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EMERSON COLLEGE HONORS PROGRAM IMPOSSIBLE HEROES: THE DISAPPEARING VOICE OF THE YOUNG AMERICAN DIRECTOR An Honors Thesis/Project submitted by Srda Vasiljevic to the Honors Program of Emerson College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Theatre Studies, B.A. in the School of Performing Arts Emerson College Boston, Massachusetts Fall, 2013
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  • EMERSON COLLEGEHONORS PROGRAM

    IMPOSSIBLE HEROES: THE DISAPPEARING VOICE OF THE YOUNG AMERICAN DIRECTOR

    An Honors Thesis/Project

    submitted by

    Srda Vasiljevic

    to the Honors Program of Emerson College

    in partial fulfillment of the requirements forthe degree of

    Theatre Studies, B.A.

    in

    the School of Performing Arts

    Emerson CollegeBoston, Massachusetts

    Fall, 2013

  • Abstract

    IMPOSSIBLE HEROES:THE DISAPPEARING VOICE OF THE YOUNG AMERICAN DIRECTOR

    by

    Srda Vasiljevic

    Emerson CollegeFall, 2013

    Advisor: Yasser Munif

    This thesis provides an examination of the stifling ofyoung directorial voices in the American commercial theatreindustry. Through an analysis of the socioeconomic statusof millennials in America, a growing need for MFA degreesto land higher-level artistic positions, and lack of youth

    representation on Broadway stages, a bleak picture ispainted of the current state of being for commercial

    theatre directors in their twenties. By joining MichelFoucault's theories of discipline and Georges Bataille's

    notion of heterology with critical scrutiny by leadingAmerican theatrical practitioners, a theoretical and

    practical lens is placed on the problem in questionwhat isleading to the disappearing voice of young American theatre

    directors?

  • 4Buried in a heated dialogue about the changing face of

    Islamic identity, playwright Ayad Akhtar subtly weaves a

    glaring artistic manifesto into his 2013 Pulitzer Prize

    winning drama, Disgraced.

    The title... Well, first let me sayit's been generations and generations of consumerism and cynicism...And an art market that just feeds the frenzy. But something's shifting. There's a movement of young artists who are not buying into it anymore. They're asking the questionhow to make art sacred again. It's an impossibly heroic task they've set for themselves. Which is why I'm calling it...Impossible Heroes. (Akhtar 74)

    The award-winning play, which made its move from Chicago's

    American Theater Company to New York City's Lincoln Center,

    is currently being considered for a run in the Broadway's

    2013-14 season (Gans). Garnering national publicity for the

    sheer power of the text and performances, Disgraced has

    been lauded for its undeniable veracity, and The Hollywood

    Reporter praised Akhtar, stating that the playwright

    staked a claim as one of the boldest voices to appear on

    the playwriting scene in recent years (Rooney, David

    Rooney on the Record Year in New York Theater). With

    accolades rolling in commending Akhtar for his playwriting

    prowess, it seems unimaginable that a writer of his skill

    level would include a direct nod to America's unstable

    artistic climate for little reason. Rather, Akhtar

    clandestinely drops pointed reference to a state of

    revolution occurring deep within the arts community moments

    before arguably one of the most vicious dialogue debates in

    modern American theater. Although in the play, this

  • 5anecdote is shared by Isaac, a Jewish art gallery curator,

    about the nature of the visual arts market, it

    intrinsically punctures an artistic vein deeper than that.

    Issac's mini-monologue dispenses a much needed

    verbalization of a unspoken trend within the universal arts

    industry, specifically in the commercial realm of American

    performing arts, and more specifically on Broadway. The

    trend is one of young artists being disenfranchised by

    generations of capitalism, pessimism, and stunted economic

    growth. More directly, young artists, such as theatre

    directors, whose positions top a traditional hierarchy, are

    at an even greater disadvantage as they are attempting to

    enter elevated positions while simultaneously being

    handicapped by their age and a growing acrimony in their

    fields. Therefore, Akhtar's assertion holds incredible

    weight for young theatre directors. With generations and

    generations of consumerism and cynicism and an unsettling

    trend of ageism, young American theatre directors are truly

    fighting an impossible battle. With the current state of

    the commercial theatre industry, it seems unimaginable that

    a young director would be hired to helm a Broadway

    production. Because of this, the voice of young American

    theatre director is slowly being siphoned from our American

    theatrical vernacular. Young American theatre directors are

    fighting what seems to be an unwinnable war against

    unchangeable provisions. Nonetheless, the question remains,

    can young directors take the stage and reconfigure a

  • 6widening age disparity within the field? Is it possible for

    a new generation of young theatrical directors to become

    impossible heroes?

    Although this daunting trend can be seen specifically

    plaguing the arts workforce, it is not endemic to the

    theater. Unfortunately, a growing trend within American

    economics places young workers at an extreme disadvantage

    within the American labor pool. According to the Bureau of

    Labor Statistics as of September 24, 2013, 16.3% of

    millennials, or people in the age range of 18 to 30, were

    unemployed (Donegan). Similarly, a new study by the

    National Conference on Citizenship, The Center for

    Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement

    at Tufts Universitys Tisch College of Citizenship and

    Public Service, Harvard Universitys Institute of Politics,

    and Mobilize.org found that only 62.9% of millennials are

    currently working, and 31.2% of those are working in part-

    time jobs (Levine et al). These numbers paint the discouraging picture that nearly four out of ten

    millennials are out of work in America. Even more

    disquieting is the fact that once millennials are hired, we

    are earning less in the same positions than our parents

    were twenty to thirty years prior. The Progressive Policy

    Instituted reported in 2012 that the earnings for college

    graduates have declined by roughly 15% or $10,000 since

    2000 (Thompson). These statistics account for a bleak

    outlook for the employment future of our generation.

