One theme I’m seeing in these posts is whether or not you are forced to do it all on your own. The “Muggles” don’t understand (and they can’t if they’ve had no experience) that a theatre is not just like a classroom, and if someone asks to use your “classroom” it’s not that easy of a request. If your high school is like many high schools these days, your theatre has become a “roadhouse” hosting a variety of events, and if that’s the case, I strongly recommend educating the district administration and teaching them it’s time to get a Theatre Manager and technical staff, which will leave you free to do the job you were hired to do – which is teaching, not management, and not providing technical support for other events. It’s also a liability issue for the district not to provide proper supervision for events in the theatre, or alternately, as sometimes happens, allowing people to use the theatre with no supervision. Do you have a stadium? Does it have a Stadium Manager and grounds staff? Or does a PE teacher mange the schedule and set up for all games and competitions and clean up after everyone else afterwards? Here’s a little blurb from my book that addresses this very issue that you can share with your administration, and it just shows-to-go-ya that you simply cannot do it all. No wonder you are burned out if you aren’t given the support to do your job and are also having to provide support for others.
“Like sports teachers who are not usually also proficient in sports medicine, for example, most performing arts teachers are not proficient in technical theatre. In fact, the Department of Labor and Industries requires that all instructors in a career and technical education subject be vocationally certified. (More about this in the Safety chapter.) Performing arts teachers have likely taken college classes in technical theatre in order to fulfill graduation requirements for their degrees, but they are not professionally trained or certificated in vocational technical theatre or theatre management and they are usually nowhere near highly qualified in correctly and safely operating the equipment in a theatre.
“Nor are teachers usually paper-pushing people – particularly the creative types. Managing a theatre and all the events that come into it – school events and outside events – requires a surprising amount of desk work; scheduling the theatre, scheduling the staff required for each event, re-scheduling everything every time a change is made, filing, maintaining documents, create forms, file administrative reports, processing user applications, budget tracking, processing timesheets, ordering equipment and parts, writing work orders for maintenance and repairs, and e-mails, e-mails, e-mails. If you are a performing arts teacher, or if you know one, you know that this sort of extensive paperwork is not a performing arts teacher’s strong suit.
“Nor do overworked performing arts teachers, who also work evening and weekend rehearsals, performances, manage procurements, meetings with parents, and other preparations, have sufficient time to completely oversee all the technical aspects needed for their own performances let alone potentially dozens of others throughout the school year. Some performances such as orchestra or band need very little tech (lights on and off, one hand held mic perhaps), however most performances, such as plays, musicals, jazz concerts, a talent or variety show, a dance recital, etc. need more tech support than is apparent from the end result that the audience sees. But all need scheduling and planning.
“In addition, a Drama teacher with little tech knowledge working on a show is very rarely paid an actual salary for their time. Usually they have a stipend of around a couple of thousand dollars for what can be hundreds of hours of work throughout the school year. This is very unfair when you consider that any technicians working the show are being paid hourly, and any Career and Technical Education teachers who have students build sets during the school day are salaried.
“Supervision is another issue. During an event (from variety shows to full length plays to concerts) there can simultaneously be students in the booth, students in the house, students on stage, students in the galleries, students in the catwalks, students back stage right, students back stage left, students in the scene shop, students in the back (storage) hallway, students in the costume shop, students in the dressing rooms, students in the classroom and students in the lobby. For a straight play the average amount of cast and crew is 25 students, for a musical the average amount of cast and crew is 55 students, for a choir or band there are 30 to 40 (to 60 in some schools), and larger numbers can certainly apply to variety shows. Officially one teacher is not allowed to have more than about 30 (depending on your state) students sitting in seats in a contained classroom. How is it that one person (even one who has volunteers – usually unskilled) can be allowed to supervise several rooms with over 30 students, where physical and hazardous activities are taking place?
“Stagecraft Industries had this to say: “For one person to be able to be every where all the time is not feasible. This is how soda’s get spilled into control boards, circuits get overloaded, cooling fans get blocked, fire doors tied open, cables get strewn in pathways and a long list of horrors that we’ve both seen. I might compare this to the school’s football coach: can they do the practices and games all by themselves without any assistant coaches? Usually not, it’s too much to cover all the various disciplines of football- same as inside a theater. Can users or volunteers be trained, you-bet, but they still need to be monitored since they are ‘apprentices’ most of the time, lacking formal training and documents to prove it.” “
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Beth Rand
High School Theatre Manager and HS Theatre Operations Coach
PRESETT, a service of RCDTheatreOps
www.PRESETT.orgwww.RCDTheatreOps.comWoodinville, WA
Original Message:
Sent: 11-02-2016 07:57
From: Martha Louden
Subject: Theatre teacher longevity, burnout and general career wellness
I left teaching this past June, after 26 years in the classroom. I taught theatre full-time for the last 8 years, running a one person theatre program. I made the decision to leave after having some minor health issues that, while not serious, caused me to re-assess my life. I was doing ALL the work of teaching Theatre I-IV, Acting I-IV, and Stagecraft and producing a musical and a competition one-act. I tried mounting more shows during the year, and a couple of years I could get another one in. Between the difficulty of scheduling rehearsals and shows in a space shared with dance, vocal music, and band, and doing all the work myself, I was burning out. I was beginning to dread directing shows. My administration was supportive to an extent, but the other faculty was no help.
My colleague at the other high school in my county took his own life at the end of the school year. I don't know what drove him to make this choice, and I know this is extreme, but it did make me realize that I needed to get out and pursue some other things I love, still in theatre, and enjoy my life. My husband, who also does theatre, and I have always said that when it's no longer fun, it's time to stop. My teaching life was no longer fun. While I miss the few really inspiring students, I don't miss the rest. I admire the teachers I know who are still loving it after many years, and doing great things. I wasn't one of those.
My advice would be to seek support wherever possible. Get other faculty involved, if you can. Get parents involved. I was not able to do either, though not for lack of trying. Get other people in the community involved, if the resources are there. For five years I had a friend who came in to be musical director and lead the pit band for my musicals and he was awesome. Get as much professional development as you can to get fresh ideas and outlooks - this is where going to the International Thespian Festival or the annual EdTA Conference is vital.
Thanks for letting me share my story.
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Martha Louden
West Virginia Chapter Director
Shepherdstown WV
Original Message:
Sent: 11-01-2016 10:00
From: Russell Saxton
Subject: Theatre teacher longevity, burnout and general career wellness
I spoke with Jim Palmarini (EdTA Home Office) this morning regarding average theatre teacher longevity, burnout and general career wellness. He suggested I make a post on the Forum about this topic. Anyone out there know what the average career longevity is for a theatre teacher (documentation or an article would be helpful)? According to a study by Richard Ingersoll, Why Do Teachers Quit?, 40 % of all teachers leave the teaching profession within the first 5 years. It would be interesting to research what the percent is for theatre teachers. A theatre teacher, I believe, is the hardest working and most overworked teacher in your building. Do you agreee?
Do you have suggestions or advice to battle theatre teacher balance, overwork, time management and general career wellness?
Thank you for your response and assistance.
Have a great day!
Warm Regards,
Russ
Russ Saxton Dixie State University
225 South 700 East
Saint George, UT 84770
cell 435-632-9241