WIT journal: In an industry built on relationships and where the steps to building a career can feel murky, mentorship is essential. This is particularly true for women, who remain underrepresented in many fields across the theater industry, as documented by various organizations including RISE Theatre’s network partners and The Lillys. Sometimes all we need is someone to open a door, show us that a door exists, answer a question, or encourage us to send that cold email.
3 comments:
I loved what the author wrote about not only needing to someone to open the door but someone showing us that a door even exists, because sometimes it can feel like no matter what even if you are trying your hardest, it feels like there is no door for us to even open, it feels like we are trapped in a windowless and doorless room trying to break free and trying to get anyone to see or hear our art and our passion. I love the metaphor about a great leader is in theory a ladder, I think this is beautiful because when you think of a leader you think of someone is charge or someone is the “boss”, but I think to be a true leader is a person who is a guide and someone who opens the path or shines a light on the path and pushes someone to be the best they can be and not a person that will always stand above them and in doing so maybe even block their path. It was a beautiful article that I really connected to!
It's so easy to get caught up in just getting the work done that sometimes we forget that the whole point is about what we are building around us, especially the community. I've had a variety of mentors over my time working in theater, each giving me something different. One that tried to instill the value of working together in which phrases we said to each other were "no heroes." This simply means that you don't have to do it all by yourself or don't go too far to accomplish a task that can be done easier with more people.
I am lucky to have had a lot of female mentors both in theater and in other aspects of my life. One of the quotes that stuck out to me was the second quote from Kimberly Senior. I like to think that I am a kind person and sometimes I have felt like that is a weakness when I am trying to take charge and lead, but this quote helped me realize that it is actually a strength. A woman in a leadership position will often lead differently than a man in a leadership position (not better or worse, just different) because of how we are socialized. We are socialized to be kind and do what people want us to do, but we can be kind and still stick by what we want to do. Most of the women that I look up to are incredibly empathetic but also will not bend to someone else’s will just because they are a man or feel like they are the one in charge even though they are not.
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