the week of july 19 - 23, 2021 (part 1!)
how do you solve a problem like writers theatre and wage exploitation
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quick note on this early edition
I know it’s only Thursday, but the news this week will not quit, so I’m splitting the usual weekly round-up into two parts. Look out for a second email soon on the collective action happening at Williamstown Theatre Festival and the O’Neill. (We’ll talk about Equity next week. In the words of my patron saint Carly Rae Jepsen: “Too much.”)
this week in AD “resignations”: writers theatre
On July 14th, artistic director Michael Halberstam resigned from Writers Theatre, the Chicago area company he co-founded and led for three decades, following years of allegations of sexual harassment and inappropriate conduct.
A few months ago, I wrote about the hallmarks of AD “resignation” announcements, and how abusive leaders craft their exit narratives. The WT statement mostly adheres to the template: the board praises Halberstam’s achievements and legacy, Halberstam doesn’t directly apologize, and there’s the obligatory sentence about “looking forward.” But then there’s this:
Writers Theatre had received complaints about Halberstam’s workplace comments and conduct. The timing of Halberstam’s departure signals Halberstam’s and Writers Theatre’s desire to preserve the goodwill of the theatre and to continue to ensure a respectful workplace for all.
An allusion to wrongdoing? Color me shocked — but WT’s “goodwill” has been crumbling for a long time. From the Chicago Tribune:
Allegations of inappropriate personal behavior and harm…followed, mostly made public on Facebook. Several actors and other theater artists have been calling for a boycott of the theater while Halberstam was serving as artistic director. Over the pandemic months, those calls intensified.
Halberstam also has had supporters within the theater community and no legal charges appear to have been made. But sources close to the theater said that Halberstam and a hitherto supportive board had come to a mutual conclusion that the overall situation was an untenable one for Writers as an institution, especially since some valued staffers and artists were expressing their ongoing discomfort with working at the theater.
Here’s the brief timeline of events leading up to Halberstam’s resignation, with links to personal testimonies. (I’d encourage you to read them in full: content warnings for sexual assault, harassment, and mentions of suicide.) This is a case study in the consequences of board complicity and inaction, and a reminder that toxic leaders do not operate in a vacuum. Organizational dysfunction is never concentrated in one person and it won’t be magically eradicated with Halberstam’s departure.
November 2, 2017: Tom Robson posted a Twitter thread about his experience as an unpaid assistant director/dramaturg on Writers’ 2003 production of Crime and Punishment, citing Halberstam’s “sexual harassment (‘both verbally and physically’) in the rehearsal room.” A board investigation concludes Halberstam “made inappropriate and insensitive comments in the workplace [but did not find] other inappropriate sexual behavior.” Halberstam underwent “compliance training and executive coaching sessions.” (Your regular reminder that board investigations are designed to legally protect the institution, not deliver justice to survivors.)
November 5, 2017: Jason Epperson and Abigail Trabue at PerformInk publish “‘Everyone Knows’ — the Unchecked Abuse of Power at Writers Theatre”, detailing more incidents of Halberstam’s sexually offensive behavior.
April 25, 2018: Playwright/dramaturg Sean Douglass publishes “Why I Am Boycotting Writers Theatre in Chicago”, based on the board’s response to Robson’s allegations and Halberstam’s continued unchecked behavior.
October 8, 2019: Director Lavina Jadhwani writes to the WT board that she will no longer direct under Halberstam’s leadership after experiencing harm. “I am currently unable to continue to work at Writers Theatre - despite my love for the institution, its mission, and the majority of the staff - because I cannot knowingly continue to put my colleagues in harm’s way,” wrote Jadhwani, “With due respect, your system is failing to protect us.” Jadhwani continues to publicly speak about “the disconnect between the institution's outward-facing language and internal actions” and the insufficient reporting on Halberstam’s conduct.
July 7, 2021: Actor Ben Barker writes to the WT board about Halberstam’s “inappropriate sexual comments and actions” during a 2016 production of Arcadia.
July 8, 2021: Actor Lucy Godínez sends the WT board “a collection of detailed, corroborated accounts of harassment, intimidation, and inappropriate conduct” experienced by Into the Woods company members in 2019.
