Going viral right now in my Actors’ Equity and stage manager circles is this screenshot of what is reportedly a set of stage directions in The Qualms by Bruce Norris. This is not appropriate. Supposedly it’s also the first of FIVE slaps in a row.
The arrogance. Yo, Bruce Norris, never EVER call for someone to inflict actual violence on another human being. pic.twitter.com/6CeihLwx9l
— Danette Baker (@Fightinfierce) May 20, 2018
There is a reason we have fight choreographers, to make things LOOK real but be safe. It’s already hard enough being a stage manager in the room hoping that someone else thought of the need for safety before I have to mention it. (In Equity, then someone needs to be paid extra to be fight captain too, for maintenance, which the theatre may not have remembered to budget.)
And that doesn’t even go into the misogyny here, another thing stage managers are supposed to be superheroes about monitoring in the #metoo era.