During Spring Break I attended the National Association of Schools of Theatre’s annual conference. I was the moderator for two breakout groups focusing on the main presentations.
The first roundtable for which I was a moderator concerned Compassion Fatigue. Compassion Fatigue can be defined as what faculty feel from being emotionally available/involved with their students and their mental/physical health. It can also be defined as empathy overload. This is separate from burnout, which is more a function of too much work in too little time or lack of resources. The presenter discussed how neglecting self-care, not setting appropriate boundaries, and how a history of unresolved personal trauma contributed to compassion fatigue. He also stated that it is especially prevalent in faculty with less than 5 years of teaching experience, causing them to leave the profession. According to the presenter, since in creative fields emotional labor is intense and constant with hard deadlines that can push people to the edge, he believed that setting boundaries and normalizing “small breaks” could help diffuse compassion fatigue.
The second presentation covered facilitating the healthy expression of conflicting beliefs and opinions. The talk centered around a specific performance project. The speaker had a consent-forward approach. Any aspects that could be problematic were disclosed on the audition form. Since the play’s topic dealt with concerned mental health issues, the director connected with the mental health department on campus to provide support and context for the actors. He had talk-backs scheduled so audience members could discuss the content and their reaction to it. One issue that came up was that people commented negatively on the play without having read the piece. He talked about consistently checking in with the performers at rehearsals and connecting their mission statement to the content of the play to put why they were doing the play in context.
