Intimacy Direction Conversation in South Florida Theatre Magazine

Last week, Luis Roberto Herrera, Gaby Tortoledo, and I sat down for a conversation about what intimacy direction is, and how it can support actors for South Florida Theater Magazine. You can check out the whole piece here. Hopefully, this is the start of a larger conversation with the community!

Bad Behavior in Theatre Communities

Shows with nudity, intimacy, and/or hyper-exposure require extreme vulnerability from actors. We have consistently seen actors in our community provide incredible performances in relevant, nuanced shows, in these states of vulnerability.

Sadly, they often get reduced to their bodies' appearance, rather than their skills in transporting us into a story. Also, how ridiculous that that those of us who are professionals in the crafts of theatre-making are doing this. We have the best opportunity to discuss technique, skill, character, and story, but we go for looks?!

Safety in theatre or in film doesn't just include creating a safer space for work to be done. It also means respecting the work AS WORK and our colleagues (and even when we are audiences, we are still colleagues) AS COWORKERS. Exploitation and harassment have no place in a workplace.

As a community we should be disappointed and horrified when exploitation and harassment happen, and are not met with resistance or the desire for change. We absolutely should less safe when one of us not safe.

This is not about 1 person or 1 incident. This about bad behavior.

No matter who is committing the exploitation or harassment, no matter who is receiving it: it is exploitation or harassment.

Carbonell Nomination

Thank you the Carbonell judges and the South Florida theatre community for the nomination of Outstanding Achievement of an Artistic Speciality. And deep gratitude for the Theatre Lab team for putting the Intimacy Choreography for To Fall in Love forward for consideration, Lou Tyrrell for being an incredible collaborator, and Matt Stabile and Niki Fridh for being the beautiful, brilliant performers they are.

See all the nominees here.

Just like with the Silver Palm post below, I want to take this opportunity to point out that “Intimacy Direction supports good story-telling!” Because, honestly, being a part of a team that helped support these performances, is what the work is.

I was the Intimacy Director for 2 of the 6 of the nominees for Outstanding Production of a Play- GringoLandia and One in Two. These same two productions also appear in the Director category, and Stuart and Delicia were certainly outstanding to work with! UPDATE: Delicia won!

1/2 of the actors nominated for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Lead Male Role in a Play performed Intimacy Choreography- Tom in I Hate Hamlet and Nathaniel and Randall in One in Two. UPDATE: Tom won!

Two of the Lead Actress nominees performed Intimacy Choreography- Natalie Cordone in I Hate Hamlet and Lindsey Corey in Overactive Letdown. UPDATE: Natalie won!

GringoLandia and Overactive Letdown appear multiple times in the Supporting Actor and Actress categories. I Hate Hamlet and Overactive Letdown also gathered noms in technical categories.

Seeing productions and actors get noticed for doing work that some might consider “too choreographed”, “inauthentic”, or some of the countless other criticisms lobbed at this work is my reward. Intimacy Choreography, Intimacy Direction, make excellent art! If I get to give a speech, I shall shout this!

See the full list of nominees in the Broadway World Press Release here, and the explanation of changes here.

How does an Intimacy Director Help Actors?

Earlier in September, I had a post about How an Intimacy Coordinator Helps Actors. And really, it’s basically the same for an Intimacy Director working in theatre, instead of in film. You can check that out here, or the previous post, What Does an Intimacy Director Do? for more.

There are a couple of differences:

• An Intimacy Director will review performance reports for anything that has gone off or any needs the productions have. I’ve had a scene need to be looked at again, because a costume piece had changed. If I hadn’t read the report, I wouldn’t have know about the change, and asked how it affected the intimacy.

• An Intimacy Director will create separate choreography for understudies that fit their boundaries. An Intimacy Director will also create a “Plan B” or “Health Option” for all contact-kisses that removes soft tissue contact, in case an actor isn’t feeling well. Whether it’s a cold, a cold sore, or COVID, folks shouldn’t being kissing while not feeling well. We’ll provide excellent choreographic options that keep everyone safe, and the story-intact.

