Hello All,
I had a particularly difficult rehearsal today that resulted in the director having an emotional breakdown, and yelling at several child cast members. I did as much damage control as possible and have received e-mails like the following in my inbox. I'm still a student stage manager and still in high school...this is an increasingly important opportunity for me as it is a professional production, but.....I'm just totally clueless as how to respond to this situation. Here is the letter: (Names have been omitted to protect the identity of those involved.)
"(My Name) for the last few weeks, I've been getting reports of (Director) being verbally mean and angry. (Actor) wanted to quit a few weeks ago because he is not accustomed to this type environment and it had become uncomfortable for him. We encouraged him to be a person who stays with commitments even though they are not what he expected. I'm sorry to say none of this has been enjoyable for him at all. He is afraid of (Director), actually. Tonight, he burst into tears as soon as he got in the car because he was so angry he was shaking. He said (Director) screamed at a little girl and made her cry. (Actor) felt terrible for her and could not believe this behavior from an adult who works with kids. He also said you were yelled at and that made (Actor) very upset too.
I'm not sure what to do about all this. I hope it does not continue. I don't feel it would be fair to ask a volunteer to continue working in a harsh environment if things do not improve in this area. I know that putting on a play can be hard work and stressful, but it needs to be fun, and a rude hostile leader makes it very unenjoyable."
Sometimes in this business directors get angry or upset and that's understandable. However, this behavior is totally unjustifiable, and the above statements are completely true in this instance. I really like this director and have worked with him before on multiple occasions. This situation has left me feeling sick to my stomach and conflicted as to what to do...Thoughts?