Broadway Cast moral code?
Broadway Cast moral code?
hayleyann
Understudy Joined: 9/26/18
#1Broadway Cast moral code?
Posted: 10/29/20 at 12:53pm
This is an odd inquiry, but I'm curious to hear people's thoughts on the matter. Is there a kind of moral/behavior/ethics code at Broadway productions or is it all Union driven? For example, in my job, we are not allowed to date each other or have that kind of relationship with another employee.
I would think this would be massively important in something like Broadway because can you imagine how a bad breakup between cast members could affect a show?
Take Wicked for example. You have Travis Taber (ensemble/Fiyero US) getting engaged to Kali Grinder (ensemble). Then poof, engagement is over and Grinder is out of the show, followed by Taber now dating Celia Hottenstein (ensemble/Glinda US).
I recall hearing about backstage romance at Be More Chill too but that show didn't last long enough to have much of an effect.
I'm just wondering if each individual show sets their own rules? Or does Equity have a hand in that at all? I mean if everyone is happy, great for them. But I can see how one wrong move could create massive unnecessary tension amongst castmates.
blaxx
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/05
#2Broadway Cast moral code?
Posted: 10/29/20 at 1:24pm
hayleyann said: "For example, in my job, we are not allowed to date each other or have that kind of relationship with another employee."
What kind of work do you do, out of curiosity? I can understand respect and boundaries, but can't imagine a place of work that can stop two adults from dating. Just think the gazillion marriages that came out of people meeting at work.
Listen, I don't take my clothes off for anyone, even if it is "artistic". - JANICE
hayleyann
Understudy Joined: 9/26/18
#3Broadway Cast moral code?
Posted: 10/29/20 at 1:34pm
blaxx said: "hayleyann said: "For example, in my job, we are not allowed to date each other or have that kind of relationship with another employee."
What kind of work do you do, out of curiosity? I can understand respect and boundaries, but can't imagine a place of work that can stop two adults from dating. Just think the gazillion marriages that came out of people meeting at work.
"
I am a paralegal. In our firm that is a major no no.
#4Broadway Cast moral code?
Posted: 10/29/20 at 1:49pmWhen I worked at a supermarket, employees with the same job title could date each other, but managers couldn't date any part-time employees.
"This thread reads like a series of White House memos." — Mister Matt
#5Broadway Cast moral code?
Posted: 10/29/20 at 1:50pm
I don't think it would be legal for Broadway producers to tell cast and crew members that they can't date each other - at least from a union standpoint. Actors' Equity would never allow such a crazy and totally unenforceable rule. I understand that in some businesses, they can make whatever rules they want, but no way would this ever fly with a theatre production. Showmances are practically an industry tradition, ha ha.
#6Broadway Cast moral code?
Posted: 10/29/20 at 2:03pm
It's an interesting issue because the theatre has to be such a close-knit working environment, and involves a lot emotional vulnerability, relying on trust and ensemble unity. So you'd think actor relationships would be a major working hazard in terms of maintaining that balance, harmony, and trust. But that kind of environment is often what stokes the flames of those relationships in the first place. So it's kind of a Catch 22.
And as others have said, "showmances" run rampant in the industry, and it would very impractical to try to enforce mandates on it.
Sunny11
Broadway Star Joined: 9/3/14
#7Broadway Cast moral code?
Posted: 10/29/20 at 4:47pm
If there was then Kevin Spacey missed the memo as did the rest of the “metoo“ outed guys in the entertainment industry.
#8Broadway Cast moral code?
Posted: 10/29/20 at 4:57pm
Sunny11 said: "
If there was then Kevin Spacey missed the memo as did the rest of the “metoo“ outed guys in the entertainment industry."
Spacey et al were not "dating" anyone. Please don't confuse dating and non-consensual and/or underage sex.
Sutton Ross
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/20/13
#9Broadway Cast moral code?
Posted: 10/29/20 at 5:01pm
Thank you Hogan, pretty big difference in consensual sex and sexual assault/rape.
Sunny11
Broadway Star Joined: 9/3/14
#10Broadway Cast moral code?
Posted: 10/29/20 at 5:21pm
HR policy’s that discourages relationships between employees is at least partially due to sexual harassment concerns though.
I completely understand the difference between what’s appropriate and inappropriate in the workplace but the messiness of human behaviour means that employers have to lean on the conservative side.
#11Broadway Cast moral code?
Posted: 10/29/20 at 5:51pm
Sunny11 said: "
HR policy’s that discourages relationships between employees is at least partially due to sexual harassment concerns though.
I completely understand the difference between what’s appropriate and inappropriate in the workplace but the messiness of human behaviour means that employers have to lean on the conservative side."
They do? That will come as news to a lot of employers. Almost everything I hear and read is that "romance policies" don't work, are bad for morale, are bad for employee retention, etc. And a good employer deals with "sexual harassment concerns" as such rather than fighting human nature by trying to regulate (and therefore police) the private behavior of their employees.
Sunny11
Broadway Star Joined: 9/3/14
#12Broadway Cast moral code?
Posted: 10/29/20 at 6:02pm
According to this article 75% of companies ban relationships between employees and “ someone in their chain of command”
The Guardian
It’s a British paper but it’s talking about American cases.
#13Broadway Cast moral code?
