Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 2007 - 71

For instance, the act puts no limit on the number
of hours required of employees in a day, including overtime hours, or on workdays in a week.
For professional employees such as designers,
"There is virtually no limit to the number of
hours exempt employees may work, or be required to work...." (Ackler and Stephens 2003).
This legally accommodates long days and tech
weeks in theatre. Although both nonexempt and
exempt compensation in the FLSA is based on the
standard of a forty-hour workweek, the predictable reality in theatre is significantly lengthier.

vacation time for most workers remains limited
to the traditional two weeks..." (Levine 1997).
The academic workplace is also fast-paced.
Many professional theatre designers teach as
well, and therefore actually have two full-time
careers. Much of the reason for this is money. In
the professional world jobs can be few and far
between, so you take what comes along. If you
are also a teacher you are always working. Unfortunately being in the professional world also
cuts into your academic world. "Maintaining a
professional career often takes you away from

Although professors set the
standards...working two full-time
careers may not be the best role
model to show our students how
to have a life outside of work.

about the inability to turn it off. It's a question
of balance." (Reeves 2006) At the undergraduate level most students have not learned stress
management and college for anyone can be very
stressful. Leaving home, making your own decisions, being responsible to go to classes and
do homework, remembering to eat, these are
just some of the things students are faced with.
Putting theatre on top of all this often results in
repetitively ill and stressed out students.

Moderation in the Workplace
What approaches can we initiate to reduce
workaholism in theatre? Following the pattern
of other nations, our government could legislate
mandatory work limits and vacations. Toronto
theatres, for example, are governed by Ontario's
sixty-hour work week cap, including overtime,
which also requires a day off (Lampert-Greaux
"Show" 2003). Joe Robinson, author of Work
to Live: The Guide to Getting a Life, leads the
lobbying effort for vacation legislation in the
U.S. "It's time for minimum paid-leave protection for all Americans," he proclaims on his
Web site. His "Work to Live and the Take Back
Your Time Campaign" proposes a three-week
minimum paid-leave law. (Robinson 2006).

Choosing Between Money and Time

For example, in a recent online discussion of TD
workloads, the average workweek reported was
between fifty and sixty hours, with tech weeks
running from eighty to 100 hours. (Stagecraft
Digest 2006). Lily Hung, a production associate
working on Broadway, reported working at least
sixty hours each week. (Ellin 2003)

A Fast-paced Life
According to Gallup Poll statistics, more than
forty percent of American workers have described themselves as workaholics. Americans
average more work hours per year (from 3.5
to 12.5 weeks more) than workers in Japan,
Great Britain, Germany, France and most other
advanced nations. (Florida 2004). Not only do
Americans work more hours, we also take less
vacation time. "Every country in Europe, in fact,
has collective bargaining agreements guaranteeing minimum paid vacations ranging from
four to five and one-half weeks. In most cases,
these mandated vacation periods range up to six
weeks.... In the United States, on the other hand,
THEATRE

DESIGN

the students at inopportune times," says Ann
Archbold, former head of the MFA lighting design program at FSU. "Yet my professional work
ultimately enhances their [the students] education." (Johnson 2003) Although professors set
the standards for their students in the professional world, working two full-time careers may
not be the best role model to show our students
how to have a life outside of work.
Most theatre majors "live" in the theatre
building. There is an energy that is contagious,
as well as a hidden drive to push oneself to always try harder and do more. "The cause of
Workaholism is that our vocational achievements are tied up with our self-image. We believe
that, by working longer hours and completing
more projects, we will enhance our self-worth.
We will eventually discover that this approach
is a terribly misguided one." (Stahl 2000) This
may lead students to make poor choices. If their
responsibilities are not balanced they may forgo
something of great importance as they sacrifice
for their "art." "It's not about long hours....it's

TECHNOLOGY
SPRING

2007

Social psychologist Robert Levine claims that
Americans live "in a culture that assumes time
is money and that every moment not doing
something is a wasted one. To be busy is to be
a worthwhile person." Thus labor strikes in the
U.S. focus on more money, whereas more free
time characterizes European labor agendas.
(Levine 2005) In theatre, the choice between
money and time is clearest and most available to
freelancers; more time off, less money. For salaried artists and teachers, the choices aren't as
simple. "The fact is," writes law professor Joan
Williams, "that some academics trade money for
time every day. Most of them are women who do
so by taking low-paid, dead-end adjunct jobs. A
few are luckier. Here and there, full-time, tenured academics have managed to pull off such
a trade without wiping out professionally." (Williams 2002)
A better work-life balance may be achieved
by forfeiting income. One tenured professor
obtained a course-load reduction in return for
a twenty percent pay cut. "Last year during my
time off I did some writing. It was great to have
focused time instead of having to squeeze it in....

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 2007