  • 7However, there is one statistic on the rise for

    millennials: stress. Between 1983 and 2009, stress levels

    have shot up 18% for women and 24% for men, researchers at

    Carnegie Mellon reported in 2012 (Henderson), and if this

    crippling stress does not define the conditions to which

    millennials are living in, the American Psychological

    Association reported in 2012 that 52% of millennials

    suffered uncontrollable anxiety and stress which kept them

    from sleeping at night. These combined statistics make

    millennials the most stressed-out generation in recent

    history (Dahl). The millennial has been forcibly handed a

    pandora's box filled to the brim with cultural and economic

    calamities which we've been entrusted to solve, and if we

    don't rectify the troubles we've inherited, the collapse of

    America's teetering fiscal tower falls directly back onto

    our generation.

    The job climate is slowly dipping to nearly frigid temperatures for millennials. Entering the hiring market as

    an underpaid, overstressed, and unemployed job prospects we seek relief in the hope that the generations before us will

    understand the insurmountable burdens that we've been

    tasked with. Unfortunately, for many young job seekers this is the opposite of what they are experiencing. Multitudes

    of young people are helplessly fighting an invisible battle

    against ageism in the hiring process. Ageism in America

    gained national notoriety in the early 2000's when many

    older Americans reported an increase in ageism, defined as

  • 8stereotyping, prejudice, or discrimination based on an individuals age, within the workplace. Since the early

    2000's, thousands of lawsuits have been filed and won

    against employers and corporations who have been alleged to

    treat job prospects and employees differently due to their age. In fact, in 2012, 54 year old office-coordinator,

    Debra Moreno, won a $193,236 lawsuit against her employer

    who reportedly told Moreno she sounded 'old on the phone'

    and looked 'like a bag of bones' (Fastenberg). Many

    websites and associations have been launched to provide a

    support group for seniors experiencing ageism. One of these

    associations, the Assisted Living Federation of America

    (ALFA), lists on their website a description of ageism and

    some tips to battle it. ALFA states, [Ageism and] societal

    norms marginalize seniors, treat them with disrespect, make

    them feel unwelcome and otherwise generalize as if they

    were all the same (AFLA.org). Although ageism has come to

    be understood by many as a discrimination against the

    elderly, in truth, ageism is a discrimination of any age

    group, including youth. The inclusion of youth as a

    potentially discriminated party in ageism is often

    forgotten in a national dialogue about age discrimination.

    Even the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission,

    which provides legal and governmental aid to battle age

    discrimination, holds that The Age Discrimination in

    Employment Act (ADEA) only forbids age discrimination

    against people who are age 40 or older. It does not protect

  • 9workers under the age of 40 (United States Equal

    Employment Opportunity Association). Reverse ageism has

    become more pervasive than previously expected with jobs scare, and it seems a growing trend of youth discrimination

    has taken a clammy grasp on the American job market. In 2010, Lee Hecht Harrison, a career placement

    agency, conducted a study which found that 70% of older

    employees were dismissive of younger workers abilities

    (ASAE). As a response to this study, Chip Espinoza, co-

    author of the book Managing Millennials: Discover the Core

    for Managing Today's Workforce, polled university juniors and seniors working more than 20 hours a week to understand

    their thoughts on reverse ageism. 64% of the students

    reported that they felt that they were treated differently

    at work because of their age. The students went on to

    state that they felt as though they were talked down to,

    underestimated, treated as if they were mentally

    handicapped, given fewer projects, and called names such as kiddo, tiger, etc. Additionally, more than 60% of

    the students polled viewed their age to be the primary

    reason for being denied advancement in their field

    (Espinoza). Similarly, in 2009, a Wall Street Journal

    article argued More young workers are at risk of layoffs

    as employers grow wary of letting older employees go and

    that many young employees in their twenties and thirties

    felt targeted for layoffs in lieu of older employees with

    families to support (Mattoli). With these worrisome trends

  • 10

    of reverse ageism happening within the workforce, being

    hired as a millennial and breaking into that unstable

    workforce is an uphill battle. By simply typing in the

    words are millennials into a Google search browser, it's

    simple to see some of the stereotypes associated with the

    millennial generation as the two most popular searches

    include are millennial lazy and are millennials

    selfish, and following close behind is are millennials

    the screwed generation. In September of 2013, a viral

    video by comedian and YouTuber, Stephen Parkhurst, made its

    way around the internet resonating specifically with

    college-age students and garnering roughly three million

    YouTube views. The video titled Millennials: We Suck and

    We're Sorry poked fun at the stereotypes which have come

    to be associated with our generation. In the video, a young

    woman apologizes for the things millennials have been

    accused of; We're self-centered. We're entitled. We're

    narcissistic, lazy, and immature. The video takes a

    sarcastic spin on the realties of our situation with one

    twenty-something chiming in with We graduated into a

    recession and 90% of the jobs created since 2009 are part-time, but let's be honest, we just don't like hard work (Parkhurst). The comedic take on other generations'

    understanding of millennials provides insight into many of

    the battles we're facing daily in the American workforce.

