Rachel E. Pollock's Blog: La Bricoleuse aggregate and more..., page 10

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A Call to End the Culture of Silence: The Theatre Transparency Initiative

This post appears simultaneously on the Costume Professionals for Wage Equity blog.

 

I’ve been following the effects of the pandemic on our industry on my costume production blog, La Bricoleuse, in a series of interviews with costume professionals impacted by the shutdown in April of 2020. These interviews–ostensibly about helping combat the virus using the skills and equipment we no longer used in making costumes–revealed the trauma my colleagues were experiencing not only from the pandemic itself, but also in response to the implosion of our industry in the face of a complete shutdown with little to no safety mechanisms in place to protect our institutions and ourselves from financial ruin.

These conversations with colleagues made clear the collective and significant challenges we would need to recover from.

We were due for a reckoning.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced the theatre industry to confront the bias and inequities that have quietly plagued its workers for decades. Workers who were now demanding big conversations and even bigger changes. In a moment that inspired hope, our institutions pledged to do better. They opened their lobbies to Black Lives Matter protestors, they updated their websites with statements of equity and inclusion, they attended workshops. Then they went back to business as usual.

Masks made by Arts Workers for CPfWE’s 2020 MasquerAID auction juxtaposed with a surgical mask abandoned on a city street.

Calls for wage transparency and structural change have not only fallen on deaf ears, they have been shouted down and treated as acts of betrayal. A bitter irony given the inequities that have come to light. Lasting change needs consistent, targeted action.  One of the most frequent requests for information on theatre job posts is for salary information. A large number of theatre institutions have profiles on Glassdoor.com with little or no contributing feedback from theatre workers. This site has become a leading provider of information to prospective employees and job applicants, yet our voices are missing from their database.By participating in the Theatre Transparency Initiative, you can help provide this much-needed information.

The aims of this initiative are simple:

1. To expand the resources and information available about employers in the theatrical industries

2. To shed light on companies with unreasonable, abusive, or harmful work expectations.

3. To demonstrate the mutual benefits of transparency by highlighting companies who are treating and paying their employees fairly.

Now is the perfect time to contribute.

Many of us are returning from summer contracts and preparing for fall seasons to kick off. Your review is completely anonymous (Learn more about how Glassdoor.com maintains and defends the anonymity of contributors here), and helps open doors for the kinds of conversations that need to happen about pay and workplace culture in our industry.

Equity begins with transparency.

Join the initiative.Contribute your reviews and experiences on Glassdoor.com.

 

Use these images (below) to spread the message!

Full size images and accessibility language can be found in our Transparency Toolkit.

 

ECF Monkeypox Webinar Report

 

 

So, I wasn't thrilled with the experience of attending the ECF's monkeypox webinar for entertainment industry professionals. There was useful information, but confusingly presented and the session I attended (2pm EDT) had an unmoderated chat dominated by misinformation and homophobia

Three useful things I took away from the session though: 

People vaccinated for smallpox (routine until 1972) are very likely to be protected against monkeypox (MPX).This fact sheet from the NYC health officials provides guidance for safely doing commercial laundry (like for wardrobe) amidst a MPX outbreak. Hand sanitizer and antibacterial wipes/sprays are effective against this virus.

 We'll be determining protocols based on this info, until/unless we hear anything specific about requirements from Actor's Equity regarding our shows, or a detailed fact sheet from ACTS.

 

The dye vat photo accompanying this post has nothing to do with the content. You do not need to boil clothing contaminated by MPX.

Monkeypox Webinars from the Entertainment Community Fund!

 

 Bravo to the Entertainment Community Fund for hosting a free webinar about monkeypox and its impact on the entertainment industry!

Join speaker Dr. Jason Kindt, Medical Director of the Friedman Health Center for the Performing Arts for an update on the Monkeypox outbreak. Topics will include protection, diagnosis and treatment, geared to the performing arts and entertainment community. Additionally, participants will have the opportunity to submit questions in advance during the registration process.

There are two sessions to accommodate those in different time zones:

11am EST

2pm EST

Looking forward to getting some guidance on how to establish safe work protocols for wardrobe and costume professionals!

Book Review: Bloody Brilliant by Jennifer McClure

Bloody Brilliant: How to Develop, Execute, and Clean Up Blood Effects for Live Performance by Jennifer McClure is a much-needed resource filling a vacuum in the record of performance production documentation.

McClure provides a brief history of blood and blood effects in performance, dating back to Greek theatre (which arose concurrent with gladiatorial combat as another form of entertainment) up through the Grand Guignol to the present day. 

