Vasiljevic_ImpossibleHeroes

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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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,

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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,

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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

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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

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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

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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,

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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?

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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).

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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

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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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