DC Metro Theater Arts: Back in the 1980s, the Harvard University Business School dismissed offers to create a curriculum in ethics—free of charge, if I remember correctly; an alumnus even offered to pay for it. The Business faculty rejected it as totally unnecessary (how dare anyone insinuate that Harvard produced cheats?).
11 comments:
I really should go back and read parts one and two because this seems like an important discussion. I didn’t realize that toxic/abusive leaders were a common thing, but then I thought back to movie tropes for directors and they seem to always be very controlling, hotheaded and verbally abusive. I guess this stereotype has merit in the real world, because this article made it seem like have directors that were “borderline psychotic” was normal. I think it’s become a common thing in this industry since artists are moving around so much that if the same abusive behaviors that directors have were in the corporate world, those people would be sent to Human Resources after multiple complaints. I think it has been easier to dismiss the more well known the artists are like everybody is expected to endure it since the finished piece will be so good. But we shouldn’t have to endure that for art’s sake.
Looking back on my past theatrical experience, the vast majority of the directors I have worked with (although not all) have been incredibly toxic and demanding. The demands placed on me as a high school were often inappropriate and excessive. I feel like we are taught especially as students to always do things without questioning them, especially with artistic leadership. But this is something we need to unlearn. It's really important to be able to recognize when a situation is bad and how to stand up for yourself in a proper way especially when there might not be a human resources department as Rhiannon said above. Skills such as this are essential for wellbeing and I think that we should be taught them in conservatory programs. I agree with everything Rhiannon said in her comment. It is a really important discussion that needs to happen, especially because of the nature of the theater industry.
Although my experiences are mostly from my high school and therefore be different from the professional world, I think working in theater and collaborating with others is fairly different from cooperating with others in different fields. I think it is more difficult for the leader (in this case director, I believe) to lead others as they have to maintain the balance of people’s own creativity and capacity while leading others to the common goal (even harder when the ethical guidelines are added). However I think the article made a good point when it was highlighting how the dispute happened when discussing the “art” should not affect the relationship between the individuals. I really do hope that someday, everyone could compete within the theater only based on the (artistic) skills that they possess, other than the other aspects that could potentially impact how other people (either the audience or the co-workers) could judge on.
I have not read parts one and two, but I'm starting to think I should. My experience in professional theatre is very limited and thankfully very happy in this regard, as I have worked with a myriad of wonderful people both in and out of leadership. But because I am so passionate about theatre and its wonders it is seriously sad to know that this is a widespread problem. I knew of it previous to reading the article but I had not taken into account how large the issue actually was. As other comments and the article have said, this is a behavior that is deeply routed and will take lots of effort and time to unlearn and eradicate from our profession. However it is an effort that we should undertake. It is extremely important, especially in a creative space, that people are treated kindly and justly. The abusive behavior described by the author is completely unacceptable.
I think there is a false sense of importance and power that comes with being a director that often makes people feel as thought they are untouchable, and the only valid person in the world. So many directors I have worked under were demanding and mean, creating an environment that just wasn't fun to work in. I think it is interesting that so many people that are looked on as amazing creatives and geniuses are so toxic and abusive, and then we ignore the toxic and abusive thing for the sake of art. Often, these are also white and cis people, which makes matters even worse. The industry needs to switch from allowing bad behavior and centering voices of artists of color. I bet that by doing that, we would have a less demanding industry and have equal talent. No one in the world is talented or creative enough to get to treat everyone else like shit.
It is very alarming in my eyes that nearly most, if not all, people that I know who work or have worked in theater have had at least one director or leader that was flat-out unprofessional. I have my fair share of stories. For example one of my old directors would flat out be biased in favor of certain students, creating this sort of “inner circle” mentality that tore the program apart once she departed. Another one just did not even bother to explain what he was looking for, so everyone was left to walk on eggshells and hope they were doing their jobs right – especially concerning considering this was educational theater. I agree with the article in that a few people cannot be kicked out for the problem to be “solved”. This is part of the system that allows these people to thrive and in fact, encourages this toxicity at least and abusive tendencies at most.