    Many older employers have come to generalize the millennial

    generation as a generation which doesn't understand hard

  • 11

    work or self-sacrifice. Our eagerness for jobs and work is seen as the expectation that success be handed to us,

    rather than a legitimate desire for furthering our desired

    career path. With unpaid internships becoming widely

    prevalent across all industries, younger workers are also

    being seen as free menial labor rather than accredited

    employees. A study by the National Association of Colleges

    and Employers reported that 50% of college grads in 2008

    had held an internship, compared with 17% in 1992....Today,

    an estimated one-third to one-half of the 1.5 million

    internships in the U.S. are unpaid (Sanburn). Although in

    recent months, multiple lawsuits have been filed and won

    against large corporations who have unfairly treated unpaid

    interns as modern slave labor, the trend towards

    internships taking the place of entry-level jobs does not seem to be changing. With pessimistic attitudes about the

    work ethic of millennials, young workers feel that there's

    no option other than to take on unpaid work. Author of the

    book Intern Nation, Ross Perlin, explains

    [College Graduates] are feeling they have no choice but to take on unpaid internships. Its something thatyou have to do three, four, five times potentially to break into an industry or to get any kind of paying work. It may even be something you do in your 30s or 40s. (Sanburn)

    As illustrated, internships are providing some of the only

    means for employment for young workers, and through this

    trend, entry level jobs are being filled by either older applicants or older interns who have gone through multiple

    years of an internship program. Along these lines, it can

  • 12

    be argued that America's workforce, as a whole, is aging.

    According to a report from the Georgetown University Center

    on Education and the Workforce which analyzed over three

    decades (1980-2012) of census data, researchers have found

    that on average, young workers are now 30 years old when

    they first earn a median-wage income of about $42,000, a

    marker of financial independence, up from 26 years old in

    1980 (Porter) meaning that the American workforce has

    aged, on average, four years since 1980. No longer are

    young professionals holding entry-level positions, but

    rather, mid-career professionals are gunning for those same

    jobs, leading to a nationwide widening age disparity.Although millennials are the most unemployed

    generation in over four decades, we were also named the

    most educated generation in American history. According to

    the Pew research center, over 40% of millennials in 2008

    were in college, more than any other previous generation

    (Jayson). With jobs becoming more and more scarce, higher education continues to provide a more secure avenue towards

    employment. For many students, however, a Bachelor's degree

    isn't enough to place them in their desired job positions. In the field of theatre direction, a Master's of Fine Arts

    degree has become an almost necessary educational component

    for a young director to be hired. Prior to 1960, however,

    MFA programs in Theatre Direction were rare to come by, but

    since that time graduate theater direction programs have

    grown exponentially. In just the past ten years, the number

  • 13

    of graduate programs has increased from roughly thirty

    programs to forty-six as of November 2012 ("Comprehensive

    Listing of MFA Programs in Directing). In a 2002

    interview, theater director, Hal Scott, stated, There was

    a time when you could work your way up through the

    ranks...I find students often apply to our graduate program

    because theyve reached a plateau on their own and found

    they couldnt get any further without credentials (Scott).

    Many young directors are being forced into graduate

    directing programs as a way to find paying jobs which can utilize their theatrical skills. In the same interview,

    director Jon Jory added, I think its pretty hard now for

    anyone to take a chance on a 21-year-old who hasnt had

    much experience. In that age gap, one of the only ways not

    to be spending most of your time waiting tables is to

    attend a graduate program (Jory). In addition to providing

    a great amount of formal training, graduate programs have

    also become a necessary step in order to survive in the

    industry, but do these higher education programs limit the

    artistic imagination?

    By looking to Michel Foucault's Discipline and Punish,

    and more specifically his concept of docile bodies as a

    central theoretical framework for analyzing how young

    director's imaginations are being disciplined in a way to

    increase docility, we can begin to hypothesize if these

    higher education programs do more than just educate, and rather, limit the expanses of the creative imagination, and

  • 14

    thus create a very specific workforce of stagnation and

    obedience. As described by Foucault a body is docile that

    may be subjected, used, transformed and improved (136). Although Foucault describes the docile body in terms of a

    soldier being prepped for war, there is an incredible

    amount of connections that can be made about Foucault's

    theory of docility which can be translated directly to the

    docility and discipline of the young artist's imagination.

    As Foucault states, The aim is to derive the maximum

    advantages and to neutralize the inconveniences (thefts,

    interruptions of work, disturbances, and 'cabals'), as the

    forces of production become more concentrated; to protect

    materials and tools to master the labour force (142). As

    the commercial theatre industry continues to push forward,

    we are requiring young directors to hold years of expertise

    and highly specialized degrees in order to neutralize the

    inconveniences; if a young director is sufficiently

    trained and educated, it means that there is lower

    possibility of failure, which in turn, means more profits

    in the pockets of the producers hiring said director.

