TETA Board of Directors
Vice President - College/University
Merriam-Webster defines Teamwork as “Work done by several associates with each doing a part but all subordinating personal prominence to the efficiency of the whole.”
I believe this is something that every one of us strives to accomplish in our classrooms – creating individuals who know how to work as teammates. We attempt to teach our students that people don’t always see eye-to-eye, but can continue to work together to accomplish things. These “things” are are greater than anything that one person could accomplish when working alone.
This ideology should certainly sound familiar if you have ever been in charge of a theatre production. We - educators, directors, producers, designers, mentors, administrators - are responsible for creating an atmosphere where people can safely share ideas, critique each other constructively, and work together to create an amazing product – a “show”.
Recently, a student of mine requested that she NOT work on the 2nd team project, but be allowed to complete all the work by herself. She was an exemplary student, and was supremely frustrated by the actions of other team members during her 1st team project. She talked about the “Person who only supplied road-blocks but no solutions” and the “Person who was completely unwilling to compromise” and finally, the “Person who never did any work but showed up at the Presentation”.
She decided that she would rather work alone than “compromise” her ideals. It took several meetings during office hours before I could help her understand 1) the importance of teamwork and 2) the requirement of teamwork in her chosen profession or any profession! I’m not sure I can think of professions that DON’T require teamwork. I’m happy to say that she completed the 2nd Team project – although still venting about a few things in the written assessment portion of the team project.
We all work on teams – on campus, at home, at church - sometimes we don’t even realize it. Some teams are a pleasure to work with, while others are a bit more challenging. And this is the point where I state the obvious: Challenging does NOT equal BAD. Sometimes the reward is greater when the work is challenging (talk to me about a production of NO EXIT sometime!)
TETA is, in fact, one big team. We have a common goal – excellence in all levels of educational theatre – to better serve our students and ourselves. We may not always see eye-to-eye. We may have different ways of accomplishing the same goal. We might even view others as “being in our way”. But we will continue striving to reach our common goal! For us, teamwork isn’t an option…It’s a given.