We are on the eve of the 60th anniversary of SDC. I just imagined this issue of SDC Journal sitting on desks, on nightstands, and in pockets of airline seats. Someone may pick it up and turn to this page on April 24, exactly 60 years from the day the founders, led by the tireless Shepard Traube, signed the articles of incorporation for SDC. It would be three more long years before the Broadway League (at that time, the League of New York Theatres and Producers) would formally recognize the Society and Ezra Stone would send a Western Union telegram from Los Angeles to Sardi’s to be read that very evening: “Star calls for our President, Officers, Directors Council, staff, and especially Bob Fosse, our first man shot into the Great White Way. Fraternally, Ezra Stone.” Fosse had refused to go into rehearsal that February for Little Me, triggering recognition.
So it all began on April 24, 1959. Yet, as we all know, what happens today very rarely, if ever, happens spontaneously. Movements build, evolve, adjust, clarify, and, yes, some even slip away. But always, something comes before right now that supports, informs, and guides our choices. The principles of SDC’s beginnings still resonate even as we work to be hyper-vigilant in responding to a world that many of our founders likely never imagined, from a laser-focused 12-block radius in midtown Manhattan to an organization that now represents some 4,000 Members and Associates across this vast, complex, and changing national arts landscape. Correction: not changing, but changed.
Throughout the year, we will bring forward a series of events and initiatives as we honor the founders and the guiding principles that have brought us this far while looking toward the future and all the opportunities and challenges. This year’s “Mr. Abbott” Award celebration will lift the story of Agnes de Mille and the power of her leadership in the making of the Union. Even as we celebrate the story of a singular artist, we will embark on a yearlong quantifiable research project designed to present a clear and accurate picture of how directors and choreographers, at various points of their careers, survive (or don’t) in this highly competitive field. What does a map of the life of an SDC Member look like? What is the web that supports a Member’s life, and how do we focus our priorities and bring partners to the table to strengthen that web? We are planning a symposium in concert with other theatrical labor unions to share our histories and, in doing so, see how we can leverage our interconnections to provide better support to those who make the work. We will be redesigning this very publication—moving to full color. But I digress. There is much more, so stayed tuned.
I have been thinking recently about the phenomenon of “split-screen consciousness.” Although I am one who can multitask with the best of them,
I don’t want two screens at my desk or in my head (or three, as my iPhone XS is never far away). I wondered if I had already experienced the end of concentration, of thoughtful, focused deliberation.
Then, as I read the final draft of this issue of SDC Journal, I realized how directors and choreographers must actually be masters of multiple consciousnesses. You must stay in a moment completely, fully—and yet always keep the horizon in your sights. What is likely sensory overload for many of us is the nature of your craft. In the agility with which you move among and between collaborators, you are a master watcher of the four corners of the room—with the ability to see around the corner at the same time. Listeners. Connectors. In fact, what might feel like disparate, sometimes conflicting and competing interests—humanity and pragmatism, producer to dresser, light to dark—is not split consciousness at all but rather focus. Focus on the end game. On what you give us. The opening, the story, the place where we can go and set aside our multitasking and take in a story.
And now, Chicago theatre: For decades, many of us artists and theatregoers around the country have been trying to understand the essence of what it means to make theatre in the Windy City. In 2010, SDC held a panel discussion in Chicago. Steppenwolf hosted, and I eagerly anticipated meeting the legendary Sheldon Patinkin and hearing his views as a gathering of Chicago luminaries sought to articulate the Chicago aesthetics, including Seth Bockley, Timothy Douglas, Gary Griffin, Kimberly Senior, and Dennis Zacek. This wasn’t the first time, nor would it be the last time, anyone tried to answer that question.
A few years after that panel, in the early years of SDC Journal, we featured a roundtable on “The Chicago Aesthetic,” moderated by Curt Columbus, now in Providence, of course, with Amy Morton, Ron OJ Parson, Henry Wishcamper, Rebecca Gilman, Zayd Dohrn, and Keith Huff. Fast-forward a few years, and here we are again—as interested as we have ever been about what makes this city tick and why it seems to own its aesthetic even as it is home to a diverse and varied group of artists. In this issue, Chay Yew, who is nearing the decade mark (he started in 2011) at Victory Gardens, explores issues of community, representation, and the changing Chicago aesthetic in a roundtable discussion with Devon de Mayo, Henry Godinez, Gary Griffin, Dado Gyure, Chika Ike, Halena Kays, and Gus Menary. In other features, Barbara Gaines tells us how Chicago Shakes (which has a landmark new home) came to be, and we hear from Ron OJ Parson, who has made an indelible mark on the city’s theatre landscape, directing dozens of productions across the Chicago area. A gifted group of young directors from diverse backgrounds, many of whom are women, are staging the plays and musicals in Chicago in ever-increasing numbers, including Lili-Anne Brown, , and Elizabeth Margolius. This issue provides a glimpse into the work—no split focus. And although my mind does bend backward to 2010 and listening to Sheldon, I know for Chicago his legacy continues to resonate even as the future is upon us.
In Solidarity,
Laura Penn
Executive Director