Shikata Ga Nai
Shikata Ga Nai is a Japanese phrase that has no direct translation, but basically means, "You have no choice, make do." It's been our motto for the summer so far.
You have no way to weld and make steel scenery? Shikata ga nai.
The sightlines in the theatre are so bad that you can see into the wings from every single seat in the house? Shikata ga nai.
The stock scenery is crap that you have to tear apart and rebuild, which takes as much if not more effort than building it in the first place? Shikata ga nai.
The costume shop only has one sewing machine, and even it only works half the time? Shikata ga nai.
Today the technical director, stage manager and I decided that that phrase could no longer be extended to people. You see there are a handful of people on the staff who are not doing there jobs well. In some cases they are not really qualified for the job they are in, and are swimming over their heads. In some cases they are lazy, and unwilling to work. In some cases they are just tools that no one wants to work with. Shikata ga nai.
One of these has become a particular thorn in our collective sides and today the producer gave the three of us the power to decide what to do about it... fire them and try to fill the position, or just do without someone in that position for the remainder of the summer, or to try and supervise them more closely and make sure that they do the work required. The latter is where we landed. As unhappy as all of us have been with their performance none of us could justify firing them in our own minds. None of us were capable of pulling the trigger. So starting tomorrow I have to meet with them every morning just after crew call and give them their schedule for the day, and check their progress, and teach them how to do the things that they need to know to better handle this job.
Is it a good solution? I dunno yet. They will almost certainly resent me for this, but if they want to keep their job they'll have to do it. Will it fix the problem? I hope so. They very rapidly went from a mere annoyance at the beginning of the season when we were doing dramas to a full on albatross around our necks now that we are onto the musicals. Do I have the time and patience to supervise them and make sure that this is getting done? No, not really, but the quality of my shows has suffered and I can't have that any longer.
Shikata ga nai.
You have no way to weld and make steel scenery? Shikata ga nai.
The sightlines in the theatre are so bad that you can see into the wings from every single seat in the house? Shikata ga nai.
The stock scenery is crap that you have to tear apart and rebuild, which takes as much if not more effort than building it in the first place? Shikata ga nai.
The costume shop only has one sewing machine, and even it only works half the time? Shikata ga nai.
Today the technical director, stage manager and I decided that that phrase could no longer be extended to people. You see there are a handful of people on the staff who are not doing there jobs well. In some cases they are not really qualified for the job they are in, and are swimming over their heads. In some cases they are lazy, and unwilling to work. In some cases they are just tools that no one wants to work with. Shikata ga nai.
One of these has become a particular thorn in our collective sides and today the producer gave the three of us the power to decide what to do about it... fire them and try to fill the position, or just do without someone in that position for the remainder of the summer, or to try and supervise them more closely and make sure that they do the work required. The latter is where we landed. As unhappy as all of us have been with their performance none of us could justify firing them in our own minds. None of us were capable of pulling the trigger. So starting tomorrow I have to meet with them every morning just after crew call and give them their schedule for the day, and check their progress, and teach them how to do the things that they need to know to better handle this job.
Is it a good solution? I dunno yet. They will almost certainly resent me for this, but if they want to keep their job they'll have to do it. Will it fix the problem? I hope so. They very rapidly went from a mere annoyance at the beginning of the season when we were doing dramas to a full on albatross around our necks now that we are onto the musicals. Do I have the time and patience to supervise them and make sure that this is getting done? No, not really, but the quality of my shows has suffered and I can't have that any longer.
Shikata ga nai.
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