THE ART OF THE THEATRE-THEATRE 100

Producer Roles in Theatre

According to Robert Cucuzza, “The producer is the member of the team who holds the production together from beginning to end, from the preproduction phase all the way to closing night and strike, when the show disappears back into the ether” (Cucuzza, 2018). The producer follows the play from the preproduction stage to the time when the show ends. All the production aspects of a play lie with the producer. The producer, playwright and director form a formidable team. Robert notes that the role of the independent producer has declined over time as the play gets larger and expensive. The producer has many responsibilities in production, which include looking for money to finance play production. The money caters for labor, materials, props and publicity. They secure script rights which include licenses for publishing a play. They are also involved in negotiation with actors, directors and playwrights. They hire staff who help to bring the play to life. According to chapter 3, the producer ensures the current of a theatre is maintained between the audience and the performers. Furthermore, the relationship between the audience and the performers is given great consideration during production. The play must also be reflective of the issues happening in society (Cucuzza, 2018).

The producer has a lot to deal with in terms of producing a play. The producer, in my view, should create a well representative production team that is inclusive in terms of race, religion and other aspects that creates tension when a certain group is underrepresented or omitted in play. Helen Shaw challenges the American theatre producers to create a representative production. She says, “we come together as a community of Black, Indigenous, and People of color (BIPOC) theatremakers, in legacy of August Wilson’s. the ground on which I stand to let you know exactly what ground we stand on in the wake of nation’s civic unrest. We see you. We have always watched you pretend not to see us” (Shaw,2020). I believe the challenge has come at a good time as they need to create a reflective and inclusive theatre is more apparent. Jeremy O. Harris, the author of Slave Play, is ‘a major new voice in the American theatre’ according to Chicago Tribune. He brought Broadway the ‘raw revelatory and revolutionary play’ according to The Daily Beast. Harris is a good representation of one of the underrepresented groups, the blacks, in Hollywood movies.

The murder of George Floyd challenged the American theatre to create an inclusive theatre, which is a positive step. I believe we are not yet there in terms of representation and more has to be done for all minority groups. The play producers have to create an equal platform in a theatre.

The director may be the engine that keeps theatre alive but the producer is like the fuel of that engine. The producer has a lot of responsibilities like financing the production, hiring stuff, aliasing with actors ‘managers and their unions, but the most important one indicated in chapter 7, “A producer will attend rehearsals and, with their fresh eyes and their focus on the audience’s reception, they will offer creative advice about what may not be working.” In most difficult cases, the producer can recast actors, redesign the entire sets or rearrange the script (Cucuzza,2018).  Theatre producers thus have the power to redirect a message that theatre is passing to the audience. Goerge Floyd’s murder has been the catalyst in advocating for inclusivity of the BIPOC community in this industry, during the pandemic there were discussions after many creatives decided to address the issues of racism and lack of diversity through the “We see you White America Theatre” manifesto. Producers decided to look at how they portray things, if they are addressing the things, they say they believe in. For Instance, they were changes done to famous plays on Broadway, such as Hamilton and Alladin, to address how they portray people of color. There was also the case of the Theatre Center Group, which gave opportunities to BIPOC women playwrights to showcase their work. During protests also, white creatives are now rallying along with black people, to protect them from the policy and support them spiritually and physically without the black creatives asking them.

 However, even though it looks like theatre is finally being accountable for inclusivity and diversity, producers have also failed in addressing this issue of the BIPOC community since there still are a lot of theatre organizations that preach diversity without giving up the white supremacy power. It is not about representation on stage, it is about economic power, are BIPOC creatives given enough jobs? It is clear that the top jobs are still given to white people and theatre organizations are still practicing hierarchy. Hierarchy concentrates power and central power is a form of white supremacy that will not be dying soon. From the VULTURE article, Daniel Alexander Jones a performer-playwright says, “What I’m seeing now is a kind of delicious skepticism of invitation from predominantly white institutions” (Shaw, 2021). Jones also indicates that for a long time, gatekeepers raised single artists of color as a ‘genius’ without changing their organizational racial make-up. This is a clear picture that producers are yet to much of what is required as much it better compared to past years where effort was very minimal.

Works Cited

Cucuzza, Robert (2018). Introduction to Theatre 2nd edition. Great River Learning

“Grlcontent”. Grlcontent.Com, 2021, https://www.grlcontent.com/.

Shaw, H. (2021). Building Trust After Inclusivity Failed: Lessons for the Theater. Vulture. Retrieved from https://www.vulture.com/2020/06/race-whiteness-black-lives-matter-lessons-for-theater.html.

Shaw, Helen. “Building Trust After Inclusivity Failed: Lessons for the Theater.” Vulture, Vulture, 10 June 2020, https://www.vulture.com/2020/06/race-whiteness-black-lives-matter-lessons-for-theater.html.