OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Human Resource Frame Worksheet

Worksheet Objectives:
1. Describe the human resource frame
2. Apply the human resource frame to your personal case situation

Complete the following making sure to support your ideas and cite from the textbook and other
course materials per APA guidelines. After the peer review, you have a chance to update this and
format for your Electronic Portfolio due in Module 6.

1) Briefly restate your situation from Module 1 and your role.

I was an assistant director on the 2022 summer musical at Paradise Valley Community
College. There were difficulties and numerous situations to maneuver, including COVID
related issues, peer conflict, ambiguous management, and a lack of
transparency/accountability among the cast and crew in reference to the director.

2) Describe how the human resources of the organization influenced the situation.

For a community college theatre program, it requires the best from all people involved in
order to be successful. As we were on the back end of the pandemic, numbers for crew
members as well as the number of people who auditioned were small. This forced me and
the rest of the production team to essentially rely on whoever showed up. On a positive
note, most of the people were young and full of energy, which made them easier to work
with. However, the lead actors each had their own share of problems. The star of the
show did not like a costume piece he had to wear, so he decided to hide it and accuse
another cast member of misplacing it. This same performer would almost hourly remind
everyone how he has performed in “much more professional productions” and act
demeaning towards the cast members who had never been in a production before. The
other lead hated receiving constructive criticism. Critque is a huge part of theatre – it is
the dirctor’s job to take what the actor presents and help them make it better, so
resistance on this particular issue really slowed things down.

On top of the actors’ drama, the head director could not figure out how clearly illustrate
her expectations. She wanted the set changes to be smoother and more efficient, but never
gave anyone involved any insight into how to make them better. She wanted “more
dramatic lighting” for a couple of scenes, but didn’t articulate what that meant. She also
wanted the lights to come on earlier or later depending on the scene, but she wasn’t
communicating what was expected to the board operator so they could adjust. It felt like a

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 lot of whining and complaining without any actual attempts to solve the problems. The
last problem I will get into is the drama surrounding my fellow assistant director. For
starters, the show was only supposed to have one – me. However, this student basically
begged for the opportunity, and since he was a year younger he was going to be around
longer, so he was given the opportunity, regardless of how impractical it would be to
have three directors. Moving on, half of the ensemble class did not like him at all. Him
being present in the room was enough to tick them off. I tried to ease the tension between
the two parties and keep them separate as best as I could, but this was definitely a
temporary fix.

3) Recommend how you would use the human resources for an alternative course of
action regarding your case.

For starters, I would have used the second assistant director as an assistant technical
director instead. This would have allowed him to be productive and accomplish tasks in
the scene shop, while also giving him a reason other than “it causes less drama if you
aren’t here” to be away from the vengeful cast members. Second, I would have
encouraged the director to have a one-on-one with the star of the show to discuss his
attitude and behavioral issues. This could have built a bridge instead of allowing him to
burn all existing ones. Thirdly, I would have liked to have a couple rehearsals where the
actor that did not like taking notes would try out his ideas in front of the whole cast, and
then they all give their critique. This would allow the suggestions to come out not as
attacks, but as helpful hints to a better performance. It could have made the relationship
between him and the director smoother.

Finally, I would have liked to have noticed the director’s style of directing earlier,
preferably in the beginning of the production. This would have allowed me to step in and
solve more problems that were noticed by her passive comments. I was able to fix the set
change issue by crafting a flow chart, assigning a person to take on and take off every
part of the set for each change. I even pulled in three extra crew members to make it
happen. Nonetheless, getting into this mindset earlier would have only proved to be more
beneficial.

4) Reflect on what you would do or not do differently given what you have learned
about this frame.

Most of the suggestions above are from the perspective of if I had complete control. What
I would actually be able to do differently would be to jump in and overstep my role
earlier as previously stated, but other things as well. One of them would be to arrive at
rehearsal’s even earlier, and stay even later. This extra time would have allowed me to
notice more things that need to be done so that I can cross them off the to-do list. For
example, staying late would allow me to check in with the director and get a run-down of

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problems she would like to see fixed, and coming in early would give me time to fix them
the next day. One thing I wouldn’t have done differently is deciding to bring in my own
people. Having people I could trust as my own team enabled me to complete much more
in less time. I guess I wish I had brought them in earlier.

Another thing I would do differently is be bolder and encourage the director to be more
specific with her direction. As a student, I didn’t do this for two reasons. One, it is
intimidating standing up to someone who has 25-30 years of experience on me. Two, it
was traditional for the students involved to just go along with what the director says.
There was no challenging the creative process. However, if I was brave enough to do
that, it would have pushed the show to a new level. It might have caused a defensive
reaction at first, but the rest of the people involved would have benefitted from it. Having
to hear a director’s note from a student led to too many follow-up questions concerning
its validity, and some were ignored. If they came from her directly, it would have been
more effective.