    However, by continuing to discipline young directors by

    requiring more rigorous training and higher-education

    programs, the unstructured and essential youth drive is

    lost. We become more focused on the skills and methods by

    which we create work, rather than furthering the field by

    breaking rules and attempting new and unconventional

    methods of creating work. By holding ourselves to this very

  • 15

    specific standard, we discipline the young director's

    imagination to the point of no return.By rearing young

    directors to wean out any disruptions to this norm we are

    creating a workforce which can create maximum advantages

    economically, but in turn these disciplined artists have

    become more concentrated and less innovative. Thus, by

    providing the American commercial theatre industry with

    trained, disciplined, docile bodied theater directors, we

    have mitigated failure in economic and financial terms but

    have not accounted for the side effects that has on the

    orginative drives of gifted young directors. In addition,

    our docility or our lack of imagination has limited what

    economic success might look like; rather than seeking

    innovation, we seek safety. Although works by disciplined

    and highly trained directors come coupled with a certain

    amount of expertise, or in Foucauldian's terms

    discipline, does this discipline outweigh the advantages

    of creating youth-driven exploratory and revolutionary

    theater?

    Foucault goes on to describe the docile body as The

    body, required to be docile in its minutest operations,

    opposes and shows the conditions of functioning proper to

    an organism. Disciplinary power has as its correlative an

    individuality that is not only analytical and 'cellular,'

    but also natural and 'organic (156). The docility required

    of theater has become a cellular part of our being. We have

    found that in order to be successful artists in our fields,

  • 16

    we must follow the disciplined steps that are required in

    order to have our voices heard. However, by following these

    steps, we are innately silencing our unique voices as we

    are forced to follow in line with those before us, and

    through this the young director's voice is seemingly lost.

    It can be argued that pure voice of a young director cannot

    be disciplined or forced to follow in line with a docility,

    because at the point that docility is required the

    imagination becomes disciplined and structured, and the

    unique and critical voice that can be brought into the

    conversation by a young director becomes overshadowed by

    the need for docility. It is in essence, a catch 22, in

    order for a youthful voice to be innately young and new, it

    cannot be disciplined by a hierarchical need for highly

    specialized training and education. However, in this day in

    age with jobs scarce and a plummeting economy befalling the millennial generation, in order for the young artist to be

    represented on a Broadway stage, it is seemingly impossible

    for a young voice to be heard without extensive training or

    higher-education programs, so we're caught in a battle

    between docility and raw talent. This conflict has

    presented itself in a variety of ways, and has led to an

    aged aesthetic in the American commercial theater in which

    the voices of young millennial directors are not

    represented on the American stage. This discipline of the

    creative imagination lessens the diversity of work and new

    voices being presented to the American public, and thus,

  • 17

    the status-quo remains constant, and theatre fails to

    cultivate a younger audience. Foucault argues that this

    docility promotes a healthier, machine-like economy.

    However, in the creative field of theatrical direction,

    these calculated, machine-like, disciplinary measures are

    stripping the young director of a unique voice, and thus

    leading to the disappearance of the voice of the young

    director in the American commercial theater.

    Polly Carl, a leading theatrical practitioner and the

    director and editor of the crowd-sourced online theatre

    journal, HowlRound, recently wrote an online essay relating Foucault's docility theories to her own personal questions

    of the roles and responsibilities of American theatre-

    makers. In Docile Bodies: Disciplining the Imagination,

    Carl initiates her exploration, by arguing that prolific

    playwright, August Wilson, who in 1980 received a Jerome

    Fellowship from The Playwright's Center, would be unlikely

    to receive the same fellowship today. She insists that Mr.

    Wilson's unorthodox educational path (leaving school at age

    15 and focusing on poetry rather than playwriting) would

    not serve as an adequate amount of discipline in order to

    gain entry into the selective ranks of successful and

    traditionally disciplined playwrights. Carl continues on to

    pose the question of whether disciplining our creative

    imagination somehow counterbalances the essential why

    behind the work being created. Is the discipline we're

    expected to conform to restricting theater artists from

  • 18

    asking too many questions about the why of your

    profession and becoming myopic in the details of your

    knowing? Carl's argument tears into the current fabric of

    American theater making which values specialized, highly-

    educated theater artists who are skilled in very specific

    career paths, and as Carl investigates,Do our stories on

    stage and the disciplines for producing them limit the

    possibilities of what we might become? (Carl). In an

    article I wrote for Carl's online journal, I examine the trend in higher-education programs to focus on highly-

    specialized degrees, rather than allowing for a more

    comprehensive and fluid understanding of the art form. As

    a central argument, I address the necessity for

    kaleidoscopic theatre training programs which allow for

    artists to explore the spectrum of disciplines and creation

    methods available stating, We need programs and

    educational institutions that foster a students ability to

    create in this experimental fashion and giving students

    flexibility to explore so that they can develop their own

    varied approaches to creating new work (Vasiljevic, BA in Professional Make Believe). By championing programs which

    target the creation impulse, rather than defining the

    creation method, American theater can be pushed towards

    radical limits of exploration and creation not currently

    understood the argot of American theater.