July 14, 2021: Michael Halberstam resigns effective immediately.
a new feature: that’s not a living wage
Everyone loves to send me job postings with low salaries, so I’m turning it into a regular feature. I’ll pick 3-5 listings and pair them with the living wage for a 40-hour work week for one adult with no children in that area.
(A quick word on methodology: there’s no common framework for calculating living wages. I’m not masquerading as an economist here, so I used my own history as a reference — I’m single with no kids or debt living in DC, and was constantly stressed about money until I was making about $47K, after which I was only mildly stressed. The Economic Policy Institute’s tool reflected that experience, even though it’s based on 2017-18 data. Is this slightly flawed? Of course. Are all methodologies subject to valid criticism? Sure. Do I have the time or knowledge to properly critique them? Not really! Does it work for this exercise? Yes. Will I change it up if a real economist slides into my DMs? Yes, because we love expertise and works-in-progress at this newsletter!)
Some of the discrepancies may not seem egregious, but these positions are clearly built for a specific kind of applicant, making them less accessible to working parents/caregivers, folks with significant student loan debt, etc. (And let’s be honest: how many jobs in theatre are really 40 hours a week?)
Development Coordinator, Shakespeare Theatre Company: $40,000
DC Living Wage: $51,245Artistic Office Assistant, Manhattan Theatre Club: “High $30K range”
NYC Living Wage: $51,323Education Coordinator, Portland Center Stage: $18/hr, full-time ($37,440)
Portland Living Wage: $43,326Administrative Assistant, Gulfshore Playhouse: $600/week full-time ($31,200)
Naples, FL Living Wage: $37,264Marketing Associate, Virginia Repertory Theatre: $24,000 - $28,000
Richmond, VA Living Wage: $40,007
digital & in-person theatre
Portland Center Stage announced the online and in-person 2021 JAW Festival line-up. The festival runs July 23 - 25 and features readings of Ty Defoe’s Trans World (directed by Dominique Rider), Inda Craig-Galván’s A Hit Dog Will Holler, Kate Hamill’s Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson (directed by José Zayas), Rinne Groff’s The Red Beads (directed by Johanna Gruenhut), and JAW Teen Playwrights Showcase (directed by Margot Bordelon).
Psalmayene 24’s The Blackest Battle premieres online July 31st at DC’s Theatre Alliance. Directed by Raymond O. Caldwell and featuring music by nick tha 1da, the hip-hop musical — set in a not-so-distant post-reparations future — follows “two members of warring rap factions falling in love while wrestling with making sense of their turbulent lives.”
Jared Shamberger’s The B Word will be presented online by The Welders starting July 30th. Directed by Raymond O. Caldwell, the documentary theatre project is devised from interviews with DC-area Black gay men and explores beauty, self-worth, and queer identities. It is the first production of the third generation of The Welders, a DC-based playwrights collective.
Eric Marlin’s and come apart plays online and in-person July 30 - August 7 at The Tank NYC. Directed by Lila Rachel Becker, the play is part of DarkFest, a week of shows that do not use traditional theatrical lighting.
Claribel Gross, Emily Ritger, and Mekala Sridhar’s audio experience WOMEN LIKE A RIVER FALLING FROM THE SKY streams July 22-31 at BorderLight International Theatre + Fringe Festival. The creators encourage listening to the play, inspired by their personal responses to the works of Isabel Allende and other magical realism writers, “alone with headphones while out for a walk or on a park bench.”
Jesse Jae Hoon’s The House of Billy Paul streams July 28th at 1 PM at Ma-Yi Theatre Company. The Bacchae-inspired developmental reading is directed by Charlotte Murray.
Fake Friends’ This American Wife is pop-up streaming on demand through July 23rd. The multi-camera dark comedy originally aired live from a Long Island mansion in May and “investigates the obsession, idolization, and all-consuming-hunger the women of The Real Housewives engender in many of us.”