A huge thing that I took away from this article, was that we don't recognize toxic leadership until it's too late. This resonates with me strongly, especially with my experience with my high school director. The emotionally abusive and manipulative tendencies she placed on all the students in the department praise her until we realize how much mental detriment she has caused. It saddens me greatly to see how my love of theater and motivation is forever tainted and dirtied by my toxic experience from where my love of theater rooted. There is no questioning though, that everyone in CMU SoD has worked with this type of professional person. It is quite disappointing that our industry creates so many manipulative and toxic titans, but it scares me most that the people who have undergone such terrible leadership become very good at what they do. I truly hope that in the next generations of theater we create a safer, more loving space with healthy leadership.
It is really interesting reading the comments above, because so many people have had experiences with awful directors. I also had an awful high school director who refused to even learn my name, despite the long hours I was putting in to all of their shows. I believe there definitely needs to be leadership training for theater professionals. Making theater is stressful, and naturally puts people under a lot of pressure. People need to be prepared for this, and know how to cope with their own stress instead of putting it on to their team. I think one of the reasons that toxicity is tolerated in theater as opposed to other industries is because we have this mindset of 'when the show is over, everything will be okay again.' We often push through huge stress and unhealthy situations to make it to opening night. However, this isn't healthy in the long run, and so it needs to be addressed more widely.
I think my high school experience was really lucky because my school had a team of directors who balanced each other out. While one director was a little toxic and demanding when I first came into the program he learned that better work was produced in a demanding but safe environment. I think toxic directors within theater are extremely normalized and the natural leadership position can make one power hungry. Most directors are also faced with a decision fatigue, especially in a high school setting where they are not only acting as a director but also a TD, choreographer, vocal director, designer, businessman, and teacher. I think the way we ensure less high school theater directors are creating a toxic environment and teaching their students that this is the environment one should produce theatre in, is by providing more support to these directors by financing the arts more and hiring not just one theatre teacher for a school but a team of people. This problem is not just at the high school level but also at the top and is perpetuated by statements like “the show must go on”. I do not think that the theater industry can eliminate all the toxicity within it due to the competitive nature, however I do believe that we should do anything possible to minimize it.
Well now I feel like I am something for not reading parts two and three. What happened at the American Shakespeare Center? Even without a specific example of people in power abusing said power, I can appreciate what this article is getting at. I don’t know what exactly all the “management” classes in the TD department will entail. I would hope there’s an ethics section in at least one of those classes, but who knows. I do believe that the way to fix this moving forward is to give more power to the people that leadership decisions directly affect. Wisdom and experience can only get you so far, and while it’s important to take that into account when there are outcries of mistreatment from the student body or the worker body, clearly the years of experience aren’t paying off. That’s why I fully support worker-owned companies in general, and even more so in the case of theater companies. Theater is a collaborative artform that can only exists because of the many hands that work hard to make it happened, and it’s time every one of those sets of hands got a chance to actually have a say and do more than just voice a concern that’s almost always heard and then ignored.
I’m incredibly lucky, I’m finding out, to have only had wonderful theatre directors who acted as TEACHERS first. I only did theatre at my high school, and both of my directors taught for 5 hours a day, then had rehearsals for 3 hours after school. The work that we did always started in the classroom. I was lucky that my directors listened to the students. It was their mindset that how we responded to ideas was how they were going to be executed. Most of the great parts of our shows were ideas that came from us, and were talked about in a group setting, each of us adding on until a full scene emerged. It’s horrifying to hear stories from other students. It makes me wonder how much I truly love theatre, because I don’t think I would’ve lasted 5 minutes had I been enduring the abuse some of these stories talk about. It’s time we start talking about the “abusive theatre director” taboo and how to abolish it. Include the “greedy producer” in that too. There’s no reason for performers and designers to be dealing with the conditions they are in and to making no money doing it.
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