    The cultural and aesthetic ramifications of this

    widening age gap and rampant disciplining of artistic drive

  • 19

    are slowly becoming more apparent. Not only are young

    artists being left by the wayside due to slouching economic

    trends, discipline of the creative imagination, and reverse

    age discrimination, but because of this, our artistic

    capitol is being drained of an integral youth voice.

    Throughout history, we've seen artistic and cultural

    movements which advocate for a much-needed representation

    of minority groups in artistic environments. There is a

    fundamental need for women's voices to be heard in music,

    there is an undeniable obligation for gay men and lesbians

    to be represented on national television, and there is

    critical right for African American stories to be seen

    onstage. With any minority group, there is a cultural and

    intrinsic need for an artistic voice to be heard in order

    for it to be representative of the culture as a whole, and

    in this context, we can come to view the millennial

    generation as an underrepresented minority in American

    arts. In order to paint a definite and accurate picture of

    our slice of American history, we need voices who can speak

    from experience, voices who can further the conversation,

    and voices who can add new dialogues to our cultural

    vernacular. However, with more and more young artists being

    disenfranchised by poor employment rates, we are seeing a

    critical loss of specific youth-driven works in the

    American arts industry. As a result of this lost generation

    of artists, older and more established artists have taken

    it upon themselves to represent the millennial generation

  • 20

    through writing or creating material they find to be

    pertinent to that age group. Despite their best intentions

    however, it is an impractical task to replicate the needs,

    emotions, and culture of a generation without living

    directly within that generation. For example, in 2008 a new

    Broadway musical titled 13 which chronicled the lives of 13

    year olds was directed by 51 year old director, Jeremy

    Sans. The show failed to cultivate or resonate with its

    intended audience and closed after less than three months

    on Broadway. In the same way a 21 year old wouldn't be able

    to tell the story of what it means to be a baby boomer, it

    is counterintuitive for an older and more seasoned artist

    to attempt to reflect the aesthetic and cultural cognition

    of what it means to be a 23 year old in 2013. Through this

    falsified diluting process, we're creating work which

    doesn't resonate as strongly as it could with the

    generation in question, because it is coming from an

    illegitimate source. These pseudo-authentic works are being

    fed to generations in the hopes that they will be the new,

    hot, fresh thing that draws in a youth audience. These

    forged representations, however, fail to speak to an

    ingrained truth and authenticity only found within genuine

    young voices. In an October 2013 Interview with Hunger TV,

    20 year old pop star, Miley Cyrus, opened up about the

    incongruous age dynamic in the entertainment industry. She

    stated,

    With magazines, with movies, its always weird when things are targeted for young people yet theyre

  • 21

    driven by people that are like 40 years too old. It cant be like this 70 year old Jewish man that doesntleave his desk all day, telling me what the clubs wantto hear. Im going out, I know what they want to hear.I know when youre in a club, what makes everyone go crazy and when the time is where everyones like alright Im going go get a drink. I know when peoplewalk off the dance floor and I know whats driving it so Ive got to be the one doing it because theyre just not in on what 20 year olds are doing. (Cyrus)

    The Wrecking Ball singer decided that the driving force

    behind her fans' interest and commitment to her music was

    an authentic youth voice being represented, and apparently,

    Cyrus's devotion to pure youth seemed to have resonated

    with her audiences. Her 2013 album, Bangerz, debuted at

    number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 and had the best-

    selling debut week for a female artist in 2013 (Caulfield).

    Similarly to Cyrus, 27 year-old writer, director, and

    actress, Lena Dunham, has begun to make a splash in

    American pop culture as a result of her HBO series, Girls.

    The hour long comedy-drama series has been hailed by

    critics as the most perceptive and witty voice of her

    generation (Harris). New York Magazine columnist, Emily

    Nussubaum, describes the show as a refreshing dose of

    reality in an age-driven creative market. She describes the

    appeal of the series, stating Girls was a bold defense

    (and a searing critique) of the so-called Millennial

    Generation by a person still in her twenties. The series'

    innate modernity packed a significant punch for audiences

    and critics alike. Nussbaum goes on to expand on this

    thought through the words of her younger colleague, Willa

    Paskin, As [she] put it, the show felt, to her peers,

  • 22

    FUBU: 'for us by us' (Nussubaum). Although, this

    appreciation of youth culture created by youth voices seems

    to be a huge selling point for many producers, artists like

    Dunham and Cyrus are unfortunately representative of the

    incredibly small fraction of young voices currently

    depicted in the American arts industry. By shifting our

    focus to the American commercial theater industry, and more

    specifically Broadway, we can begin to quantify the

    disparaging lack of young voices represented on America's

    largest stages.

    In our traditional rehearsal room hierarchy, which

    nearly all Broadway productions follow, the director is at

    the top of the totem pole, just under the producers who do the hiring for the production. By holding these peak

    positions, theatrical directors are entrusted with many

    seemingly impossible duties. Renowned director and critic,

    Harold Clurman, once wrote in his book On Directing,

    The director must be an organizer, a teacher, a politician, a psychic detective, a lay analyst, a technician, a creative being. Ideally, he should know literature (drama), acting, the psychology of the actor, the visual arts, music, history, and above all,he must understand people. He must inspire confidence.All of which means he must be a 'great lover.' (14)

    With these lofty expectations set, it is obvious that a

    director must be an individual with a profound passion,

    culpability, knowledge, and understanding of theater.

