www.seattletimes.com: Theater is going through some growing pains. Seattle-based actor, director and teaching artist Sunam Ellis, who played key roles in both “Mrs. Caliban” and “The Bonesetter’s Daughter” at Book-It Repertory Theatre this year, has seen up close how changes to rehearsal schedules aimed at eliminating a culture of overwork can be wonderful for artists while also being “its own bundle of stress.”
12 comments:
I’m really glad to see a shift in the industry to focus more on mental health. It’s the same logic as why you shouldn’t pull an all-nighter to get homework done – eventually your productivity is going to drop anyway, and you’re going to end up creating work you have to redo or spend more time cleaning up, making that time a waste; not to mention the obvious tolls on your health from staying up all night. Likewise, the six-day work week, long and grueling calls, and other industry standards are probably doing more harm than good. Having more time to see families and have a life outside of your career is so important for happiness and healthiness, and so I do think we should cut back where possible. However, there are obviously drawbacks to that as far as resources; theatre is a very demanding thing and we want to put forth the highest quality and scale of work that we can without unreasonable amounts of time. It’s a tough balancing act, but I’m glad to hear the right priorities are starting to come into alignment. Health first, always.
This is a great article depicting what the School of Drama is attempting to do this season. Ellis makes a valid point that there is a fear held by many actors and directors that creative time will be lost in the space together. I would argue that the extra time off gives actors more time to review lines and relax which will result in a better overall product. I am also personally of the mindset that things can often be over rehearsed and by the time it gets into tech, nothing feels new and the actors are too comfortable in it. The most important part of a shorter workweek is allowing people like stage managers more time to catch up on paperwork and, more importantly, rest and have a life outside the rehearsal room. There are some union contracts specifically that the shorter week and eliminating 10 out of 12s does not work for, like the summer stock contracts (COST and CORST). Most of those already have shortened rehearsal periods, often shortened further by overlapping rehearsals and performances.
I think most of us in the industry are excited to see this discussion open up. The larger debate of 5 vs 4 day work weeks in the typical working world holds a lot of research that says the same amount of work, if not more, is getting done in a shorter time. Still, I understand folks' hesitancy around how to make up the hours we lose with a more humane work schedule shift. I think we will need to add a few days of rehearsal or tech to make up for the concerns cited in the article about fitting the same work into shorter time. In my opinion, this adjustment is well worth it as Horton said purely based on the safety aspect. Folks aren't as exhausted and are getting more time at home so are less distracted and more rested which i believe will create better theatre. I think the industry is already seeing benefits and I'm hoping we continue to learn from trial and error because it is an important enough change to warrant the effort.
I think one of the things that young theatre artists going into this industry must accept is the fact that we will be working so much. It’s been told to us that “if we can choose any other thing to do as a career, do that” because the amount of time you spend working is so much. But why should we encourage people to choose something else when we could just make theatre practical and less stressful? The fact that this theatre is taking that step is incredible. Like they were saying, it’s going to take a lot of adjustment and time management and preplanning to make this realistic, but it will be much better for us theatre artists. If I were able to take a job at a theatre that practiced this rehearsal schedule, I would do it immediately. Not only are we theatre artists, were human beings and we have to take care of ourselves! -Hailey Garza
This is obviously a great thing to get people in more humane conditions. It is funny to hear people complain about a day of 10 out of 12 which is not bad in the grand scheme of things, but is really unfair at its core. The data shows that work really does start to suffer after a certain amount of time on the clock and anyone who's ever worked in the live entertainment industry knows what it’s like to work to the point of absolute exhaustion. Especially with equity actors being paid on a weekly basis, there’s no incentive for the company to make the number of hours worked the minimum possible. Stagehands who work crazy hours (especially unionized ones) make a crazy amount of money when they work those long hours because they have good wages to begin with and on top of that are given overtime above eight hours a day and the sixth or seventh day of the week. I still actually enjoy getting to see shows and my hope is that I will be able to find a job that doesn’t work me crazy hours.
I really appreciate that the School of Drama is trying to transition with the rest of the industry. I think we have all experienced firsthand reaching that part of a workday in which you’re just not productive because you’re exhausted from the rest of the day. So even if you do keep plowing through your work the chances that you will put one hundred percent of your effort exponentially go down. Even with all the budget “what ifs” this change is worth it. People are more likely to be productive if the days are shorter, and if there are fewer days to work on something. It also forces us to get a little more creative and more precise with how we use our time, which is a skill I’m glad we all get to practice now. Artists are not robots, artists are people. I think that is something very valuable we should remind ourselves of.
