American Theatre’s annual “Approaches to Theatre contributors Training” issue is frequently devoted to exploring the ins and outs of a specific theatre discipline—which means that if you’re an aspiring actor, a special section called “The Path to Theatre Management” (Jan. ’07), focused on the business and administrative elements of the theatrical equation, may not seem like an absolute must-read. By the same token, if you’re the managing director of a LORT theatre with an urgent capital campaign to run, you might have little time to spend perusing “The Articulate Body” (Jan. ’11), last year’s five-part exploration of the rigors and rewards of movement training for the actor.
We do, of course, like to cast the training net wide from year to year, because the ultimate success of the art form hinges on the educational and professional development of folks who specialize in all its varied areas of expertise, from stage design (“All Eyes on Design,” Jan. ’09) to vocal techniques for actors and singers (“Pillars of Voice Work,” Jan. ’10). And sometimes, as is the case with this training issue, the topic deftly transcends disciplines: Assisting in the theatre—examined here under the heading “Learning by Lending a Hand”—is as familiar to backstage techies and arts education directors as it is to master scenic designers and leading ladies. Almost everybody’s done it, on one or the other side of the assisting seesaw—or both.
The last time we broached such an overarching category of training was Jan. ’06, with “On Mentoring,” a special section intimately related to the one in these pages. Mentoring also bridges disciplines, and mentors and their protégés are heard from in this month’s issue—but assisting also encompasses the entry-level grunt work and low-salary apprenticeships that help to build competence and confidence in working artists, and stretches in terms of earnings and prestige to denote a legitimate and highly valued career category. Assisting may not sound grandiose, but those consulted in the essays and testimonials in this special section agree that it is, by no means, a dirty word.
Associate editor Eliza Bent, who was a key planner for our coverage of assisting, introduces the special section on page 41. Staff shout-outs are also in order for Harrison Hill, a New York–based actor, journalist and AT intern, whose vivid account of several days in the life of directorial assistant Ilana Becker at Playwrights Horizons makes the abstract palpable (page 54); and associate editor Rob Weinert-Kendt, whose expert rumination on Stephen Sondheim’s Look, I Made a Hat (in a book review that has nothing to do with assisting) polishes off a very full back-of-the-book section with a delicious critical flourish (page 110).
You may never have assisted anyone in your particular career path. And you may never have experienced the dynamic of having an assistant of your own. These articles will make you wish you had.