New York Stage and Film’s season continues with presentations of Interstate and South July 23-25. Melissa Li and Kit Yan’s Interstate, directed by Jesca Prudencio, follows a transgender slam poet named Dash who goes on a cross-country tour with his best friend Adrian, a lesbian singer-songwriter. Florencia Iriondo and Luis D’Elias’ South is a solo musical about finding one’s roots and home.
2021-22 season updates
Rattlestick Playwrights Theater announced its upcoming season, presented in-person and virtually. The three-project slate includes Arturo Luís Soria’s solo show Ni Mi Madre (directed by Danilo Gambini), Mansa Ra’s In the Southern Breeze (directed by Christopher Betts), and Martin Boross and Jonathan Payne’s interactive virtual game Addressless, which “asks viewers to work together in small groups on Zoom to make choices that illustrate the challenges of homelessness.”
The Vineyard announced its 2021-22 season. The line-up includes the world premiere of David Cale’s Sandra (directed by Leigh Silverman), a co-world premiere of Charly Evon Simpson’s sandblasted (directed by Summer L. Williams, with WP Theater), and part two of The Commissary’s Lessons In Survival (directed by Tyler Thomas. The company will also present commissioned works from Ngozi Anyanwu, Kirsten Childs, Jared Mezzocchi, Polly Pen, and Madeline Sayet.
Classic Stage Company announced its 2021-22 season. The season includes the musicals Assassins and A Man of No Importance (both directed by departing AD John Doyle), Marcus Gardley’s black odyssey (directed by Stevie Walker-Webb), and Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig’s Snow in Midsummer (directed by Zi Alikhan),
Studio Theatre announced its 2021-22 season. Projects include Vox Motus’ installation Flight; Suzan-Lori Parks’ White Noise (directed by Reginald L. Douglas); Duncan Macmillan’s People, Places, & Things (directed by David Muse); Katori Hall’s The Hot Wing King (directed by Steve H. Broadnax III); and the world premiere of Kimberly Belflower’s John Proctor is the Villain (directed by Marti Lyons).
Woolly Mammoth announced its 2021-22 season. The season includes Mike Lew’s Teenage Dick (directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel); Michael R. Jackson’s A Strange Loop (directed by Stephen Brackett); Ryan J. Haddad’s Hi, Are You Single? (directed by Laura Savia); Toshi Reagon and Bernice Johnson Reagon’s Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower (directed by Eric Ting); and Paola Lázaro’s There’s Always the Hudson (directed by Jess McLeod).
Olney Theatre Center announced its 2021-22 season. The line-up includes the musicals Beauty and the Beast, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and an ASL/English production of The Music Man; Larissa FastHorse’s The Thanksgiving Play (directed by Raymond O. Caldwell); Clare Barron’s Dance Nation (directed by Jenna Place); and the world premieres of Bekah Brunstetter and Cinco Paul’s musical A.D. 16 (directed by Stephen Brackett) and Awa Sal Secka and Dani Stoller’s The Joy That Carries You.
the regional theatre game of thrones
Glenn Davis and Audrey Francis are the new co-artistic directors of Steppenwolf Theatre Company. The two, who have been ensemble members since 2017, are the first pair to lead the Chicago company; Davis is the first person of color in the role.
Luis Alfaro is a new associate artistic director at Center Theatre Group. Alfaro has been affiliated with the company for over 25 years and will “work closely with fellow associate artistic directors Lindsay Allbaugh, Tyrone Davis, Neel Keller and Kelley Kirkpatrick on overall artistic programming, oversee the L.A. Writers’ Workshop, and serve a key role in the expansion of new play development.”
Melissa Crespo is the new associate artistic director of Syracuse Stage. Crespo, who previously directed Native Gardens and I and You for the company, will direct Dipika Guha’s Yoga Play in the upcoming season. Kyle Bass, who currently holds the position, will transition to a new role as the theater's first resident playwright.
John Doyle will step down as artistic director of Classic Stage Company in 2022. Doyle has led the company for six years — a relatively short tenure compared to the rest of New York’s non-profit theater leadership. He told the New York Times: “I feel like it’s somebody else’s turn. It’s as simple as that. I think art is better with a kind of turnover.”
