16 Just and Equitable Practices

Just and Equitable Practices

Disability Performance and Being in Good Relation to Disability in Your Practice
By Dr. Jessica Watkin

Hi, my name is Dr. Jess Watkin, and I am a Blind Disabled white settler Queer cis woman living in Ontario, Canada. I have been working as a Blind/Disability consultant, educator, and Dramaturg since 2016, and I particularly love to bring anyone into good relationship with Disability and Disability performance. When I use the term Disability I capitalize it to associate this identity with the political and interdependent Disability community. Disability is not a bad word, if we do not use it we erase the vibrant community of people who do use that word. When I write “good relationship with” I use that language intentionally to gesture towards the ongoing work unlearning ableism in the context of your life but also to Canadian performance. Being in good relationship with Disabled people means continuing to learn and engage with practices of oppression, intersectionality, racism, colonialism, and Disability. When I say “Disability theatre and performance” I am referring to performances with Disabled artists involved in the creative and production processes as artists or members of the core team. Disability performance is different than “accessible theatre,” which for me refers to theatre that is made accessible for an audience.

Respect and Dignity

Disabled people do not deserve to be pitied, looked down upon, or put on a pedestal. When you encounter a Disabled person outside of the theatre, I hope you offer them dignity and respect and do not project your internal biases and ableism onto them. Within the theatre, Disabled people deserve respect and dignity as well. This includes audience members, sure, that might be what you’re the most familiar with. But I also think performers, producers, technicians, box office staff, volunteers, writers, etc. all can be and are Disabled people. Disabled people are present in every facet of theatre and performance, and by not acknowledging or understanding that their contributions to the culture are valuable then you are not truly seeking an equitable, inclusive, and diverse theatre culture and community.

Open Mind, Flexibility, Open Heart

As artists and creatives in the theatre and performance industry, we have ideas and visions of how we would like our work to be executed and received. Sometimes while working with Disabled artists and consultants they may invite different ways to think through theatrical problems. An example of this would be if you are a lighting designer, what can you do to support people who do not see a performance? The answer here is not nothing, but may take some shifting ideas around what you might consider the impact of lighting is for someone who interprets performance non-visually. I would suggest connecting with Blind consultants, Blind artists, and being flexible in the ways that your designs might be brought into an accessible practice. It is easier to unpack this idea with examples, however the rule of thumb is to ask questions, and ultimately truly listen to the answers and bring them into your understanding of your own practice. Be willing to shift your design, vision, practice to support a perspective and experience of performance that may be unlike your own.

Ask Questions…and then Listen

It is okay to not know something. This is the crux of Disability work, we (Disabled people/artists/scholars) do not expect everyone to understand everything all at once. The key here is the willingness to ask questions, be specific, and then listen and process the answers in relation to yourself. In my work as Disability consultant and educator I try to invite questions that might seem trivial, that you may think “I should already know the answer to this, I’m embarrassed to reveal I do not know,” because the first step to finding out new information is acknowledging you do not know it and asking anyway. This is another important aspect of being in good relationship to Disability within performance: ask questions! And trust that the people you are asking them to will support your learning. It is not our responsibility as Disabled people to teach every nondisabled person about Disability, access, and everything between, but especially while working and being paid in the capacity to support performance work, asking the question and listening for the answer is the best way to move forward. If you want to know more about Disability, try reading, and my number one suggestion for folks who are brand new to Disability performance in Canada is to attend a Disability event or performance. Go and see on Zoom or in person how Disability culture and community feels and looks differently than traditional theatre–or not. Experiencing, listening, without making assumptions is a key to getting closer to good relationship with Disabled people and ultimately Disability performance in Canada.

Gratitude, Acknowledgement, and Compensation

Every part of my work is impacted by gratitude. It would take too long to write out everything that got me just to writing this piece, let alone the other things I’ve achieved. Everything I have done has been made possible by interdependence, which is a concept used widely in Disability studies that means that instead of doing things independently or individually, Disabled folks do things in relation to one another, community, and the world around us. The energy I get from one project infuses my next and vice versa, I am Blind and cannot read the words I am typing without accessibility from software I have no idea how to make. We all rely on hundreds of things to get us through each day, and so when coming into good relationship with Disabled people we express gratitude at every turn for where we are.

