Every time I read the final proof of SDC Journal I am reminded of the scope, scale, and stature of the SDC Membership. I see the breadth and depth of your work in these pages. And, as you continue to expand the craft, we continue to grow SDC protections.
As an exercise, I took a pass through a few statistics: At the time of this writing, SDC has 2,181 SDC Members and 1,118 SDC Associate Members. Members and Associate Members live in 49 States (plus Washington, DC), England, Scotland, Ireland, Mexico, Japan, Germany, France, and Canada. (No SDC Members live in West Virginia—do you know any professional directors or choreographers there?) In 2024, SDC Members filed 2,362 contracts; SDC processed contracts from 872 distinct employers; and Members’ total earnings were $85,773,467. But I digress.
Recently, I was reading through the Union’s archives, and I came across a debate within the Executive Board that happened several decades ago. The question at hand was, could the Union expect to continue to grow?
This is a question an effective Board must ask itself on a regular basis; it’s a best practice for any organization. We have the clear advantage of being here today and knowing that the American theatre did continue to expand—and that the Union did as well. SDC reached deeper into communities to identify theatres where directors and choreographers were working and paid attention to new theatres emerging across the country. And so the Union, through expanded jurisdiction and growth in Membership, continued to grow.
More recently—for nearly two decades now—SDC has been paying closer attention to what might be considered “non-traditional” work, finding you and your peers increasingly making work in what not too long ago might have been thought of as outside the “legitimate” theatre. And we continue to grow, both jobs and the Membership.
In strategically and appropriately aligning the Union’s goals and objectives with yours, we are led by your ambitions as artists. That ambition is captured in each issue of SDC Journal.
In the conversation with Lili-Anne Brown, one of Chicago’s many relentlessly creative Members, I am reminded of a trip I took to Chicago early in my tenure at SDC. On that visit I met Kimberly Senior (thank you, Leigh Silverman, for that introduction). Shortly after that meeting, with Kimberly’s help as a new SDC Member, we began to work with storefront theatres. Every time SDC Journal lands in Chicago, it is inspiring and affirming!
Alexandria Wailes was working as Director of Artistic Sign Language on the Broadway production of Children of a Lesser God when she joined SDC. Employing a Director of Artistic Sign Language is an overdue practice for producers and theatremakers seeking authenticity. Alexandria, a multi-hyphenate artist, reached out to us, and she is now central to our organizing efforts to support the directors and choreographers who work in Artistic Sign Language.
As artists, SDC Members know—and have always known—that their work impacts the audiences and the communities that experience the stories told on stage. The passion and power and purpose of Sean Daniels’s work today, his unwavering commitment to creating great theatre that intersects with great need, has become an initiative. He has lifted our consciousness, through theatre, to understanding recovery and addiction. Kristin Hanggi and Maxx Reed are exploring practices to expand access to the theatre for neurodivergent audiences, specifically those with epilepsy.
In 2024, Sara Bruner assumed the position of Producing Artistic Director of Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival in Nevada, and Great Lakes Theater in Cleveland. The unique model of partnership represented by these companies is not well known, even as so many of our Members create work in one of these spaces—work that will then go on to the other two companies, which are based in vastly different parts of the country. While SDC has had a long-term relationship with Great Lakes Theater, the Idaho and Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festivals have only formalized their relationships with SDC in the past 10 years.
The phrase “standing on the shoulders of giants” is attributed to Isaac Newton. (I’ve read that he wanted to make known that he felt his discoveries were possible because of the work of Galileo, Kepler, Copernicus, and others.) Toward the end of this issue there are two sections that had me thinking about what we stand on.
In reading about the SDC Foundation Awards this year, and the Members who have passed, an image came to mind. Not only are we standing on the shoulders of those who came before, but your Union stands on the shoulders of those who are, right now, doing the work. Your artistic work and your service as Union Members, when combined with the legacy of those who came before, make for the enormously powerful force that is SDC.
This is your Union. We represent each one of you and the Union draws its inspiration and priorities from your needs, your ambitions, and the work you do across the country, with a wide range of sensibilities, aesthetics, distinct processes, aspirations, and measures of success. SDC Journal is but one reflection of this, one opportunity for you to learn a bit about each other and the myriad ways you are making theatre—and a reminder that our Members are innovators who are forging new paths. SDC both supports and leads as we keep expanding, providing new protections in support of your careers.
In Solidarity,
Laura Penn
Executive Director