Relationship Counselling for a Performing Arts Industry
Let's talk
Hi everyone and thanks for coming. It’s great to see you all here today. Let’s all sit in a circle and get started, shall we?
We’ve got some letters here and I want to thank everyone for contributing. We’ll just start at random. But before we share these I just want us to reflect on the golden rule.
What’s the golden rule?
Everyone’s terrified almost all of the time.
That’s right. Say it again, with me:
Everyone’s terrified almost all of the time.
Well done.
Our industry at all levels is volatile and unpredictable, so almost all of us are walking around in a constant state of fear. And scared people don’t communicate very well.
So deep breath, everybody. Let’s try and calm that fear, and let’s try some safe and constructive communication.
Mmmmkay?
Let’s start with…I’ll just pick one at random here…oh! Marketing! Very sexy. Very glamorous. Marketing, can you stop talking please? This is the letter for you. No, no you can’t film this. Let’s just listen for a sec.
Dear Marketing Managers,
We appreciate what you do. It’s one of the most important jobs in any company, and it’s often the most underappreciated. Without you, we don’t have an audience. You are absolutely vital. Sometimes, we don’t acknowledge that. You are often under-resourced.
For that reason, the artistic team feels like you can be more involved. Making sure you’ve read the script as early as possible is ideal. Directors would love the opportunity to collaborate with you on how their show is presented and talked about - particularly in devising the show image and poster. With your skill and the artistic team’s vision, we could generate some truly captivating and compelling material that will draw an audience to the project.
Media calls are hugely important and the artistic team wants to make sure they can be a part of them in a way that is useful to you. Scheduling these into rehearsal time is a matter of communication between yourself and the production and stage managers. Please be aware of the artist’s time. Artists should be paid for media calls and never cut into scheduled breaks.
Photo shoots are important; we understand you have a vision and/or limited time. Please refrain from ordering actors where to stand or how to look, particularly if you haven’t worked with them before. You can be direct, but we’d appreciate you being friendly and introducing yourself. Give us a context of what you want to achieve with this photo. We’re sure we can get there together.
It may surprise you, but many actors actually find media calls as the hardest parts of their job. They can trigger anxiety. There’s a lot of pressure and vulnerability in being photographed or interviewed. Artists aren’t just meat puppets that are there to advertise something. They’re artists in the middle of creating something - which is a very vulnerable state. We want to help, but just taking the time to check in and be friendly and offer some positive feedback would be great.
And we say all of this knowing that you’re probably stressed and scared too, dealing with impending deadlines and are trying to wrangle media partners. We get it. If there’s way we can help, let us know. Let’s be creative partners.
Cheers,
The team.
PS - Comps are a whole thing, obviously we get why you have to invite critics and reviewers. We’d just appreciate if you didn’t invite random bloggers who can’t spell and have an audience of five.
Okay. Good. Thank you so much everyone. You okay Marketing Managers?
No, we won’t answer back right now. We’ll just do a listening -
No, okay, remember everyone, let’s settle down please. Remember:
Everyone’s terrified almost all of the time.
Okay. Great.
Shall we go to the critics next, since they’ve been brought up?
Critics! Yes, join the circle. Make room everyone. You’re part of the team too.
Actors, stop talking amongst yourself please. They deserve to be here.
Okay. Here we go.
Dear critics,
Your job is very important. Perhaps more important than you know. And your words have tremendous power.
We’ll keep this brief and professional. You are free to say what you want about whatever you see. It’s vital that you do.
However, we want to remind you of a few key facts.
We’re not in New York or London. We’re writing this from Brisbane. There’s a tiny industry here, and entire companies often stand on the precipice of existence. So reviews are a vital part of our ecosystem.
With that in mind, we’d love an excellent critique. You have the power to lift the entire industry.
So. We’d love you to spell-check and ensure your writing is structured appropriately. We’d love you to give space to wrestle with the themes of the show that you’ve seen. We’d love you to provide a brief summary of the show and think about which audiences might enjoy the show (even if you didn’t). We’d love you to mention artists by name, particularly those who are emerging. We’d love you to note the technical creatives on a production.
It might also be an idea to talk to a working artist - it can be anyone - about the experience of working on a show in today’s climate. Learning the context of how we make work may change your critique.
If it’s a small or medium theatre company and you can afford it, we’d really appreciate you offering to buy your own ticket. Our budgets are shrinking and we need all the help we can get.
Thank you for everything you do.
Cheers,
The team
Thanks so much everyone. Well done. Everyone okay?
Sorry, that was rhetorical.
Yes, it is a safe space but we’re running short on time. There’s another meeting in straight after us.
Yes, space is a premium around here.
Okay, let’s move on.
Oh, wow. Okay. Well. Directors. Everyone relax. Deep breath in. We’ll follow up with actors.
Dear directors,
We love you. You have a deep desire to make something fantastic. You are a creative leader. And we also want to recognise how impossible your career is. There’s almost zero professional development if you’re emerging. There is no singular handbook on how to do your job ‘right’. No two gigs will ever require the same from you. To climb a ladder, you may get thrown into a leadership or management role before you’re ready. It’s scary, and we understand that.