When it comes to the learning and value you may gleam from Disabled artists, people, and consultants, it is important for me to emphasize that acknowledging them publicly in your work, programs, advertising materials, etc. is paramount to valuing the teachings you have been offered, and most importantly to compensate Disabled people for the work they do for you. Sometimes in my experience, I have found that theatre creators will prioritize the access for audiences over inviting disabled people in and paying them so that the entire team can understand how a show might impact and be received by Disabled people. It is important to compensate all Disabled folks involved in your work for their work, and to listen and learn from them moving forward.

For further information and resources please see: Interdependent Magic: Disability Performance in Canada edited by Jessica Watkin (Interdependent Magic | Playwrights Canada Press)

– Dr Jessica Watkin – Disability Performance and Being in Good Relation to Disability in Your Practice

I’ve written about this a lot that my career shift into the arts was my awakening into structural racism. Like I’ve said, I was almost unaware that I was a Chinese person because it didn’t matter so much in engineering. It was, for all its faults and for being horrendously sexist, engineering is still pretty well a meritocracy, like nobody really cares what race you are if you know how to do your job. And that was not the case in theatre. And I, it hit me hard that sense that, that I am so closely defined by, by the way I look. That’s different now. It’s not perfect now, but it’s a lot different than it was in 1992. So, I still would have probably done it. But I guess I wish I had had a gentler landing into that sense of kind of an identity crisis that I had. – Jovanni Sy Actor/Director/Playwright, Montreal, QC

There has been a reckoning in the last five years, but it is just the latest after decades of pushes for change. As previously noted, professional theatre in so-called Canada has a poor history when it comes to representation, inclusion, accessibility, and ethical practices. A system built with a colonial model was bound to hold tight to traditions that privileged some and ignored equity deserving groups. For those of us who started in theatre a couple decades ago, we can look back to practices that were common in our training and early work that would clearly be unacceptable now.

Activity: Based on what you know thus far, identify what you feel needs to change to make the theatre milieu more just and equitable.

So much great work has been done, and many great resources exist. It is up to all of us currently in theatre and those entering this field to educate ourselves, do our best, learn from mistakes, and help to reverse any ongoing racism, ableism, sexism, trans/homophobia, and elitism in theatre. There are no quick fixes, but a need for hard work and long-term effort to keep questioning all assumptions that have been inherited. We all have to acknowledge our own bias and encourage all those that we work with to challenge bias. When possible, we need to take the onus off of equity deserving groups to educate and self-advocate. This can be done by hiring consultants and experts. Of course it is important to engage experts from members of the applicable community and make sure they are properly compensated for their efforts. There are also so many resources such as Mass Culture’s equity in the arts work.

Although I’m putting some information into categories below, it is important to note that these are not silo-ed issues and many are intersectional. Greater inclusion and accessibility benefits everyone. Likewise, we don’t need to choose between addressing one issue over another. At their root all these movements require a shift in mindset which will benefit everyone by resulting in a healthy and thriving practice.

Gender Identity

For a long time, there has been a huge effort to achieve greater inclusion for women on stage, as playwrights, and in leadership. Studies over decades showed poor results. All the more so for women of colour or women with disabilities. Equity in Theatre lists many of the statistics and past research. Several companies, committees, advocacy groups, and festivals were launched starting in the 1970s. For example, Nightwood Theatre, the now defunct Women in View Festival in Vancouver,  and the Playwrights Guild of Canada Women’s Caucus to name just a few. Things slowly showed signs of improving then regressing and maybe improving again. Parity has never been consistently achieved.

This advocacy work hasn’t always effectively taken into consideration the reality of multiple gender identities and the nuances involved. The current shift is to strive for fuller representation with explicit mandates to include two-spirit, trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming folks. Theatre, like mainstream film and television, is still very much stuck in a delineated gender-binary and often type-casting as a result. Past students have shared that this is particularly entrenched in musical theatre settings. Lots of work is being done to work towards greater fluidity, more 2SLGBTQ++ stories, and some attempts for more gender neutral casting. I’ve certainly seen shifts in the classroom with a need to allow students to choose material that suits their identity regardless of traditional gender roles.

