TheaterMania: There's an old, oft-repeated story in the theater industry. Jerome Robbins, the alternately beloved, reviled, oppressive, virtuosic choreographer, was giving notes to his cast one day. Robbins was an exacting, abusive taskmaster — he was never known to let politeness stand in his way — and as he addressed his company, perhaps berating them for things that had gone wrong, he backed closer and closer and closer to the orchestra pit, eventually falling in. Nobody stopped him.
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Is it that the theatre world let these tyrants continue on because what they did was “creative genius” or because the art they made made more money, and all the people in charge of and reaping the profits of the commercial world of Broadway care about money over making sure the people doing that work are treated fairly. Theater puts a massive amount of emphasis on the final product. “The show must go on” is a prime example of that mindset. When we put the final product above the process, the people involved suffer. Whether it is the performers on stage being abused and over worked by a choreographer, or the stage crew backstage that have to work long hours with very little pay and then have to go work a second show to make ends meet, there is a tendency for artists not to be treated or compensated appropriately. This mindset and practice is not sustainable. Employers need to pay and treat employees like people.
The repeated story of the jerks and worse who are in the arts (and non-arts) world is a constant surprise to me. It seems like it would be much easier to be good at whatever you do if the people around you liked you. This of course begs the questions, are people in places of power jerks because they now have power or did they gain the power because they are jerks and of course it’s probably some of both. Are the really creative nice people not given those positions because they don’t push to get them or is it all about who you know and entitlement follows you? Again, probably some of both. My hope is that people see that the easiest way to success is just being a good person and hopefully those people can be just as creative as these historic (and future) jerks. I’d never heard this particular story, but it’s a good one.
I have so many issues with directors or choreographers or anyone in a position of power who is an asshole to the people they work with. It is obviously one successful method of handling the position, as all these stories go to show, but it makes for a poor experience. Yelling and berating and verbally abusing the people who work under can be an effective method of making them correct their errors, but this is also problematic as it can be traumatic and scarring, taking all the joy and fun out of these projects for all of the artists who pour their heart and soul into them. It is just as effective to be a caring, empathetic lead who takes care of those who they work with. It will always be occasionally necessary to be a little bit hard or strict, but berating people is doing more harm than good. It is not hard to be strict while maintaining a healthy environment for all the actors and crew members to work in.
I have my fair share of experiences with unfair and borderline abusive directors, designers, anyone in power and I am sure those will not be my last. I have noticed that much like teaching or becoming a cop, for some odd reason, people who want to be able to take on a position of power for the kick of it just gravitate towards theatre. I have seen directors yell at teens who are just trying and heard of instances where literal chairs were thrown across the stage. And they have stayed in power because so many just do not have it in them to say anything about it, though much less even know what to do. And I cannot blame them. It is still a job after all, and we live in a society where those are an essential part of living. So it makes sense, but if there is a time to ask for better conditions I think it is now.
I have definitely seen people who get super power hungry and have heard of horror stories when it comes to abusive directors. I was lucky in high school where my director was actually a team of directors who had balanced each other out and not one of them was overly abusive.I do not believe that yelling is an effective way in leading and think there are much better ways ti gain respect and get people to be effective in their work. First and foremost I believe in leading by example, if you ask someone to do something you should also be willing to do said task and if possible be doing something along side them. Nothing frustrates a person more than a leader who just sits there all day yelling at you about what you are doing but never does anything themselves. I also do not think it is hard to just treat people as equals, as fellow humans, and as if they are just as valuable to this process as you are. Healthy and positive leadership should be taught alongside everything else we learn as well as be used by every leader who is teaching it for anything to change in theatre.
I really hate social politics, and it is always a sad reminder when recognizing that people high-up in their field with egos that demand a specific form of respect are a lot of times no different from petty high schoolers. It is also disheartening to know that one mistake or one wrong move in front of the wrong person in this industry can really land a blow on your entire career. I truly believe that people would not act as nasty or high and mighty if there was less security to their careers. Obviously, comparing theater to the police force is trivial and not equivalent, but some of the attitudes held by those in power working in art or theater are similar to those of police officers who get away with so much, as both groups know that their respective systems will uphold them no matter what they do. I believe it is up to incoming generations of theater workers to break these traditions.
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