PLEASE READ COMPLETELY BEFORE SUBMITTING
This application is for individuals interested in being a member of the Majestic Readers' Theatre Company (MRTC) Play Reading Committee. This group will be the entity that selects the twelve 2021-2022 MRTC shows from proposals submitted by our volunteer directors. The committee will be comprised of 5-7 people. The committee members will be appointed by Theatre Supervisor Jimbo Ivy with the intent of representing the wide gamut of Majestic supporters: Actors, Directors, Musicians, Technical Theatre Crew, Donors, and Patrons. The committee will also include representatives from the Majestic Theatre Diversity Council (MTDC) and Majestic Theatre staff. For more info on the MTDC, check out their report at
https://www.majestic.org/post/majestic-theatre-diversity-council-report A minimum of five persons will be appointed by Theatre Supervisor Ivy from the applicants, with seven being the maximum number. Other factors involved in selection process will be a balance of identity / community, age, gender, and other factors in order to attempt to provide representation for our community as a whole. The committee will be selected by May 1st.
Committee members will be expected to commit 5 hours per week to the following activities:
- Reading submitted proposals and musical/play materials
- Meeting via Zoom as a group to discuss the proposals or via the Google Group forum.
- Meeting with directors via Zoom to discuss their proposals
- Processing feedback from our community about proposed shows and discussing it with the other committee members.
If it isn't clear, this will not be an easy task. It will be time-consuming and a lot of work. One committee member will be selected as the committee chair and will assist the Theatre Supervisor with organizing the meetings, workflow, and coordination of the committee. Please indicate on your application if you're willing to be the chairperson.
The proposal process will begin in May, culminating in July with the announcement of the new season. All director applicants will be vetted by the Theatre Supervisor as having the requisite skills and experience to be a successful candidate for the position BEFORE being allowed to submit a proposal. In this way, the PRC will only be required to pass judgement upon the shows and the director's vision for them, rather than the director themselves. This process reduces the potential for negative interactions between volunteers and keeps any decision based upon behavior or past actions with the Theatre Supervisor who is a neutral professional trained on an annual basis on how to make objective decisions during the hiring process, which the PRC process essentially emulates.
The plays that the directors are interested in proposing will be analyzed by the Majestic Theatre Diversity Council executive committee prior to being proposed to eliminate any material that may be harmful to historically marginalized community members before the process even begins. In this way, the harm that has been historically perpetuated by the Majestic Theatre in the past will be reduced and the PRC can focus their energies on choosing the best shows from among shows that don't amplify racist or other problematic behavior without context.
Application Deadline to be part of the PRC is April 26th, 2020.
Note: Members of the PRC CANNOT propose shows. Also partners, spouses, significant others or direct family members of Play Reading Committee members cannot propose while their related person is on the committee. Committee members will be chosen each year prior to the proposal season beginning with preference towards bringing new members onto the PRC.