There are amazing queer theatre companies who are paving a way and one way forward is to have other theatres learn from them. For example Zee Zee theatre company has launched a new play development model with their National Queer & Trans Playwriting Unit | Zee Zee (zeezeetheatre.ca).

Here’s a great 2021 article exploring the Queer Theatre reality coming out of the pandemic – The state of queer theatre around the world | Xtra Magazine

Theatre Alberta has also curated a 2SLGBTQ++ subject guide

Current debates continue and will hopefully lead to important discussion around:

  • how to make existing women’s caucus’ and women focused initiatives inclusive
  • who should play trans and queer characters
  • how to ‘queer’ theatre rather than trying to fit 2SLGBTQ++ stories into a heteronormative framework
  • how to make theatres into safe spaces for marginalized bodies
  • how to empower underrepresented parts of the LGBTQ2S+ community, including trans, non-binary and IBPOC folks

Anti-Racism and De-Colonization

…when I started in ‘92, somebody might have cast me as an indigenous character and I might have taken it. And neither is the case today, nor do I think it should be. But at the same time, it’s a pendulum. Like, we get all these really interesting questions about representation. Should a cis het performer only ever play cis het? I can’t answer that. I mean, it’s within the BIPOC community to. Is, ah, is it okay for East Asians to play all these versions or should I as a Chinese-Filipino never play a Korean? It’s like we’re constantly redefining the question of who can play who. And I just, I worry that the discussions, about who gets to play who are some, being articulated with kindness and, and with just a spirit of, of, I don’t know how to put it like a really of, of listening. Like, I think there’s a lot of insistence of this is right, this is wrong. And, I just hope that we learn to listen to each other about the questions of representation, because I don’t think that it is as cut and dry as people would lead you to believe. – Jovanni Sy, Actor/ Director/Playwright, Montreal, QC

There have been amazing panels, townhalls, speakers, and articles written on the reality of racism in theatre in Canada. There is also anti-racism workshops and training by professional facilitators specific to theatre. There are many considerations, as it isn’t just about who is on stage, but about a systemic problem in all parts of the machine. Some of the important points shared are below, but reading and watching the full material is crucial.

Some aspects to think about:

  • How does racism relate to the ‘business’, the marketing, the contracts, funding, the relationship-building, community outreach/audience, the training…etc.?
  • Who is theatre marketing to?
  • Do those in positions of power understand why it must be addressed/redressed or are they just trying to look like they are doing the right thing?
  • Right from the root of theatre training, a process of whitewashing can occur and then carry through to recruitment of faculty as well as students
  • There needs to be representation in leadership
  • The racist materials in the theatre canon have to be addressed
  • Doing anti-racist work as a white person is a place of constant failure and mistakes, but you still have to do it
  • There needs to be accountability
  • We’ve moved from a past tradition of colour-blind casting to colour rich or colour conscious casting that acknowledges the reality of the background and bodies on stage
  • For those who come from a storytelling tradition, the ideas of professional theatre and being an artist can separate them from the community
  • How does an artist navigate their cultural identity in the art when this isn’t taught
  • Pressure to leave accents and cultural identifiers behind to learn to ‘act’ like the colonizer
  • The reality that these conversations have occurred over and over again with little change
  • Is it a problem of will, education, capacity, or resources that prevents real change?
  • The work has to be done with care or you end up tokenising
  • Supports are needed for safe spaces and celebration of cultural practices
  • The emotional labour of having to educate others is exhausting, particularly when your role is that of an actor and you end up having to be an advocate for your culture, your gender identity, or sexuality
  • Everything from copyright to traditions are different, so one cannot just take IBPOC artists and plunk them in the existing institutional model

For more watch:

“Having this conversation in the public sphere is dangerous and uncomfortable. Still, this change is possible, if we sit together and listen to each other’s stories.