    However, is age a necessary factor in being a great

    director?

  • 23

    In the past fourteen years of Broadway theater, there

    has not been a single director under the age of 30

    represented on a Broadway stage (Internet Broadway

    Database). In fact, the two youngest directors represented

    on Broadway were both 31 at the time of their Broadway

    debut. In 2006, Leigh Silverman took the stage as

    Broadway's youngest director at the age 31. Silverman

    helmed the premiere production of Well, a new play by

    playwright, Lisa Kron. Silverman's direction earned her the

    title of one to watch by the New York Times (McElroy).

    Since Well, Silverman has gone on to direct numerous Off-

    Broadway productions, and two more Broadway productions,

    the latter of which opens at the American Airlines Theatre

    this Spring. Two years later, keeping the trend of 31 year-

    old directors alive, Thomas Kail, made his Broadway debut.

    In 2008, Kail premiered the spanish hip-hop salsa musical,

    In the Heights, and earned a Tony nomination for his

    outstanding direction. Kail started working on the

    production after a seeing a work-in-progress version by

    another undergraduate named Lin-Manuel Miranda. For the

    next seven years, Kail worked tirelessly on the production

    until it finally made it's move to the Richard Rogers

    Theatre in 2008 making him the youngest director working on

    the Great White Way at that time. Kail noted, The

    advantage of being young is that exceptions are very low.

    [When In the Heights became a hit] it was if it had come

    out of nowhere (Mandell).

  • 24

    In addition to Silverman and Kail, two other thirty-

    something directors have made their mark on Broadway in

    recent years. Sam Gold, a young actor-turned director, made

    his first waves on Broadway with his 2012 production of

    Seminar which featured a star-studded cast with the likes

    of Alan Rickman, Lily Rabe, Hamish Linklater, Jerry

    O'Connell and Hettienne Park. Gold's direction was praised

    in the The Hollywood Reporter's review of the production,

    with noted theater critic, David Rooney referring to Gold

    as One of the most in-demand young New York stage

    directors, his knack for finding laughs without pushing for

    them is on fine display here with an ideal cast (Rooney,

    Seminar: Theater Review). Since his Broadway debut, Gold

    has gone on to direct multiple Broadway productions. A 2013

    New York Daily News feature on New York's hottest theatre

    directors, referred to Gold as one of the most promising

    talents on the Broadway roster. The article hailed Gold's

    2013 musical production of Fun Home as one of the best

    productions of 2013. Critic Joe Dziemianowicz went on to

    state that the show came together due to Gold's so-called

    golden touch, and Gold's direction was praised for having

    a so-real-it-hurts intimacy and honesty that characters

    emerge as real people. He has directed a number of plays by

    Annie Baker...During each of these I felt like I was

    overhearing real conversations (Dziemianowicz). Similarly

    to Gold, young director, Alex Timbers has been making a

    huge splash on Broadway in recent years. Timbers made his

  • 25

    way onto the Broadway scene in 2010 with two productions,

    The Pee-wee Herman Show, an adaption of the quirky 19930s

    television series, and Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, a

    self-authored rock musical about historical figure, Andrew

    Jackson, opening within two months of one another. Timbers

    duel Pee-wee/Jackson bill premiered in 2010 when Timbers

    was the ripe age of 32. Now, at age 35, Timbers has three

    Broadway shows already under his belt, a Shakespeare in the

    Park direction credit, a new Broadway musical, based on the

    iconic film Rocky, opening in early 2014, and contract with

    Universal Pictures to direct a new revolutionist film

    adaption of Romeo & Juliet called Rosaline (Kit). Timbers'

    greatest forte has been said to be his singular vision and

    outspoken mission to integrate contemporary popular culture

    elements into the theater (Kamens). Timbers innately

    contemporary voice has proven to be one of his greatest

    assets and has turned him into one of the most on-demand

    directors working on Broadway today. In an interview with

    Slant Magazine, Timbers opened up about his desire to reach

    a different type of theater-goer, and how he's attempting

    to do so by reflecting a younger, more readily accessible

    comedic drive to his work. He related his production of

    Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson to this commitment to the

    contemporary stating,

    I wouldn't be the first person to say that the typicalsound on Broadway is not the sound you hear on the radiothat's a decades-long struggle...There is a certain humor in contemporary pop culture that is justnot reflected at all on the stage. So, if you are an average person who doesn't frequent the theater and

  • 26

    exists in this world of America today, and you go to see a comedy on Broadway, you are like, "This has no relationship to my life." And so while the show is definitely trying to look a little at the clothes and the music that people are more interested in right now, it is also looking at the way people enjoy storytellingin short spurts with different angles, with a dose of comedy as well as some sincerity as well. (Timbers)

