The Theatre Work Week: StateraArts Calls For Industry-Wide Change

StateraArts is calling for a fundamental shift in the American Theater: we need to transform the work-week. Statera posits that this call-to-action isn't about needing larger budgets or more time, but is centered on how we choose to treat each other. The theatre work force, like all work forces, must be treated with dignity and compassion. Odd hours, long hours, short breaks, and zero flexibility upholds an industry-wide ethos of expendability and maintains supremacy structures. Statera's call to action is an invitation to interrogate and disrupt outdated scheduling practices and implement humane work week processes that support everyone in the theatre work force.

We believe in Nataki Garrett's assertion "that one can stay in this field, build a powerhouse organization and make your life meaningful at the same time." But how can we serve the art form we love, grow healthy organizations, and maintain a sense of balance in our home life? Let's start with the schedule.

Melinda Pfundstein, Statera's Co-Founding Executive Director, spoke to this issue during her opening address on October 26th at Statera's National Conference in NYC:

"We ask people to be the best innovators, the most creative beings, and make or facilitate great and meaningful art. We also normalize rehearsal schedules that keep us at the theatre late into the night, 6 days a week, opposite the schedules of children and partners, family dinners, or of volunteer or community engagement opportunities -- indeed, the very sources of our humanity. We glorify that strung-out, "I can't, I have tech" mentality. As if everything else just goes away. If the goal is to do art by and for more people, then we must normalize a humane and holistic creative environment that nourishes innovation, where people can show up as their whole selves. It is time to ask, 'why do we do the things we do?'"

This call to action is not new, but it is time. StateraArts echoes those who've made this call before and we honor those organizations that are already implementing changes. We were very pleased to see last month's announcement from the National Theatre (UK) that they are entering a year-long trial period that will restrict 50% of their rehearsal periods to five days a week and limit the amount of time performers are called on Saturdays. This is the kind of creative thinking we are hoping to inspire across the country.

SCHEDULE-BASED SOLUTIONS

• 5-day work-week (like the one at True Colors Theatre Company)

• Increase number of tech days, reduce hours per day (as they do at East West Players)

• Scale back Saturday rehearsals (like at the National Theatre)

• Flex-time policy for staff (like the one at True Colors Theatre Company)

• Offer company members childcare during production (as does the Utah Shakespeare Festival)

• Day-time rehearsal options (as does the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival)

• Eliminate the 10 out of 12 (or at least understand the effect and cost of continual overtime on the theatre work force)

SPACE-BASED SOLUTIONS

• Flexibility for children in the space (like at Baltimore Center Stage and as described in the NY Times article "Taking Your Child to Work, When Your Job is Making Theatre")

• Invite families to be a part of the work (as they do at SPACE at Ryder Farm)

• Offer a privacy room (like the one at Cleveland Playhouse)

• Inclusion initiatives for care-givers ( like the ones created by the Parent Artist Advocacy League and implemented by Playwrights Realm)

POLICY-BASED SOLUTIONS

• Ask your work-force about their access needs and then respond to them (as Adriana Gaviria posits in her article "Don't Tell Anyone-A Call to Action for a Healthy Work-Life Balance in the Arts"

• Implement organization-wide anti-racist practices (as outline in Nicole Brewer's article, "Parents of Color and The Need For Anti-Racist Theatre Practices")

Transforming the theatre work-week is essential to the health of our industry. Our work-force deserves better. They deserve to show up to this work as a whole human being. There is not a one-size-fits-all answer, but together we can affect serious change in the industry.

Commit to Statera's call-to-action and let them know how they can support you by filling out the pledge form here: https://stateraarts.org/blog/2019/12/9/change-the-game-may-adrales-at-stateracon.