“Theatre is a discussion between an artist and an audience. We have to sit together in the same room and breathe each other’s air, witness another’s experience and maybe be transformed by it. Whatever barriers exist to that shared experience must be dismantled. Perhaps that time is now.” – Yvette Nolan

https://www.cbc.ca/arts/why-it-matters-who-reviews-indigenous-theatre-1.5467785

And this is so great, it needs to be along quote:

We see more actors of colour on stage and that’s great, but we’re nowhere near where we need to be in terms of works of non-white playwrights being programmed and non-white directors and designers getting to put their visions on stage. There are so many white artists, men in particular, who believe that they are gods—playwriting gods, directing gods, acting gods, design gods—but they were simply the ones provided the nurturance and the opportunities repeatedly, therefore they were given the chance to rise in stature. It has zero to do with them being more innately talented than any other demographic. So now we’re in this place where there isn’t a talent gap, but there is a huge experience gap. The only way to overcome that is to really begin taking more chances on gifted artists of colour who haven’t traditionally been hired because they just weren’t in the club. Things are improving, for sure, but I wish that many of these changes had happened without diversity mandates tied to funding. There are people of colour being hired because grants demand that companies reflect the country more accurately. It’s vile that some organizations have to be threatened with a lack of funding for them to do the right thing. The artists being hired are outstanding, and the companies know they’re outstanding. That’s why it sickens me that so many leaders had to have their arms twisted to do the hiring that they should’ve been doing for decades.

I also wish that the changes happening had happened without George Floyd’s neck being crushed. So many opportunities now are being given to younger Indigenous artists and artists of colour, from their late teens through their 30s. That’s fantastic. But what it means is that a lot of artists of colour—those in their early 40s to their 60s, just never had their shot. They were overlooked during the time in which the concept of “BIPOC” wasn’t yet a thing in the industry, despite the fact that they were the ones relentlessly pounding the pavement seeking representation. Now not only are they not the ones getting the calls, but they’re watching much younger artists with far less experience being given mainstage opportunities that they never got. It’s bittersweet, because there is such abundant joy to see the next generation finally breaking through, yet such pain at what artists now deemed “middle-aged” were never afforded in their own careers.

The Interview – Tanisha Taitt – J. Gordon Shillingford Publishing

There are many organizations helping with the change, by both supporting systemic changes but also programs for IBPOC theatre artists. Check out just a few examples:

I again, speaking from the perspective of Indigenous theatre, right? Like us, we would really highly value community engaged practice. Our cultural knowledge, like to us that would be of more value than almost anything else. So, from the student’s perspective, just being sure of who you are and having faith in the skills that you’re bringing to the table and the knowledge that you bring to the table and in yourself, I think is really important. And for those doing the hiring, I mean, my advice would be, know that if somebody has and I have to admit, one of the things I look for in hiring is a high level of resiliency. You know. There is no more demanding deadline than opening night. And somebody choosing to work in the arts needs to know that and needs to be able to have the personal resilience to really be able to function at a very high level for long periods of time. To be able to have the strength in themselves to say I can feel the end of my rope and that’s too close. I’m going to step away for a few days. And so, again, I as a leader am looking, always looking for where that resiliency within the team lies, right? I’m just trying to be aware of the personal resiliency, but it is possible to train.  If you can find the right person with the right spirit and the energy and the high level of resiliency, who has the passion, basic tools to work with. And, you know, training somebody up and offering opportunities is a great way because right now we are collectively screaming for, crying out for producers and administrators. And recognizing that and you know, somebody who’s showing an interest can very much be mentored into and brought into this role. – Lori Marchand, Managing Director, NAC’s Indigenous Theatre, Ottawa, ON
You know, people are being hired to do diversity-ish things, you know, in organizations. An equity officer or whatever and blah, blah, blah. But really, to question what does this mean and to set your own boundaries around what you can and can’t do. And what you need in place. Like if you’re the only one and say, well, I need somebody to work with another person of colour to work with, or I need to make sure that I, you know, I’m not the only brown face in the room. Or like, just to know what you need and to negotiate that because those skills that you bring are really, really deep skills, like the life skills that we’ve learned as artists of colour, are really deep and valuable skills. So, to value that and to negotiate what that means. – Diane Roberts, Director/Dramaturge/Cultural Animator, Montreal, QC

Just a starting point in additional resources from Canada and the U.S.:

Disability Justice

Jessica Watkin’s fabulous article at the beginning of the chapter and her other writing is definitely required reading. Also intersecting is Debbie Patterson’s contribution under Acting. Both have written many other articles and content that you can find with a quick search.