    Evidenced by Timbers' critical and audience appeal, his

    approach seems to be working. As Broadway houses attempt to

    mitigate the disparity between average persons and

    aristocratic theater-goers, Timbers has proven to be a star

    child in the sense that his work speaks to both sides of

    the equation without pandering to either. Specifically, his

    work has a huge youth appeal drawing on many contemporary

    themes. Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, painted the historic

    and seemingly dry history-book character of Andrew Jackson

    as a modern day emo rock star. Timbers' 2013 Shakespeare in

    the Park production, Love Labour's Lost, was a musical

    adaption of Shakespeare's classic play set at a college

    reunion in the year 2013. The music for the show was

    contemporary to say the list as it included an extended

    gangster-rap section and full boy-band production number

    which left the audience in tears. With his contemporary

    aesthetic and flair for the weird, Timbers has become

    Broadway's most sought-after young director. With young

    powerhouse directors such as Silverman, Kail, Gold, and

    Timbers, it would be expected that young directors are

    becoming more of a staple of Broadway stages, however,

    these directors represent the exceptions to the rulethe

  • 27

    extreme minorities. Young actors, singers, and writers,

    such as Cyrus and Dunham, have proven the power of

    embracing their youth identity and youth fans. However,

    within the American theatre, this same energy seemingly

    doesn't exist. With zero to no representation on Broadway

    stages, young audience members have no opportunities to

    find artists with which they connect. It is important to

    note that as young as directors like Timbers and Gold are,

    none are under the age of thirty. Of the shows currently

    open on Broadway, there are zero productions by a director

    in their twenties, and more shockingly, there are currently

    zero productions by a director in his or her thirties.

    While young thirty-something directors seem to be gaining

    traction in the audience and critic's eyes, producers are

    still hesitant to hire directors of that age group, and as

    evidenced by the fourteen years of non-representation on

    the Broadway stage, young directors within the millennial

    age group are fighting what seems to be an impossible war.

    To the assertion that millennial directors are not

    being represented on the Broadway stage, many people would

    argue that it's necessary to work your way up or

    experience builds character, but the question remains, is

    it possible for pure young talent to be to be found without

    decades of experience or education under one's belt? In

    2012, Forbes Magazine published a 30 Under 30 list

    featuring the brightest and most successful young

    innovators, artists, entrepreneurs, and thinkers. The list

  • 28

    featured fifteen separate categories each with thirty

    persons of interest in said field, and of the one hundred

    and fifty people documented on this list, zero were theater

    directors. The lists featured actors, musicians, artists,

    TV writers, TV directors, graphic designers, and stylists,

    just to name a few, but nowhere in this list categorizing the one hundred and fifty of the nation's greatest under

    thirty cultural disruptors was a theater director present

    (Howard & Noer). This list only serves to further

    elucidate the fact that the theater world differentiates

    itself by being an exceptionally more difficult job climate for millennials than most.

    However, things were not always this way; twenty-

    somethings used to have a voice on Broadway. Of course, the

    majority of directors on Broadway have tended to fall on the older side of the age spectrum, but as little as thirty

    years ago, directors in their twenties and thirties were

    commonplace on Broadway stages. In 1984, David Leveaux

    directed a production of Eugene O'Neil's drama, A Moon for

    the Misbegotten, at age 26. The production went on to earn

    a Tony Nomination in that same year (Freedman). A few years

    prior, 27 year old director Jack Hofsiss directed the first

    production of The Elephant Man which went ran for almost

    three years. That same production catapulted Hofsiss to the

    Tony Awards where he became the youngest director to ever

    win a Tony just a few short months after his 27th birthday (Shewy 51). Going back further, director A.J. Antoon,

  • 29

    became one of the only directors to every be nominated for

    two direction Tonys in one year with his productions of

    That Championship Season and Much Ado About Nothing. Antoon

    went on to win the Tony for Best Direction in 1973 for That

    Championship Season, all while at the ripe age of 27

    (Bennetts). In 1954, Joseph Papp founded The Public

    Theater, which has since then moved fifty-four productions

    to Broadway and garnered forty-two Tony Awards. In the

    early decades of The Public Theater, Joseph Papp was known

    for hiring many directors in their twenties to helm some of

    The Public's largest and most successful productions (Turan

    & Papp). And looking back as far as the 1930s, three young

    idealists in their twenties, Harold Clurman, Lee Strasberg,

    and Cheryl Crawford, established The Group Theatre which

    went onto produce some of the most prolific names in

    American theatre, such as Stella Adler, Elia Kazan,

    Stanford Misner, and Frances Farmer (Clurman). The Group

    Theatre is known today as having altered the course of

    American theater forever (American Masters). These are

    just a few examples of young theater artists in their twenties which galvanized and revolutionized the American

    theater, but why is it that young theater directors are

    slowly disappearing from Broadway stages, and is there a

    way to prevent our kind from a seemingly imminent

    extinction?

    Georges Bataille stated in his 1930 essay,

    Heterology, The process of appropriation is

  • 30

    characterized by a homogeneity (static equilibrium) (273).

    Bataille believed that humans lived in a world of

    homogeneity, and that each action in this homogeneous

    society was appropriated or attached to a corresponding

    appropriate reaction. This homogenous society was the norm.