In a rehearsal room, we can sense this fear. It’s worse - way worse - if you attempt to hide it. We’d much rather you be honest. We will always admire honesty in leadership. If you don’t know what you want, tell us that. If you know but you’re having trouble articulating it, tell us that. If you change your mind on a moment and want us to do it differently, tell us that.
You have a lot of power in a room. Everyone looks to you. That must be tough. So anything you can do to help yourself relax, we’d really appreciate it. It’s totally fine to get frustrated sometimes, but we won’t tolerate tantrums.
Don’t be afraid to take breaks in the day. Just let the room relax. Problems will get solved.
The technical team has a lot they’d like to say to you. If you expect a lot from them, it’d be great to flag this as soon as possible. Like, before rehearsals start. If at all possible, start tech as soon as possible in the rehearsal schedule so the final week doesn’t feel like a stress-fest. We’d love for you to be open to our ideas too. We know they won’t always be right, but we’d love a collaborative relationship.
Actors would love that too. They’d also note that they are hard-wired for approval. So always give positive notes. When you see something you like, tell us. We promise you; this will buy you so much goodwill.
Also, the actors want to run the scene again, without interruption, please. You don’t need to say anything. Just let them run it in to secure it, and let them take notes, and then let’s move on.
Thank you,
Cheers,
The team.
Dear actors,
You are the bravest people in the industry. No one does what you do because they don’t have the courage. What you do is vulnerable and much, much harder than it looks. You make bad writing look good. You make unclear directions look visionary. You make an audience feel things. Your job is almost entirely rejection. Thanks for sticking with it. We do need you.
Because of all of this, if you’re not in therapy, you should probably think about it. Or at least have some kind of rigorous mental health support to ground you. We hope you’re okay.
You spend a lot of the creative process being the literal centre of attention and being picked apart. It’s hard to believe then that a lot of the other bullshit that’s going on with a project isn’t about you. The director might be having a bad day. The stage manager was a bit dismissive because they had eighteen other things to think about. You got this gig because everyone believes you can do it. So go for it.
Sometimes the writing isn’t good. Sometimes the direction is unclear. We’re sorry. Be patient. Collaborate with us. Not everything will be perfect all of the time. And that must feel especially confronting because, at the end of the day, it’s you up on the stage who has to make it work. Let’s work together to try and get it there. We know it’s incredibly vulnerable.
Producers would like you to answer your e-mails promptly, please. Read the e-mail in full and reply to all questions. On the indie scene, those e-mails are especially important because they may be about securing the funding that allows them to pay you properly.
Cheers,
The team.
Wow. Okay. Well done everyone.
Oh gosh, there are tears from the actors. Directors, do you want to…no, you’re just repressing your feelings? Okay.
There, there. It’s okay.
Now, look, there’s a lot more. Yes, I see you stage managers, you’re not forgotten. Where’s costume? Out for a smoke? LX aren’t here until later are they? And AV? We still don’t know if we need AV? Okay. Well, look, I’ll jump to the big guns. We’ll finish with producers and AD’s.
Are they here? Okay. A few of them are in Sydney but we’ll send along the notes.
Here we go:
Dear Programming and ADs,
It’s impossible to express our awe of how much you have on your plate. You are a slave to so many masters: the audience, the board, the artistic community, the funding partners… That’s a lot of people to try and please. And it’s impossible to please everyone. That’s hard.
For ADs in particular, your job is kind of nuts. You’ve been thrown into a leadership role, often jumping from a freelance artistic career into an office manager. That’s a difficult leap. It must be scary, particularly when you’re talking to artists. You’ve been us, after all, and you know how important ADs and Program Managers are. We can understand how you want to please us and tame us.
A lot could be said, but for now, we’re just asking that you trust us. We know you’re about supporting pathways for artists and you want to champion artists. But honestly that starts to sound like horse shit if it’s not made manifest in real, actionable items. We understand that’s your intention, but it’s sometimes not how it comes across. We’d like you to be more transparent about the challenges you’re facing in your role. In fact, we’d like you to be more open overall. Sometimes you feel completely unreachable to us. And that makes us feel like we’re drifting, alone and isolated, with little hope of employment. We’re trying to pay our mortgage out here.
We want you to be an artist, not a politician. Have a point of view and talk about it.
We understand you try to do that by organising forums. Sometimes that works, but we can’t imagine it feels very pleasant for you and doesn’t feel great for us. Some smaller conversations with different artists may help. Or pin-point the help you need and don’t be afraid to ask for it.
But - and this is important - just inviting us for a chat isn’t easy. Remember, you have power, so whenever you have a conversation with an artist, we’re auditioning for you. Even if that’s not what’s in your head, it’s in our head. We’ve also travelled through traffic to get to you, paid a bunch for parking, and probably have nerves about talking to you.
That must be lonely and hard to feel that from us. The power dynamic is set up to isolate you and separate us. But ultimately, we all want the same goal.
We want you to be mindful of this when you approach us. If you start to be human, we’ll be human in return. We all want this to be a strong, vibrant industry. So let’s work together.
All the best,
The team.