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• 1 2022-04-26T23:41:17-04:00 Ellie Grueskin - Blueprint for Action 75 plain 2022-05-15T03:14:24-04:00

  Background:

  Kirkland Drama Society offers a rare low-commitment, accessible, and experiential space for dramatic writing and acting on campus. Most members come in with little to no drama experience and are granted the opportunity to customize their involvement with the show. KDS's leadership also operates very differently from other dramatic productions on campus.
  
  
  Unlike the traditional triumvirate structure where there is a director, producer, and stage manager, KDS's leadership is comprised of two Co-Directors and two house tutors (displayed by a diagram on the right). While this tight leadership structure contributes to the casualness of the production, it also requires strenuous commitment for the leaders. Below is the timeline of responsibilities for the leaders from the Spring 2022 show:
  
  

  Research Question:

  Methods:

  Data:

  Survey Quantitative Data:

  • Response rate was 74% (17 out of 23 responded).
    • Sample includes 15 actors, 1 writer, and 1 writer/actor.
  • Mean score for communication rating from leaders was 4.58 (4=very satisfactory, 5=outstanding)
  • 53% of sample did not participate in spring, all of which cited the specific show's timing, busy semester schedule, or not being enrolled as the reason.
  • 88% (15) said they thought KDS had the right number of leaders, 12% (2) said there should be more, indicating interest in a stage manager position.
  • 2 respondents advised for a clearer rehearsal schedule
  • All respondents said it fulfilled their goals, which are described below, or reasons for joining KDS in the fall.

  Survey Qualitative Data: Selected Quotes from Open Feedback Sections

  "KDS is one of those things that only works because everyone agrees on basically what they want to do. Leadership is more about communicating logistics than keeping unruly people in line, which, for a house drama society, is as it should be. That feeling of controlled anarchy, where anyone can pitch a joke or ask for a prop, is what makes KDS feel so organic and fun, and having a big leadership structure would work against that in my opinion."

  "I met so many cool Kirklanders through KDS. It made the house feel like a home, which was especially meaningful to me because we were coming back from a virtual school year."

  "Knowing which scenes would be rehearsed on each day would be helpful, although understandably difficult with such fluctuating schedules"

  "This is a feat, and probably a very interesting one to study -- opening up and fostering a community for just a few days in a way that is both led by passionate directors while also allowing for some level of improvisation and creativity on the part of the participants. A really special and exceptional experience!"

  Key Findings from Expert Interviews with KDS Leaders:

  
  For my expert interviews with KDS leaders, I interviewed Andrea Zhang (Co-Director '20-22), Matthew Holloway and Nathan Sharpe (Co-Directors '18-20), Wilson Qin (President '14-16, Tutor '19-22), and Katilau Mbindyo (Tutor '21-22).  My main takeaways were:
  • Directors have very positive memories of leadership, but also acknowledge that it takes a significant toll of about 4-5 hours/week in the 6 weeks leading up to the play and 25-30 hours/week the week of the play.
  • There have been various structures for leaders (and their appointments) over time. All of the interviewees were open to expanding the leadership structure, but one was nervous about the toll of communication across more people, particularly in our crunched time period. 
  • Tutors believe that KDS should be student-run, meaning that decisions should be made by the student leaders, regardless of whether the tutors always agree. The tutors see themselves in more of a supporting role, making sure the play goes on.
  • One of the hardest parts of KDS is that there are such limited resources (time, closet space, etc) and defining expectations can be very variable. Over time, challenges in KDS have often arisen from directors expecting too much out of the actors, tech crew, writing room, physical resources, and more.
  • As such, tutors have set forth these recommendations: doing an audit of resources at the beginning of the semester and running a fall meeting to set expectations
  • There is currently no explicit mission statement written down. However, KDS's old website, which has not been updated since around 2017,  says that "The Kirkland Drama Society exists to support all kinds of dramatic art in the house." The leaders believe that the evolving mission statement comes through in our actions.
   

  “[KDS was the] best activity I’ve undertaken in college by far, [based off the] pure amount of enjoyment personally,  community I’ve seen built, and what I’ve personally learned from it.” -Andrea Zhang

  “We came in with a script and a loose idea of what we wanted a scene to look like. Beyond that, we wanted the actors to take charge… Do what they thought as fun and have them buy into it instead of having us directly telling them every micromovement.” - Nathan Sharpe

  “It’s important that there’s the possibility of failure. That's what makes the show an exciting and interesting experience to participate in" - Wilson Qin

  "The important thing is to every year think about what resources do we have now... not what resources did we use to have... And, how can we use those resources?"- Katilau Mbindyo

  
   

  Key Findings From Expert Interviews with Other Undergraduate Drama Organization Leadership:

