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Monday, February 01, 2010

A Finger to the Theatre Dept. at SmallTown University!

This is mainly a post to collect my thoughts so I can write my letter of resignation to the Theatre Department. So this all started at the beginning of this semester. I took a job over the summer that pays room and board, and then some. Well, I started working this job, you know, the one where I take care of MS at night? Okay, well I informed the Theatre Department and all its asshole, manipulative, controlling, jerk-on-your-chain faculty members that I had this job, that I couldn't quit this job because that is what was keeping my bills manageable for the year. Without this job, I would not be attending STU, let alone be majoring in Theatre. This was when I was still a major in that Godforsaken department. Anyway, I asked for a lower commitment production assignment, something that I could get done during the day without a lot of commuting (like the props managers have to do), and they complied, giving me scene shop hours. What that entailed, because of my already overloaded schedule, was cutting back on my work study hours, you know, the ones I get paid for? The ones I use to pay my college tuition? Yeah, those. I finished the job that I had to do, 6 hours a week, and then 6 more per week that I got paid for (I couldn't do any more than that because if I had, I surely would have died from exhaustion. I had essentially 12 hours of work study a week, and an additional 17 hours a week for class. I literally had no time to think for the first half of the semester. Less than 10 hours of free time during the week, and I had to drop a class because it was too much). Anyway, I was working 12 hours per week, only 6 of which I got paid for, unfortunately. I needed more hours so I could pay for school. Anyway, I busted my ass, trying to get everything together, and still stay with the theatre department as a major. I quickly realized that I couldn't do it all, and couldn't do anything meaningful/get the work experience that I needed to make a life for myself in theatre, and therefore met with the theatre department to ask if it was even plausible to still be a theatre major. I had the idea that I would take the rest of my classes and finish the major academically, and then after my senior year, I would come back, work full-time, and do my production assignments, and that would be all I would be enrolled for, and I would graduate a year late. The theatre faculty shot that idea down, and told me it would be better for me to be a minor or just participate when I can and not be academically involved in the theatre. In fact, one of the professors even said "J, putting all personality differences aside, I don't think you should be a major." Reasonable advice, not very professional. Anyway, about halfway through the semester, the show opens, my production assignment is done, and I am out of a job. Basically, the person who is in charge of the scene shop said that she didn't have enough hours to keep people on, and the only people that she had hours for were the scholarship students. This is irritating, because I all of a sudden went from having barely enough hours to scrape by, to having no hours at all. I was laid off. Great, because, you know, there are so many open jobs on campus halfway through the semester for work study students, and believe me, I was looking. Then, a few weeks later the faculty released the 2009-2010 theatre handbook of rules and regulations that govern the theatre department and how it is run. Every student is expected to read through it and sign off that they read it. So I get to reading this book, this handy little handbook. And you know what I find? What's that? You don't know what I found? Well, let me tell you that I found all sorts of fancy, contradicting rules. For instance, "academic excellence" comes first. You are supposed to maintain good grades. Alright. I can do that. What's next? "Your commitment to the theatre department." This means accepting all roles given to you, and fulfilling them according to the description in the handbook. Okay, sounds alright, except where does work come in? Oh, that's right, after those two. Scholarship hours and work study are to be fulfilled AFTER the other two. So, basically, you pay for school after you go. Somehow, I think that if you can't pay for school, they kind of kick you out… Oh, and on top of all this? You're supposed to get enough sleep and stay healthy! HAHAHAHA YEAH RIGHT! WITH WHAT TIME??? For those of you who aren't familiar with the theatre and its workings, rehearsals are at night, and even designers, who don't need to be at rehearsals put in a lot of time and effort into making the show great. For example, the stage manager and assistant stage manager? 4 hours of rehearsal every night except for Sundays. Same with actors. And on top of all that, the SM and ASM are in charge of EVERYTHING. This is a HUGE time commitment, and I personally know many SMs and ASMs who have nearly failed their classes because they've had to be at rehearsal. And this is without work study or scholarship hours. Now, where do those hours factor in at? How can you factor in those hours? When you need at least 12 hours a week to pay for school after working three jobs over the summer, how the hell are you supposed to squeeze that in without hallucinating from sleep deprivation, and still manage to keep up with classes and your production assignment? Okay, so, I was dropping the theatre completely at this point. I met with my advisor, CH, and told him this, very angrily, I might add, because I was furious that I wasn't able to do what I wanted with my life because what I did with my time was dictated by how much my father pays for my education. Well, unlike a lot of your little angelic theatre majors, Daddy doesn't like to pay my tuition, even though he can afford to pay it all, and therefore, I HAVE to have a job to pay my bills. Unfortunately, my job is in the evening hours. That takes up a lot of time. Thanks for understanding, douchebags. When I met with CH to angrily tell him that the theatre department is discriminating against people from low-income families, he convinced me after a long conversation, to take a sabbatical from the theatre department for a semester. This was after my production assignment had been completed, and after I had been laid off. I had also made him aware that because I had been laid off, I couldn't afford to pay for school anymore, and that was stressing me out. He encouraged me to talk to my boss, RS, about it, and see what she could do for me. By the time this was happening, I had maybe two or three weeks left in the semester. When I talked to RS, she was gracious and said that I should have said something sooner. She made a deal with me that she would make me the scene shop supervisor, and raise my pay for Spring 2010 semester. Great. Thanks. I really appreciate it (without sarcasm). Winter break comes and I go home to work at my usual job. Whoohoo. I come back, and resume work in the scene shop. We've been in school for three weeks now (this is the start of the third week) and the theatre faculty have posted the production assignments for the semester. Assuming that I was on sabbatical from the department, I didn't take the time to check it, that is, until a Miss JA greeted me with "Hey! Fellow follow-spot ops!" (meaning I would be operating the spotlight with her for the show). Needless to say, I was very confused and upset because I am supposedly on a leave of absence from the theatre. I marched myself up to the hallway that contains all the offices of the theatre faculty members, and looked for ONE to talk to. None of them were there. I emailed CH, told him I wanted to meet with him. Apparently he emailed me back while I was working, and then ended up running into me when I was working and we had our little meeting that I had requested right then and there. I told him that I thought that I was on a leave of absence from the department, he looked confused and insulted, almost. I told him that my understanding was that to meet the requirements of the minor, I needed to have six productions under my belt. Not necessarily more, and no less. He said he would talk to RS, my super for the shop work, and also for my field of interest in the theatre, lighting design. He talked to RS, and came back to me with this message:

"JMA,

I'll admit that your request earlier today took me a little by surprise. I spoke with RS this evening, at the earliest opportunity, and at some length about your request to be given a "leave of absence" from production responsibilities this semester. We both thought we had done that last semester. We gave you a light load last semester on production, and even gave you a quarter credit for taking on the dance concert lighting assignment.

RS and I are agreed that it is hard to understand or accept your request to be excused a production assignment and yet to expect to continue your work as a shop supervisor. A shop supervisor, by definition, is a partner in setting that code of responsibility and accountability on which the department - the company - runs. The pattern that your request sets for the company is that it becomes acceptable to pick and choose the work you do, the projects you work on and the level to which you participate. Clearly if that became the model of operation we would soon collapse as a viable company. We need all hands to enable us to stage the production of this Kabuki play to the level at which we can all be proud. RS needs someone on the follow-spots who understands the instruments and what they can do. That is why she asked for you for that position. At the same time it also accommodated you need for a relatively light production load.

Furthermore, you should bare in mind that the guidelines of a minimum of six productions for a minor is just that ... a minimum ... It should never be considered the bench mark for the least you can get by with.

If you still feel that you cannot fulfill your assignment as defined, I would suggest you talk to Rachel directly, who is both your work supervisor and the primary faculty member in your designated field of interest - lighting design.

If we need to talk again, I'd be more than happy to meet and chat further.

C."

Okay, given this message, and the information I've just provided you with, please explain to me how it was that they supposedly "gave me a light load last semester," and given me a "leave of absence" that I had requested two weeks before the end of the semester. Can you understand why I'm pissed?

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