This is another area where there needs to be ongoing self-education for individuals and intensive training for theatre companies. The metaphor often used is that by adding a ramp to an entrance you are not only creating access for wheelchair users but also for those with strollers, someone with arthritis, someone with an injury… It makes things better for the whole community. During the pandemic, health took a front row seat, at least in the initial stages, and pushed change that protected a wide range of people. The question is not how to accommodate certain needs, but rather how do we create a space and practice that works for everyone, period.

It is important to emphasize that this is both about audiences and artists, affecting both the auditorium and backstage.

There is some great work beginning to happen for audiences, as venues are called upon to be accessible. In Manitoba there is now provincial legislation requiring that accessible customer service be offered by all businesses, including a mandate for staff to undergo training.  It is so helpful, for example, when my hearing-impaired partner has the option to use a device provided by theatres so he can actually hear the actors. Otherwise, he cannot participate fully in the experience. We are also seeing growth in ASL and audio described performances. In addition, relaxed performances (or sensory friendly) for those who would benefit from a less formal and more comfortable experience have become much more common. Although there is still much work to do, it has been proven to be possible and there are resources available.

The other side of the equation though are the huge barriers behind the scenes with inaccessible rehearsal studios and backstages that are a challenge for anyone to navigate. On the tech side, most sound and lighting booths are not built to allow for wheelchairs. Plus, the long hours exclude many with health issues. Aside from physical limitations, accommodating neurodiversity of staff and artist is also crucial. I’ve worked with so many amazing students and colleagues who have so much to offer but who often receive a message that the theatre is too rigid to provide the flexibility they need. In reality, this flexibility would benefit a wide range of folks who have skills and strengths that the theatre industry needs. It is incredible to see the advocacy on this front leading to shifts. Most importantly, we are seeing more and more shows being produced with, by, and for those with the lived experience.

Here are some starting resources:

Climate Crisis

Activity: Why do you think the climate crisis is in this chapter of the book? How does it tie into just and equitable practices in theatre?

Theatre does have a role to play in combatting the climate crisis, as it will also be affected by the continued effects. Many outdoor theatres are the canaries in the coalmines as they have to respond to the changing climate – trying to perform in extreme heat, storms, smog, smoke from forest fires, and even losing their performance space to environmental destruction.

In the last several decades, as with the rest of the western world, theatres have produced greater waste that goes to the landfill. With more technology, there is also a growing carbon footprint with greater emissions. Although our pollution may seem small compared to some industries, theatres can be a role model. There have been shows in the U.K. that were powered by bicycles. Theatre is being used to mobilize efforts to save old forest growth. Shows touring to schools have taught youth about the climate crisis. The arts can educate, inspire, and advocate. Theatre can imagine a different way and share this with audiences.

As addressed in Ian Garrett’s contribution in the Design track, Managing Change for Sustainability, the first thing is simply pushing for change. The small steps are thinking about a show’s carbon footprint. Finding ways to reduce the environmental cost from re-using scenic elements to refusing the allure of easy/quick Amazon purchases.

There are a lot of resources, so the great thing is that the information already exists for everyone to draw upon. Below is a list with gratitude to my colleagues at Canadian Association for Theatre Research Environmental Stewardship in Theatre and Performance Education Working Group, especially Kimberley Richards (UBC).

Arts Service Organizations, think tanks, and committees
Home | Canadian Green Alliance
Centre for Sustainable Practice in the Arts
Arts and Climate Initiative
PACT Environmental Stewardship Committee
Broadway Green Alliance NYC
Julie’s Bicycle – United Kingdom
Creative Carbon Scotland
Land Arts Generator
Climate Action in a Global Landscape: A TCG Virtual Summit (Theatre Communications Group Climate Action)
350.org Day of Action for a Just Transition – 350.org
Conseil québécois des événements écoresponsables

Network building projects on the radar
Climate Arts Web
Hemispheric Encounters-Ecologies cluster
SCALE (Sectoral Climate Arts Leadership for the Emergency)

Tools, guidebooks and reports for greening theatre practices
Creative Green Tools
Canadian Green Alliance – Sustainable Theatre Guidebook
Sustainable Production Toolkit
Theatre Greenbook (UK)
Green New Theatre (Groundwater Arts)
Syllabi on Artists & Climate Change website
Écoscéno (courses on eco-design and eco-responsibility)
Green Theatre: Taking Action on Climate Change report (City of London)
Centre for Sustainable Curating – Using the Resources at Hand: Sustainable Exhibition Design
Theatre Communications Group – Climate Action
Canadian Association for Theatre Research Guide for Environmental Stewardship


Recent writing (very selective!)