  For my expert interviews with leaders in other collegiate drama organizations, I interviewed Director Sonia Kangaju of The Cabot Theater Group, President Lyndsey Mugford of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals, President Ian Chan of the Harvard Radcliffe Dramatic Collective, and President Sam President and Producer Casey Tonnies of the Yale Dramat. I learned that:
  • Each of these theater organizations runs their productions with a minimum of a director and stage director.
    • All but Cabot Theater Group require a triumvirate structure, which adds on a Producer role. Many have multiple more directors for lighting, tech, props, etc.
    • While the large leadership structure can at times makes communication "a game of when2meet" for Hasty Pudding, the prescribed leadership roles in the Constitution give useful clarity in moments of disagreement.
  • In the Cabot Theater Group, the only other house-based drama organization, their stage manager collects the cast's schedules weekly and works with the rest of the creative team to determine the scheduling of the individual scenes.
  • There is a mixture of appointment and election-based processes for determining leadership within plays. Leaders of organizations see pros and cons to the various approaches.
    • For the Cabot Theater Group, members interested in leadership roles meet in the fall to discuss which roles they're interested in. Typically, there is not much overlap amongst interest, so they are able to build the team fairly quickly.
  
  

  “The Cabot Musical is a learning experience for all involved. [We think about] what is the best way to learn, teach music given that people are coming from all different backgrounds?” -Sonia Kangaju

  "What’s really interesting about HPT leadership is that it is simultaneously something that is very steeped in tradition (…), [and] because people are cycling through so quickly, it is very dynamic (...) Yes it is something we are inheriting, but it also belongs to the people in the organization at any given moment." -Lyndsey Mugford

  
  The full set of data from my expert interviews can be found here or at the bottom of the page.

  Recommendations:

  1. Add a Stage Manager position if there is interest within KDS

  • The stage manager would be responsible for organizing rehearsal schedules, coordinating lighting and tech cues with tech crew, and ordering props and costumes. Their role in the organizational structure is shown in the diagram on the right.
  • 2 survey members indicated that they would like to have a clearer schedule of when scenes will be rehearsed. Typically, this is the role of a stage manager. Additionally, 2 members indicated that they would be interested in KDS adding a stage manager role.
  • All undergraduate productions surveyed (Cabot Musical, HPT, Yale Dramat) have a stage manager. In my time as a KDS leader, I found it challenging to balance roles as head writer and director along with managing stage logistics. 
  • Could serve as a nice "transition" role for Kirklanders who are interested in becoming directors the following year as juniors/seniors.

  2. Move to a self-nomination system for leadership roles

  • The current appointment process may be excluding potential wonderful leaders and/or make certain members feel less valued.
  • At the beginning of the leaders' final semester, they should send an email to all former KDS actors and/or writers asking to fill out a form if they are interested in a leadership position. Members could indicate whether they would be interested in co-leading with anyone member.
  • Current leaders are encouraged to reach out to members whom they believe would excel at the position.
  • In the case that there are more people interested in the leadership position(s) than available, I would recommend that the present leadership team asks prospective leaders to send in a statement of interest and then deliberate. This could work similarly to Cabot's Musical.

  3. Create a split of responsibilities at the beginning of the semester

  • Given that the leadership positions are loosely defined, I found it useful to delineate responsibilities across leaders. This helped improve communication between leaders and to our actors, writers, and tech teams.
  • Specifically, if there are two directors, it can be nice to have one that is more focused on writing and another more focused on acting (like Matthew and Nathan). However, this dichotomy is not necessary; rather, it is most important to have a clear understanding of which responsibilities each leader feels excited and comfortable pursuing.
  • Particularly if one chooses to expand the leadership structure, being clear with specific tasks can make communication much more fluid, as the President from Hasty Pudding suggested.

  4. Run an Interest Meeting and Audit before each show

  • It can be difficult to assess the size of the cast, tech crew, and overall team at the beginning of the semester. On the other side, members may be unclear about expectations going into the semester. I would recommend hosting an interest meeting to get a sense of the resources at KDS's disposal and write the play with those expectations in mind.
  • Tutors recommended this based on experience in past KDS shows and other undergraduate theater productions.
  • Cabot Musical, among other theater organizations, does a few fall meetings before their spring show to better assess whether they need outside help for tech crew, publicity, and other tasks.
  • The interest meeting would allow leaders to develop and communicate their mission statement at the beginning of the semester. I believe that a fixed mission statement for KDS may not be the right approach because it is so dynamic and shaped by the current members.
   

  Conclusion/Statement of Positionality:

  Coming into this project, I had just completed my tenure as KDS Co-Director. I was overwhelmed with pride and joy from the various productions, but also felt a cloud of exhaustion from the responsibilities of leadership. I was interested in exploring whether or not more leadership positions would reduce the burden on future directors. Through this careful research project, I have come up with a set of recommendations that I think will help KDS continue to fulfill its goals while making the leadership positions less strenuous. As opposed to expanding to a more traditional triumvirate structure, I took the data that many members within KDS were happy with the existent size of the leadership structure, and opted towards just recommending the adoption of a stage manager.
  
  I have attached my official deliverable here, which is a guide for future KDS leaders. It is very similar to this page, including a clear description of directors' roles, a timeline to visualize the trajectory of the show, a set of recommendations for future shows, an archive of past emails, and a template of a scene-by-scene guide.
  
  It is worth noting that my own positionality as a Co-Director may influence the objectivity of the study. While the surveys responses were collected  anonymously, members might have been nervous to voice complaints knowing that I was reading them.