    In this society things happened as they were supposed to,

    and each impulse held an equal appropriation. However,

    polarized from this homogenous was the realm of the

    heterogenous where chaos and disorder lurked. In Literary

    Theory: An Anthology, editors Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan

    analyze Bataille's essay stating, Bataille was also

    interested in liminal experiences where a culture's

    homogenous interior met, was repelled by, and expelled an

    exterior that was heterogenous. Usually, that outside was

    conceived as being a realm of madness, sexual excess, and

    non-utilitarian and wasteful behavior (273). This exterior

    heterogenous realm was full of elements that were outside

    societal norms and seen as incredibly taboo. Bataille

    believed that elements from this heterogenous society would

    occasionally become apparent in a homogenous society

    causing extreme attraction and reaction. Bataille stated,

    Heterogeneous elements will provoke affective reactions of

    varying intensity (276). He believed that these elements,

    separate and different from a human's standard way of life,

    would cause incredibly powerful reactions. He theorized

    that these elements that lay outside of human's normal

    homogenous realm, referred to as liberating impulses or

  • 31

    excretion, arouse the individual in varying ways. Bataille

    goes on to describe the elements which he considered to be

    a part of this heterogenous society. He states, This

    consists of everything rejected by the homogeneous society as waste or as superior transcendent value (Bataille 276).

    Following in line with Bataille's critical analysis of

    homogenous and heterogenous realms, it can be argued that

    older theater artists are afraid to allow young voices into

    the conversation for the fear that it may open up this

    heterogenous realm in which chaos and disorder live

    (Vasiljevic, Lusting for Lesbian Love Scenes).By focusing on Bataille's theory, it can be said that

    the American commercial theater industry is currently a

    homogenous realm in which we are currently at a static

    equilibrium. However, just outside of this static equilibrium is the heterogeneous realm in which madness,

    sexual-excess, and wasteful behavior are held. There is

    reason to believe that the status-quo which currently

    exists on Broadway exists because producers and older

    theater practitioners are afraid of breaking out of their

    homogeneous realm of comfort as it has the possibility of

    unraveling the social structure of the American theatre

    industry as a whole. Capitalism, and what it means to be

    commercially viable, creates norms for economic success,

    and fortunately for producers, but unfortunately for

    artists, Broadway fits these norms exceedingly well.

    Producers fear that without disciplined theater artists

  • 32

    creating economically sound works, the theater industry as

    a whole could crumble. However, on the other hand, by

    taking the chance to introduce young, yet possibly

    heterogenous directorial voices to the conversation, could

    push theater forward in a way it has not been catapulted

    since The Group Theatre of the 1930s. The fear of chaos, in

    addition to the need for highly specialized, educated

    docile bodied theater artists is contributing to a

    stagnation in the theater industry in which the theater

    arts as a whole are plateauing in terms of expanding and

    furthering the theatrical form. By introducing young

    directorial voices into the picture, the American

    commercial theatre industry could open itself up to a huge

    change and push forward into the 21st century.

    The burden to introduce younger voices to the

    American theater cannot solely be placed on commercial

    theater producers. It is up for young artists to create

    work which push horizons and change the conversations,

    create propellant work which is worthy enough to be

    presented on America's largest stages. We must be the

    change we want to see, and we must open ourselves up to

    our mentors and colleagues who have come before us. I

    feel a real responsibility [to young directors]. Because I

    was allowed to direct in major places in my twenties.

    People gave me a chance to run a theater when I was

    twenty-eight years old. A big theater (Kahn 175). Michael

    Kahn, Broadway director, acting coach, drama educator, and

  • 33

    Artistic Director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company, had

    this to say in a 2006 interview with Jason Loewith. We, the

    theatre community, are facing a insurmountable challenge.

    We have allowed an extinguishing fiscal tide define the way

    in we choose to create theater, and the people we choose to

    make it alongside. As the American economy struggles to

    resuscitate itself, the commercial theatre community has a

    critical decision to make: do we continue along the

    trajectory that we're currently on, creating safe works with expected circumstances, or do we rise up and revolt

    against a capitalistic economy which has allowed dollar

    signs to be more important to artistic integrity? Broadway

    used to be a standard of excellence in the American

    theater, a breeding ground for the most prolific theater

    artists to show their skills and push our penetrating art

    form forward. Today, Broadway has become a completely

    commercially-driven behemotha launching pad for movie

    musicals and Hollywood stars. We've lost the ephemeral

    nature of the theaterthat fleeting moment when performance

    resonates viscerally with audience. As Ayad Akhtar so

    eloquently stated, theater artists are actively asking the

    question: how do we make art sacred again? The answer comes

    in the form of revolutionit's time to change the way

    theater is being made, and it's up to us to change it,

    young and seasoned artists alike. The voices and questions

    being raised in our community, like those of Polly Carl and

    Michael Kahn, are rallying war cries for an unbelievable

  • 34

    battle we've been entrusted to win. The solution to our

    woebegone troubles cannot be achieved with just youth or just age, rather what is required is a combination of the two, a seamless melding of two incredibly powerful halves

    to create an unstoppable whole. Through discipline of

    creativity, economic despair, fear of unknown, and deep-

    seated suspension of the other, we have come to believe

    that age is an indicator for greatness, that experience is

    a tested component for success, and that artistic

    excellence cannot be achieved by a generation plagued by

    sins of our fathers. It's necessary, however, for

    knowledgable artists to share their skills, and take leap

    of faith with a new breed of generative artists, but it is

    also up to us to accept our absence of experiential

    knowledge, and look to those older than us to supplement

    our creative understanding. It's time to understand our

    given circumstances, raise the stakes, and choose our

    actions. As Hallie Flanagan once said, The theatre, when

    it's good, is always dangerous (15).

  • 35

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