off-stage right

Yesterday I was very lucky.  I got to have two inspiring discussions about theater – IN THE SAME DAY!

The first discussion reminded me how vital and beautiful it is for a leader to be committed to an organization and a community.  In theater, we tend to hear more about the leaders who are off creating waves in the commercial world or working at organizations other than their own.  We tend to write off the idea of a leader being “present” at their organization as something out of reach if you want to have a leader of a certain “stature.”  We are so conditioned to be transitory that we often accept the ridiculous idea that we must sacrifice creating roots in a community.  However, with further exploration, you can see clearly that the aforementioned conditions are a sign of dysfunction and priorities be out of balance.  This type of leadership leaves the organization out of synch – the individual’s needs and desires come before the organization’s.   So when you find a extraordinary leader whose heart is filled with love for and commitment to an organization and the community it serves, you can’t help but be inspired.

This is not to say leaders need to be tied to their desks and can’t pursue anything outside of the organization.  Quite the opposite.  Initially most leaders sacrifice personal desires for the vision of the organization, this results in recognition and elevated “stature” in the theater community.  But if the leader loses sight of the vision of the organization and it becomes more about the leader than the institution or community, the work suffers immensely.  And unfortunately too many of our theaters have accepted this as status quo.  So to spend a few hours today with someone who is not only committed to his organization and has a deep tie to his community but who also has a clear artistic vision was a pure delight.  And of course by taking this passionate stance, this person’s reputation and “status” has grown and grown alongside the institution’s.

The second inspiring conversation came from a future leader in the arts.  Someone striving to learn and understand the who, what, when and how of the business.  Speaking with someone filled with the energy and belief that there are endless possibilities and an analytical intellect that truly wants to learn and understand made me raise the bar on my thoughts and theories and brought a new light and focus to each topic we discussed.  And it gave me great hope for the future of theater!

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