Last week, at someone's personal request, I attended the Helen Hayes Award summit hosted by TheatreWashington. It was a fascinating gathering with a lot of interesting ideas exchanged. It was also fascinating because of who attended, and who didn't. I don't know the actual reason for the meeting, only the rumors I have heard, which I won't repeat here, but there did seem a segment of the DC theatre community that was conspicuously not represented.
First let me say that I thought TW made a smart move in bringing in a professional facilitator to lead the discussion. Some form of open mike forum could easily have become unruly at best, an absolute bloodbath at worst. And I thought the format helped set the correct tone. Beginning the discussion with thoughts about what the HHA does successfully allowed us to think about changes we wanted to see as additions to, not subtractions from, the awards as they stand now. Mostly.
There were a lot of interesting thoughts expressed throughout the evening, but there were two in particular that I wanted to respond to.
The first is the non-resident categories. This was said a number of times throughout the evening, but I wanted to give my 2 cents*: Dump them. I understand that at one time they were necessary to help get national exposure for the HHA, but that time is past. Actors, directors and designers are listing their nominations in programs across the country. The awards are reported in all of the major trade rags. If TW and the HHA are truly about the Washington, DC theatre community, then who really cares who did the best job in the touring company of "Spamalot" at the National. It seems that half the time the winner is not even present to accept their award because they are playing another city, which would seem to reinforce the point. Get rid of the non-resident categories, which would make room for expansion of other categories (suggestions for which I will not be making at this time).
Another suggestion made, that ended up getting a great deal of applause, was that eligibility for the HHA be restricted to shows that employed more than 50% DC based talent. I responded to this idea in a most inarticulate fashion, mostly because I have an almost phobic aversion to speaking in public**. What I wish I had said was this: I understand the impetus for this idea. When Stephen Epp was giving his acceptance speech for Outstanding Lead Actor In A Resident Production at this year's awards ceremony, and was going on and on about all of the cities they had played the show before DC, and all the places they had been afterwards, you could feel the whole room go cold. I half expected him to get booed off stage. I was angered by it. But I think trying to limit eligibility for the HHA on those grounds presents two distinct problems.
One, I don't know how you police that. What criteria are you using? Is the scene shop staff included in those numbers? How about the marketing department? And who has the time to look into all of that?
But more importantly I think the message it sends is that the only way DC based artists can be recognized for excellence is if we stack the deck in our favor. The first year I was nominated, among the other nominees was Walt Spangler. I can't speak for anyone else, but I was thrilled to be listed in that company, and I would put my work up against any out of town artist who is named in the same category as I am.
Still, I stand by what I did say at the HHA Summit, and that was the problem is not with the HHAs, but with the theatres doing the hiring. There is an insanely deep and gifted talent pool to draw from in this community, so why are so many artists being brought in from out of town***? And while I don't think the HHAs should be policing that, I would love to see TW lead that discussion. Some sort of summit to bring together artists and the ADs and Casting Directors from area theaters to discuss the issue. Because I do have some understanding of the reasons theaters think they have to do this, and I think it would be helpful for the rest of the community to hear those explanations, and for the theatres to hear artists' responses to those issues.
I applaud TW for taking this step to include so much of the DC theatre community, and I hope it will lead to more productive dialogue, and a greater awareness of how really outstanding theatre in Washington, DC really is.
*Like anyone really cares about my 2 cents. But this is my blog so if you are reading it, maybe you do.
**There is a reason I work on the side of the footlights that I do.
***There will be another post dedicated to this very question.
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