Ian Garrett, “The Ethical Turn in Sustainable Technical Theatre Production Pedagogy,” Theatre Topics 31.2 (2021): 179-86.

Theatre Pedagogy in the Era of Climate Crisis, ed. David Fancy and Conrad Alexandrowicz (Routledge, 2021)

Tessa Rixon, Tanja Beer, Ian Garrett, “Ecoscenography in the global classroom: Creating sustainable worlds for theatre through international collaboration,” Performance Design Futures Symposium (2022)

Sheila Christie et al, “Theatrical Calls to Climate Action: Excerpts of a Conversation,” TRiC 43.1 (2022): 125-36.

David Maggs, “Art after the Virus”The Philanthropist (2020)

What Is Ecotheater? – Superhero Clubhouse

Artists must confront the climate crisis – we must write as if these are the last days | Ben Okri | The Guardian

Howlround articles on Climate Emergency

Theatre Communications Group Climate Action

Decomposition instead of collapse

 

Available recordings of relevant events

Soulpepper Theatre’s Green Sessions

NAC Green Rooms

Viewpoints #2 Indigenous perspectives on climate (Youtube)

A Press Conference from the Future – 350.org (Youtube)

NAC Green Rooms

The Intersectional History of Environmentalism (Youtube)

Intersectional Environmentalist (Podcast)

 

Other projects

Climate Change Theatre Action design Charrette (Play Anthologies)
School for Climate
Good Energy Story
Just Powers Podcast
Conscient Podcast
Synthetic Collective (especially their Enough Manifesto)
Artists for Real Climate Action
Artist Brigade (The Only Animal, Kendra Fanconi)
Cape Farewell
Complicite “Can I Live?” by Fehinti Balogun
All we can save; how to save a planet (especially Where’s our climate anthem?)
Zizek dump walk- Dump philosophy (Youtube)
Department of Utopian Arts & Letters

 

Economic Barriers

In many cases, ticket prices along with travel, childcare, even having something appropriate to wear, can prevent participation in theatre for audiences.

 

“Live theatre is expensive and it’s increasingly expensive to run and therefore the ticket prices are increasingly expensive, and that’s a difficult thing to rationalise,” Tennant told the Radio Times podcast.

“Because obviously I would like to imagine that’s something that everyone should be allowed to enjoy, and yet when I’m in a show in the West End I’m aware that there are tickets selling for ludicrous amounts of money.

“But they get sold, at which point you think: ‘Well, what’s the theatre management supposed to do?’ If it’s a commercial enterprise, should they be expected to give tickets away?

“The danger is you’re strangling the next generation of an audience coming through.”

– Price of West End theatre tickets can be ludicrous, David Tennant | Theatre | The Guardian

There is also an economic barrier for those who might want to pursue a career in theatre. The cost of training, access to early training in schools or through theatre classes outside of school, and then the cost to pursue work in the industry can eliminate a whole cross-section of folks. Connected to this is the knowledge that you may not be able to earn a living consistently if you choose this route. It can be a very privileged and classist pursuit as a result. It’s important to note that this affects equity deserving communities in particular.

The sector needs to continue to explore how we can open the doors (for audience and artists) to those who don’t have a lot of money.

Unlearning

So much of the work that needs to be done requires unlearning and dismantling. Tweaking won’t resolve the systemic and structural problems.

Decentralizing the process and moving towards non-Eurocentric models is definitely a large part of the conversation. This could be moving from a pyramid with the director at top, to a circle within the process of creation. Also, building in paid mentorship to allow for greater representation at the table is a big part of what is starting to happen, and in particular mentorship that is specific to identity (an Indigenous mentor can provide so much more to an Indigenous mentee for example).

