their skill and wealth of experience that should put them ahead of a BIPOC that has just about the same level of expertise as them. Lets not be phony. Stage Managers are historically and will continue to be white Karen types that hide behind performative activism and their know it all attitudes. I think that the lesson we all need to take with us is that we need to start trusting our BIPOC to be in leadership roles from the get go, not forcing them to climb an avalanche.
Thank you to Alexander above me for that amazing quote. “I don’t want to hear another statement.” I am glad to see a set of steps that the Council for Equity and Advocacy is taking. The second and third action items are definitely something I want to know more about. I see a lot of places talking about opening positions for “more diverse voices”. What I am more concerned about is what is going on internally to make those voices feel welcomed and valued. I suppose with their third point about having Unconscious Bias Training and Anti-Racist training, that may help, but it just always makes me feel weird. It is interesting that it has taken so long for these steps to be announced especially since…well, I hate to use the phrase, but since the “trend” for theatres to start openly talking about racism has been going on since May. I look forward to seeing what the SMA does with this training and seeing how they can be an advocate for all the BIPOC stage managers in this country.
As someone who is most likely going to declare/concentrate in stage management, this article makes me really happy. Although I am not black, indigenous, or a person of color, I truly believe that representation in any community is extremely important. There are so many reasons to have BIPOC individuals in leadership positions for theatre and their representation matters tremendously. Even something as simple as having a white stage manager for a show about people of color can change the perspective entirely. It is also not shocking to me that an inclusive organization like the Stage Managers Association can condemn “violence, racism, and systematic oppression” yet our actual President of the United States cannot. Addressing the situation at hand, which SMA has done, is the first step toward being a more equitable place and I am glad to be going into a career that promotes such fairness in their work.
This article screams performative activism to me. It seems that all they have done so far is change the name of the committee to fix things rather than asking for true change. I believe the theatre community, especially in tech, is screaming for more diversity and representation for people of color. I am happy to see that there is a plan put in place however it seems like this committee has existed for a while. To point out that the committee recently changed its name and it took them so long to release this very broad plan leads me to believe that this committee did not actually talk about the diversity problem within the community until it became a trend within the social atmosphere or until they were held accountable by the community. As someone who is going into the industry, not stage management but still in tech, I want to see more precise plans put in place as fast as they can, or else how can we expect change. I also want to see a plan on how the Association will be held accountable if something in this 3 point plan does not happen. I am happy to see that the conversation is moving forward and that there are some steps being taken, however I think that such an important association needs to do more and set an example.
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