Posted: 10/29/20 at 6:04pm
Sunny11 said: " According to this article 75% of companies ban relationships between employees and “ anyone in their chain of command”
That's a very different thing.
Sunny11
Broadway Star Joined: 9/3/14
#14Broadway Cast moral code?
Posted: 10/29/20 at 6:12pm
Why ? If having a consensual relationship isn’t an Issue why should it matter what their job titles are?
In a broadway show is it ok for an a list lead to hook up with an understudy or a makeup artist?
#15Broadway Cast moral code?
Posted: 10/29/20 at 6:16pmTravis Taber is hot, so it makes sense he has so many of his female costars running after him
In our millions, in our billions, we are most powerful when we stand together. TW4C unwaveringly joins the worldwide masses, for we know our liberation is inseparably bound.
Signed,
Theater Workers for a Ceasefire
https://theaterworkersforaceasefire.com/statement
Sutton Ross
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/20/13
#16Broadway Cast moral code?
Posted: 10/29/20 at 6:38pm
Sunny11 said: "Why ? If having a consensual relationship isn’t an Issue why should it matter what their job titles are?
Do you have a professional job? Because if you did, I think you would understand why a manager sleeping with an intern would be problematic.
#17Broadway Cast moral code?
Posted: 10/29/20 at 7:29pm
Sunny11 said: "Why ? If having a consensual relationship isn’t an Issue why should it matter what their job titles are?
Sunny, I swear you know the answer to this. Just sit back and relax and think your way through it. I have confidence in you.
In a broadway show is it ok for an a list lead to hook up with an understudy or a makeup artist?"
As already rehearsed, yes. (ditto for a non-Broadway show)
dramamama611
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
#18Broadway Cast moral code?
Posted: 10/31/20 at 12:12am
Dating anyone that has any sort of power over your job is never smart. Why? Coercion and favoritism tops the list. Not far behind is retaliation and and harassment.
Bway actors dating each other doesn't have that power play.
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
#19Broadway Cast moral code?
Posted: 10/31/20 at 11:47am
I don't think it's been explicitly mentioned yet, but a morals clause in someone's employment contract is not the same as a no-fraternization policy. They are different things. As others have already mentioned, there is a big difference between a consensual relationship between co-workers and sexual harassment/coercion.
Consensual relationships can lead to termination or action, of course. Jed Bernstein was forced to resign as president of Lincoln Center several years ago over a consensual, but undisclosed, sexual relationship with a woman who reported to him. Most companies require employees who are in a relationship to disclose that fact so that there isn't even the suggestion of impropriety.
On the other side of the coin -- for most people, whether they work on Broadway or in an office building, work is where they spend the majority of their time. To say that there can be no dating among co-workers is unfair and unrealistic.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
Dollypop
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#20Broadway Cast moral code?
Posted: 10/31/20 at 1:59pmI'm a retired teacher and if there was a marriage between staff members one of the couple would be transferred to another school in the district. It was routine.
"Long live God!" (GODSPELL)
#21Broadway Cast moral code?
Posted: 10/31/20 at 2:52pmI worked for fitness company (that many Broadway actors worked for as well) and while it was highly discouraged to not engage with each other in a relationship sense, it was happening all the time. So no, it’s not unheard of to have that clause in a contract. It can make a work environment uncomfortable or difficult (as most relationships have their ups and downs) and companies don’t want their employees to have conflict or personal issues getting in the way of their professional duties.
I am big. It’s the REVIVALS that got small.
Broadway61004
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/14/11
#22Broadway Cast moral code?
Posted: 10/31/20 at 3:31pm
dramamama611 said: "Dating anyone that has any sort of power over your job is never smart. Why? Coercion and favoritism tops the list. Not far behind is retaliation and and harassment.
Bway actors dating each other doesn't have that power play.
"
Broadway actors dating each other doesn't have that power play, but I do find it interesting that there's never been a big deal made about directors casting someone they're romantically involved with. Generally speaking, managers in the workplace at most companies would not be allowed to date someone on their team as it could be a major conflict of interest (one would be transferred to another team, typically). But when a director (or producer, casting director, company manager, etc.) is in a position of power over an actor they're romantically involved with, it's no big deal. Not at all saying it should be a big deal, just interesting that it's never been a big deal in this scenario when it has been in a lot of other professions.
#23Broadway Cast moral code?
Posted: 10/31/20 at 4:11pm
HogansHero said:
As already rehearsed, yes. (ditto for a non-Broadway show)
HH I noticed on numerous threads that you use the word 'rehearsed' in a way I don't understand, as above.
Do you mean 'gone over many times'?
#24Broadway Cast moral code?
Posted: 10/31/20 at 5:36pm
@Broadway61004 I think the corporate prohibitions on dating etc are kinda silly (more than anything, they take potential problems and hide them behind a screen) but there is no question that romantic relationships in show business (actually in any creative endeavor) are certainly not prohibited and in fact lead to great work that might otherwise never have happened. Yes there are some infamous problems that result, but not all that many in the scheme of things. People fall in love with their muses. Corporate policy is not going to stop that. Do we really want some rule (that isn't especially effective anyway) that would have prevented Lunt and Fontanne (or any of the other examples)?
@SweetLips22 yes, that's it. See, you did understand all along? 
#25Broadway Cast moral code?
Posted: 11/1/20 at 1:20am
At least one brain cell seems to be working then.
