Theater Management: "The People Industry"

Is there anything that you're really nervous about this semester?

Yeah, I'm nervous because every single person I've met has no idea what the theater managers do, but is like, "Oh my God, your program is so hard."

[upbeat music] The way I would explain what I do is I go, "I'm the person on the phone yelling at the agent going, 'No, I can't give you more money.

I gotta make my budget.'" And I do a, like, old-timey New York newspaper accent.

I remember my mother coming to see the show and watching me drag sushi down the street on a cart, and her being like, "Why are you-

We were doing a play, a Sam Shepard play, called Curse of the Starving Class.

That whole show is a nightmare if you ever produce it.

You have to get a live lamb to be in the show, and so the lamb got freaked out 'cause it's only, like, you know, two months old, right? It's a baby sheep.

One actor in the Yale Rep, it was an equity actor, they were out sick, and the understudy first-year actor had to go on.

And all their friends understandably wanted to come see that performance, and there was a theater manager student who was a house manager, and all of her ushers said, "Oh, can we call out of our show so we can watch the performance?" And they had to tell them no, and they had to be the bad guy.

It was a really difficult call to make, but it really for me taught that lesson of you will be in a position where it is up to you making the call whether you will make payroll the next week.

It is whatever anybody needs it to be [laughs] in order to make the show happen.

Theater managers get sushi and herd sheep.

Often they're a production's best friend.

Other times they have to be the villain, but always for the greater good.

Time and again, they are at the forefront of change.

Black lives matter.

Black lives matter.

Black lives matter.

I was a part of the group of students who made a list of demands saying the theater is not equitable, the theater is behind on all these places.

This is what you need to do to fix them.

Welcome to Oh, The Drama.

In this 10-part series, we'll explore 100 years at the David Geffen School of Drama, where it's been, where it's heading, and how each of the school's programs individually and collectively trains the next generation of artists.

Today, theater management, the people industry.

Revolution is always in the air.