For me, it's kind of hard to say whether the 5 or 6-day work week is better. On the one hand, I entirely understand the feeling of being burnt out, working 10-12 hour days for 6-7 days a week, and not knowing when the rigor and stress of that amount of work will stop. However, it's hard to argue that the quality of the work wouldn't begin to suffer with a more confined calendar footprint, at the very least without adequate adjustments to allow for the work that would have gotten done during those days to still get done. Those adjustments can certainly be made, but while we are still in a transitional period while we all get used to that we will most likely (but hopefully not) see a bit of a dip. But the changes should absolutely be made, as it will only lead to a healthier, happier, safer, and more productive environment in the long run. The only question is how long it will take to see those results.
I’m excited to see these changes happening in the industry. Having a good work-life balance is something that is important to both are well-being and also the work that we do. I actually worked my first 10-out-of-12 over the summer (three in seven days), and the toll it took on my body was immense. By the end of the third one, I was loopy and much less productive. The lack of productiveness during the last two hours of tech was the reason why I had never experienced a 10-out-of-12 before, even before Covid. Most of the theatre companies I worked for would actually state that this as the main reason they didn’t use them. Now, the five-day work weeks is something else I can get on board with, having one day off a week just isn’t conducive to a good work-life balance. Plus with me, I tend to take my first day off to relax and do some light work around the house, and use my second day off to knock out anything big or taxing. It’ll be interesting to see if both of these things become universal throughout the industry, and how it will effect everyone involved in productions.
I think if anyone ever found a way to make sure everything got done in theater well and no one was burnt out or exhausted, everyone would work in theater. One of the saddest things I remember my old technical director told me was how he hasn’t been home to celebrate holidays all had because of his job and he hadn’t seen his family in so long. I remember thinking how unfair it was that people had to work like holiday shows while others had the day off and could probably watch the show if they wanted. It’s not fair not by any means, but I’m surprised no one has found a theater that makes it work and then we just do what they do yknow? The article was talking about longer development processes in the beginning of playwriting to workshop how their choices might affect labor hours and I think that’s great to start to break down how it could be fixed so early in the process.
I’m very glad that not only the CMU school of drama, but the entire industry, is trying to make a shift in the hours both theater students as well as professionals are being put through. At the beginning of my freshman year in school, sleep was such an issue for me. I would be in academic school from 8AM-3PM, dance from 3:30-6:30 (at times even 7 or 8), and tech rehearsal for whatever show I was doing from directly after dance until around 10:30 or 11. I would then have to stay up doing math or reading the odyssey or whatever my homework was until it was completed. I would often go through the day seeing stars and feeling really awful until I could find a chance to catch up on sleep (which at times would happen during my other classes, luckily the teachers were understandable). I think spending tons of time creating is important for growth, but not for the sake of sleep. With more free time, creators can spend more time focusing on their other interests, preventing burnout in the future.
When the members of the industry talked about moving to a five day work week, I thought it was a miraculous idea, as did a lot of people. It seems that companies did not realize the further efforts they would need to take to improve their employees lives. Additionally, I suppose we have discovered that the five day work week was not the most beneficial move for everyone in the industry, as mentioned in the article, longer work footprints means less jobs for some. Honestly, I think that this realization is great because theatre companies have been scamming people long enough. People should be able to get paid enough to have their weekends off. I think that this change is for the better, we just need to keep changing as new problems arise so make our industry safer and more equitable. I hope that those effected are willing to keep moving forward while we are making changes to make working in the theatre industry better for all of its departments.
It’s so nice to see that theaters are really committing themselves to creating a better work-life balance opportunity for their artists. In our industry, it’s so common to be overworked it’s almost weird if you have what could be considered a “normal” work day. Overwork can be so dangerous to both your physical and mental health. Working up to 14-hour days, you lose time to eat a healthy meal, get a full night sleep, or spend time with your friends and family. Not to mention the fact that being overworked and exhausted can be a safety hazard. From fly rail operator to ensemble member, being too tired can lead to accidents than can injure your or several others. With time being the issue with shorter rehearsal weeks, I hope that more theaters around the country and the world recognize that the cost of adding more time is so much lesser than the benefits of taking care of your company.
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