…that hands on lived experience, any opportunity for co-ops. The BC Arts Council has a great co-op program and I’ve been very lucky to work with some really great students through that program. And here at the NAC, we’re really setting up a leadership exchange program on a national basis, working with all kinds of exciting emerging leaders and pairing them with established leaders in the industry. And I think, you know, I do keep referencing back to Western Canada Theatre, but to me, it was just standard practice…  that’s what we did. Like it was, we grew people through opportunities. – Lori Marchand, Managing Director, NAC’s Indigenous Theatre, Ottawa, ON

It’s also about introducing you, whether you are a student or emerging artist, to the vast array of theatre companies, styles of theatre, and uses of theatre that don’t often get attention. Theatre is happening in hospitals, correctional centres, on the streets, and by community groups. It isn’t just what you find in the large buildings. It is definitely worth exploring other models even within the applied theatre world. You may discover something that feeds your soul.

It’s tricky because the gap is in the learning institutions and the theatres themselves, it’s the both of them, and the relationship that they have, because the schools are breeding actors to be a part of that institution and that way of working instead of focusing on the training rather than the rigour. Focus on the technique and the training and the story telling and the creation and the movements and the relationality of theatre and the design of it; as opposed to if you’re not working 8 hours a day, if you’re not doing this, if you’re not putting your entire self into this, then it’s not good, it’s not worth it.

The only reason people are doing that is because of capitalism. This is the gap that I’m thinking of – is all in that. Right? It’s in how we disseminate information. Because then what happens is they get out into the industry and they either don’t get work at all or they do get work, and they’re overworked and burned out. They realize oh my gosh, this is not sustainable. Or, oh my gosh they don’t have the place for me here because I’m racialized or I’m fat or I’m queer or I’m non-binary. You know, they make it look very inclusive, but it’s not. And often, when I’m teaching, I taught at Sheridan for the last couple of years, and one of the things I bring up all of the time is with my racialized students is to expect to be tokenized. So like you’re going to be tokenized, you’re going to be traumatized. It’s not a question of if, it’s when it happens. These are things you can do. Because institutionalized racism is embedded in all of these theatres. So, I think it’s just the reality is the big gap.

But in a lot of ways, a lot of performers, particular racialized performers have that leverage as well, to say you actually need me, you need my voices, you need my stories. Don’t act like you’re giving me some big favour. – Yolanda Bonnell, Actor/Director/Playwright, Toronto, ON

You know, I think my being there [Western Canada Theatre] the company and particularly under David Ross, had done Indigenous work before my arrival. But once I was there, I mean, I’m Syilx, or Okanagan, so the Secwepemc people are my cousins. And so it’s a pretty direct, familiar connection. You know, the cultural protocols are, you know, very similar to mine. They’re very much from the same place. And so, doing the consultation, doing the engagement, doing the outreach was honestly just part of my own muscle memory and my own cultural protocols. And it guided much of the creation of the work. For example, Ernestine Shuswap Gets Her Trout by Tomson Highway. The commission and development of Where the Blood Mixes that went on to win the Governor General’s Award for Drama. Children of God and most recently Kamloopa. Those are probably the highlights, award winning. The protocols that we set up, in and around, particularly, Where the Blood Mixes, around a trauma informed engagement process, both for the artists as well as for the audience, were again, probably because Kevin and I were there, Kevin Loring, the playwright for Where the Blood Mixes and currently the AD at Indigenous Theatre is Nlaka’pamux, and also Interior Salish. So very much again, from the same cultural background as me. Probably the fact that it was the two of us there working on that piece that saw the need and had a community experience with counseling and trauma support, engagement with elders, exchange of knowledge, and that very much informed our processes. You know, I’m really proud that those processes, coupled with the shows, informed much of the trauma and cultural protocols that are in place in and around Indigenous work across the country now. – Lori Marchand, Managing Director, NAC’s Indigenous Theatre, Ottawa, ON
…it kind of started from this need or this place of a wound or whatever. And it transformed for me into, almost like my life’s mission was to sort of shift these cultural, well I guess shift the cultural gaze for artists, indigenous artists and artists of colour instead of looking out and saying, let me in, let me in, to look inward and say, you know, who am I? And what drives me? And, you know, and to sort of build themselves up so that they were undeniable. – Diane Roberts, Director/Dramaturge/Cultural Animator, Montreal, QC

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The Business of Theatre: Pathways to a Career in Theatre Copyright © 2023 by Hope McIntyre. All Rights Reserved.

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