Theatre is known for being a highly collaborative art form. As in most generative processes, the product that an audience perceives is just the tip of the iceberg of actual work conducted throughout the process. Theatre, at least pre-pandemic, was also an art form that was customarily shaped by in-person ideation and collaboration (Gillet/Sheehan). Now that theatremakers across the globe have spent 19 months rethinking their relationship to in-person production and experimenting with virtual alternatives, the question emerges – how is collaboration in the theatre production process evolving from its ancient and analog roots (Kennedy)?
What is Collaboration?
“Teams all need the three Cs: collaboration, co-ordination, communication. Collaboration is the shared perspective you need for a shared understanding of what you have to do.”
In order to determine the best mechanisms for collaboration, the definition of collaboration and the purpose it serves must be established. In her book Creative Collaboration, Vera John-Steiner asserts that "collaboration thrives on diversity of perspectives and on constructive dialogues between individuals negotiating their differences while creating their shared voice and vision." The common thread between this and Benjamin Voyer’s definition is a sense of shared ownership over the process. It may also be useful to look at collaboration as a bifurcated process divided into two domains: “taskwork,” wherein the individuals develop and refine their contributions, and “teamwork,” wherein collaborators come together to share, evaluate, and push forward the work of the whole (Salas, Rico, Passmore).
Collaboration and Technology
What are the technologies that facilitate the teamwork aspect of collaboration, particularly within a theatrical production process? Each individual contributor utilizes technology that suits their workstyle and the conventions of their area of expertise (including digital tools like VectorWorks, AutoCAD, or Solidworks). The question arises post-pandemic, as productions are re-opening across the country, whether and what platforms are being used by these collaborators interdepartmentally to communicate, share work, exchange ideas, flag budget concerns, among other important managerial duties (Gillet/Sheehan).
Infographic: Collaborative efforts that take place in the theater industry. Image by author.
The applications and impacts of digital collaboration tools have been most examined in for-profit contexts. In 2017, McKinsey investigated how advanced social technologies impacted the future of collaboration in the business sector. In their analysis, McKinsey determined that social technologies, like messaging tools, have significant impact on collaboration and work environments. These tools facilitate the obvious: more frequent communication and self-organization amongst team members, in other words, the “teamwork” domain. On a deeper level, these tools have shifted formal organizational hierarchies, helping to democratize project management. It is also worth noting that a 2013 Deloitte report found a link between digital collaboration and employee happiness, ultimately recommending that these tools be elevated from “nice to have[s]” to “core applications.” McKinsey’s conclusion was that “tools should follow- not lead- new ways of working.” The authors warned against quickly adopting a new tool and expecting workflows and collaboration to evolve accordingly. Rather, it is better to identify the changing needs of a team and then pursue tools that will “fit best.” Both institutions’ findings supported mindfully building out digital infrastructure for collaboration.
Figure 1: Digital Collaboration: Delivering innovation, productivity and happiness (London: Deloitte MCS Limited, 2013).
Ultimately, while the pandemic has heightened our industry understanding of distributed work and collaboration, it is not a question new to all theatres. In fact, Oregon Shakespeare Festival has for decades worked in a pre-production distributed collaborative process. Furthermore, the company received a grant as early as 2009 to find a technology solution for the problems that arise in distance-based collaborations.
Oregon Shakespeare Festival - Collaborative Workspaces
This innovative process yielded powerful results for Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 2009 when they developed Collaborative Workspaces. OSF identified snags in their collaborative process. Namely, script changes were difficult to track and communicate, often leaving key collaborators working on mismatching, non-current scripts. This contributed to “confusion, conflicts, duplication, and lost time,” a plethora of inefficiencies and frustrations across key contributors.
The theatre set a goal of “improving accuracy, efficiency, and communication throughout the production process,” and entered EmcArts’ Innovation Lab for the Performing Arts. Daunted by the task of trying to improve the complicated web of collaboration across the production process, OSF utilized its opportunity with the lab to develop Collaborative Workspaces. This bespoke script-management platform unifies collaborators around a singular authoritative script and provides the ability to track changes and communicate notes, all while maintaining the integrity of the work that has already taken place.
A $42.3 million organization as of 2018, OSF is a special case. Their budget and access to the Innovation Lab program allowed them to dream beyond the confines of conventional collaboration in nonprofit theatres and leverage their power of collaboration not just into great theatrical product, as every theater aspires, but into a “powerful engine for innovation.”
The Impact of Covid-19
Had the COVID-19 pandemic never occurred, the theatre industry and its collaboration practices perhaps could have eluded evolution for a while longer. However, after these intense and life-changing months, individuals and businesses are recognizing that some pivots during the pandemic are here to stay. Business practices were particularly affected. At the peak of pandemic teleworking, approximately 35% of Americans were working from home, leaning harder than ever on digital collaboration tools. Sadly, many others were moved to a state of un- or under-employment, with the live performing arts industry hit the hardest of them all. Those theatres and theatre professionals continuing into a digital frame were suddenly tasked with translating not only an entire art form to a new medium, but also the meta-processes of artistic management and collaboration, without which theatre could not happen.
Distributed Work in Theatre & What Comes Next
There appear to be four main categories for technology that encapsulate distributed collaboration. They are: document storage, email (or an alternative messaging platform), project management tools, and brainstorming spaces. The following table illustrates some well-known options in each category.
Figure 2: Distributed Work Categories and Associated Tools
Other industries have already adopted tools across the spectrum of distributed work in each category and some such tools are likely already integrated into arts management workflows. OSF’s Collaborative Workspaces stands, over a decade later, as a unique pursuit of digitizing certain theatrical processes.
In forthcoming research, the state of collaborative technology in theatre production processes is investigated by conducting a case study of six theatres tied to mid-sized metropolitan statistical areas, specifically Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Cleveland, Ohio. The theaters in the sample operate under LORT B, C, or D, Special Agreement, Special Appearance, or Guest Artist Equity contracts and have budgets between $1-10 million. With an awareness of OSF’s Collaborative Workspaces, this or any other best in class technologies will be analyzed to determine if they are yet accessible/affordable at this level. Perhaps most importantly, the technologies these theatres adopted during the pandemic will be discovered and whether covid-time advances have been maintained as the industry returns to in-person production.