My friend Dawn Glover runs a Facebook page called Theatrica ThNerd. (Click on the name to check it out.) Basically, she’s gathered many friends and colleagues to write about different theories/aspects/genres of theatre. She asked me to take a crack at collaborative theatre. and below is what I wrote.
I’ve been involved with Sundown Collaborative Theatre since 2008, and as you can tell from the name, we take collaboration seriously. Even within collaboration, however, there is a necessity for hierarchy because a theatre company is a business, albeit one run by artists. It’s important to assign these artists roles in which they will excel, rather than expecting someone who has never even THOUGHT about non-profit management to be as informed as someone who has been working in that field for years.
Think of it in the simplest terms – you and your friends get together (let’s say 4 people) and decide you want to do some theatre. Maybe you choose a play that one of you wrote, or you decide to create a devised piece, so as to avoid paying for rights. “This way,” you might think, “we don’t have to deal with any of the business stuff!” Wrong. If one of you wrote it, does that person get more say? Should one of you also be the director? If it is a devised piece, how do decisions get made? Who is going to find a place to perform? Collaboration is not easy. TRUE collaboration, many would argue, does not exist. There must be some kind of system in place. Having spent about a decade creating devised pieces, I can definitively say they are more successful when there is someone in charge, and that automatically negates the idea of “true” collaboration. Or does it? Does creating a hierarchy in collaboration actually make it MORE true than everyone throwing ideas at a wall and arguing until some sort of compromise is reached?
Let’s go back to our 4 person example, using the devised piece option. Day one, you sit down and delegate roles outside of creating a piece together. Person 1 is the spearheader, basically acting as a production manager, making sure rehearsals move along and decisions are being made (while still respecting that everyone’s voice is important). Person 2 acts as a stage manager in a sense, taking notes of points made so that everyone doesn’t have to sit down and lose momentum any time a new idea is brought to the table. Person 3 is the design coordinator, assessing any items that will be needed for the finalized piece. And Person 4 is the location scout, ensuring you have a place to perform this finalized piece. These roles are not exclusive; someone may need help in their role, and others should be expected to help out in any way they can. But a system allows the production to move more smoothly, even if you’re all rehearsing in someone’s living room, worrying about breaking lamps or stepping on dogs. Delegation is KEY in collaboration.
Now think about it on a bigger scale, in terms of putting up a written script with a production team behind it. You need a director, a stage manager, designers, and actors, at bare minimum. For me, as a director, it is important to encourage collaboration and full input from every person involved in the process. However, at the end of the day, decisions have to be made, and creatively, those decisions fall to the director. There is a hierarchy, but within that hierarchy, every person can make decisions that change a whole process. Maybe you’re an actor, and you decide that you want to take a well-known character in a direction that’s not typical for the role. Suddenly, that choice affects the whole production. Does the director allow this decision, which might compromise or change his/her concept? Does the costume designer need to re-think his/her design choices? The marketing might change, even; at the very least, you’ve got someone dealing with PR who is nervous about how this atypical character choice will affect reviews. It’s all connected, which is what makes theatre so collaborative, regardless of the form it takes behind the scenes.
Something that I love about Sundown is that over the years, we have managed to garner a pool of artists who knew very little about the business of theatre but who were willing to learn, and whether people stayed with us for 5 years, 1 year, or even just a few months, I like to think that those who left were able to utilize that knowledge in their artistic endeavors afterward. But we need people in charge in order to allow others to learn. We need the type of people who know how to delegate, how to take on a little more responsibility, how to pick up on new skills quickly in order to train those who may not have the same abilities. Furthermore, we need the people who are often referred to as “followers” in our society, which comes across as derogatory. I prefer to think of them as supporters – people who will do anything they can to help create art they believe in, regardless of their role in the company. The point is, everything works more smoothly in a collaborative work environment if people fully understand their jobs. And because it is treated as a collaboration, people are also expected to contribute to assignments outside of their own duties. Having clear roles for everyone doesn’t mean anything if people aren’t fully pulling their weight.
So the next time you’re involved in theatre in some capacity, ask yourself, “What is my role? Am I fulfilling my duties to the best of my ability? In general, am I doing all I can do right now?” If you can answer “yes” to all of those questions, you are helping create a collaborative environment that can allow theatre to thrive, no matter how big or small the production.
shinavonne 