All aspects are covered, from planning the effect with the input of the many other people involved, choosing a blood product/recipe that will do what you need, implementation, and cleaning up afterward. McClure even addresses alternative ways to stage bloody scenes without messy blood products at all, through various theatrical effects employing lighting, fabrics, and what one of my professors called "flingables" (confetti, ribbons, glitter, etc).

Highly recommend this title for an in-house backstage theatrical library and as a textbook in propbuilding classes, as well as a reference manual for costume wardrobe supervisors.

Disclosure: I am a fellow author published by Focal Press. This review was neither solicited nor sponsored.

Using Press Dies to Cut #Corset Bones

Monkeypox guidelines for costume/wardrobe crews?

Caveat: The only official guidelines in this post are recommendations from the NYC Health Department. I am not a health & safety expert and am only speaking as a person in the field evaluating protocols for onesself using common sense and the best available information.

I'm hopeful that recommendations are forthcoming, since developments regarding the monkeypox viral spread are developing as it spreads faster, but so far I’m not seeing guidance from any relevant union on safe protocols for wardrobe laundry and dressing practices for theater crews during the runs of performances, in areas where monkeypox outbreaks are occurring.

The graphic accompanying this post is from the NYC health department, where numbers are high. At present transmission seems to be similar to chickenpox and other "pox" infections--skin contact with an infected person or pus contamination of surfaces/clothing from broken blisters/lesions. 

It reads: 

How to Safely Wash Your Laundry if You Have Monkeypox

Keep your laundry separate from other people in the household's laundry.Gently put items, along with the bag, in the washing machine.Use regular detergent.Dry your clean wet laundry at the highest temperature possible.

For items that are not machine washable"

Wash them in a sink or bathtub with detergent/Put them in a sealed plastic bag for 21 days if they can't be washed at home.

It’s important to understand that monkeypox is not sexually transmitted [1] and that openness about exposure or an outbreak is key to containment. Monkeypox is not "a gay disease" or limited to men who have sex with men.

If you are eligible for a vaccination in your state/city, get vaccinated!

Since it appears that theatre companies and wardrobe crews may have to determine safe practices on our own, we must stay informed about local and national infection levels and health department recommendations.

Has your theatre or union local issued professional practice recommendations? Please comment with a link! 

ETA: This 7/29/22 VerifyThis article has helpful guidance.

[1] Other than the fact that most people touch each other's skin in sexual activity.

 

Book Review: Costume Design for Video Games

A colleague at the ATCA workshops [1] this past May mentioned this book in the context of how they teach a project on video game character design in their undergraduate costume design class: Costume Design for Video Games edited by Sandy Appleoff Lyons. 

It piqued my interest, having no concept how one might design costumes in the context of video games, and at the same time having marveled at the historical detail in the character costumes as my partner played through the Assassins Creed games.

This text provides a solid overview of various aspects of the character creation process and how costume design fits into it. It's a bit shaggy, with each chapter focusing on a different aspect of the process, each written by different authors who are all professionals in the field of game development. By the end of it, though, you get a solid idea of what sorts of design processes are required and how those design decisions are communicated to the rest of the game development team, what style sheets are and what sort of paperwork should accompany them, etc.

If you bring an existing knowledge of Western costume history to the book, you may find the survey of periods and cultures a bit of a review, but seeing how research and renderings translate into the paradigm of video game character design is illuminating.

A useful text for those who want to know more about the topic, and an excellent supplementary text for those teaching costume design and wishing to broaden the scope of the class beyond theatre/film.

[1] American Theatrical Costume Association, a trade organization for costume designers, makers, and historians/dramaturgs.

Book Review: Skirts by Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell

I received an ARC of Skirts: Fashioning Modern Femininity in the Twentieth Century by Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, and this is an interesting look at femininity through garment structure, specifically skirts and skirted garments which have been so rigidly gendered in Western fashion convention, dating back centuries. 

The structure of this book is interesting and creative--after a brief introduction, she approaches the path of the evolution of both femininity and associated fashion by devoting a chapter to an iconic silhouette of each decade, roughly aligned with an iconic skirted garment or design associated with the decade in question, beginning with Fortuny's "Delphos" and progressing through the bodycon dresses of the end of the century. 

And yet, within each chapter, she explodes the restrictive chronology by detailing how, in actuality, the structural conventions and fit/form of whatever her focus is, are actually part of a timeless continuum, pointing out where else throughout history similar/influential fashions appeared.

This book is a really smart, contemporary, and subversively innovative look at a fascinating and timely topic. Highly recommended for anyone interested in deep dives into fashion, gender, and interrogative history.