Tuesday, November 02, 2021
Mandy Greenfield Resigns From Helm of Williamstown Theatre Fest
AMERICAN THEATRE: Artistic director Mandy Greenfield recently tendered her resignation as artistic director of Williamstown Theatre Festival (WTF), and the festival today announced the appointment of Jenny Gersten to the role of interim artistic director. Greenfield’s exit follows a storm of controversy and criticism about working conditions at the theatre.
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I am curious to see how Jenny Gersten changes the Williamstown Theater Festival’s landscape. In my opinion, equity will not exist until the festival stops using the labor of unpaid interns. The practice of unpaid interns are inherently racist and classist. Typically, white well-off people are the only demographic able to take on unpaid work. Taking unpaid internships that are “career furthering” aid directly to white supremacy culture and allows only the wealthy to receive opportunities further perpetrating inequity in the industry. This issue is entirely separate from the lack of worker’s rights at Williamstown at all. By making the interns paid, this would require the theatre festival to be responsible for workmen’s comp. The festival must better allocate funds to their works and invest in the safety of their workers. This must be a priority. Even, if this mess fewer productions with smaller budgets this season and in following seasons.
Finally something actually symbolizing change at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. I truly cannot believe that the festival has gotten away with being as toxic towards its production staff and intern staff as it has been and I truly hope that people that are thinking about entering this industry and are looking for internships or entry level positions realize that though Williamstown Theatre Festival puts on a good face, it is such a toxic work environment for everyone involved but most certainly their staff of interns who are underpayed, overworked, and always led to a significant burn out rate. I'm glad that this article does not sugar coat why the artistic director is resigning and instead states in the first paragraph that it's because of the backlash that the conditions are not feasible to work there. Though this is indeed a good sign, I do hope that Williamstown Theatre Festival is able to do some serious work on it's policies and procedures and makes it a good place to work because I don't wish that any local theatre be shut down but if they're unable to change, it might be for the best.
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