• Since many Intimacy Directors are local to the theatre company where they are working, an Intimacy Director will help promote your show! More butts in seats are better for all of us!

Announcing Intimacy Direction in Dance!

I came to Intimacy Direction and Intimacy Coordination because of my work in theatre. I came to work in theatre as a choreographer and a dancer. Dance has always shaped the journeys of who I am and what I do. Since I started learning Intimacy Direction in 2018, and particularly once I met Sarah Lozoff, I had a goal of bringing Intimacy Direction to concert dance- especially ballet and modern. And now, we’re one step closer,

IntimacyDirectionInDance.com

Sarah and I, with the fantastic Renee Redding-Jones are excited to launch Intimacy Direction in Dance! We are here to let dance companies know that Intimacy Direction is available to them! And that there are professionals specifically trained in both dance and intimacy. The power dynamics, vocabulary, and performance demands of dance are all slightly different than those of theatre of film. So we want dance companies to work with folks who are well-versed in the dance performance, creation, and teaching worlds, so that the application of Intimacy Direction to dance performances is beneficial to dancers, choreographers, and audiences.

We are excited to get to work!

Intimacy Coordination in the News- August 2022

Emma Thompson Defends Intimacy Coordinators- The Guardian. 12 August 2022

“Interview with a Vampire” Series Team on Working with Intimacy Coordinators- Variety. 10 August 2022.

“West Side Story” star Rachel Zegler Defends Intimacy Coordinators after Sean Bean Criticism- The Guardian. 10 August 2022.

Amanda Seyfried Wishes she had an Intimacy Coordinator as a Teen- Variety. 9 August 2022.

What is a Boundary?

What is a Boundary?

“Boundaries” is a term that gets thrown around a lot in Intimacy work. But what, exactly, IS a boundary?

Check out my TikTok series on Boundaries!

A lot of times, we think about boundaries as “don’t touch my___!” And that’s valid! But, it’s also a VERY narrow definition. I like to think of Boundaries in 3 ways:

• Content

• Context

• Physical

Content Boundaries

What are you performing? Are there content, themes, stories that you should not engage with, for your own well being? You may find certain things activating, or simply not be your favorite kind of story to tell. If you are working towards being anti-racist and equitable, you will have boundaries on representing characters who have been marginalized by the demographics you represent.

Context Boundaries

Where are you performing? And, who are you performing with? You may be fine being in a state of undress in a 3000 seat house, because the audience is far away from you, and not with undressing in a 100 seat house, where you and the audience can see each other’s pores! You may feel confident performing certain acts of simulated sex with a scene partner you’ve worked with before, but not be ready to do so with someone you just met.

Physical Boundaries

What is my body experiencing? I invite you to open up your idea of physical boundaries. Instead of just asking what you are willing to have done to your body, also ask:

What am I willing to have my body do?
What am I willing to do (with consent) to the bodies of others?

You may be up for all sorts of content, in all sorts of contexts, but never want your body to be suspended above the stage. You may feel confident in having your glutes slapped in the course of story-telling, but not want to perform that action on others.

If you found these questions helpful, head over to the Shop at MomentumStage.org and download the Boundaries Worksheet for FREE! Then you will have them at your fingertips the next time you go to an audition or take a call from your agent. Just use the code “TIKTOK” at checkout.

Intimacy Professional Office Hours

I’m holding two events for folks in South Florida Theatre and South Florida Film to be able to speak to an Intimacy Professional. This time is meant to discuss how an ID/IC can support a production, whether you are an actor, crew member, critic, or administrator.

Register over on the Events page for the one that you are interested in, or drop your question in the form, and I will answer it during our time together.

We are meeting virtually so folks from across the region can attend, and that folks who can’t attend can still get answers through the recording.

See you there!