Abstract
This essay addresses the distinctive challenges faced by technical theatre faculty during tenure and promotion evaluations. It argues that the work of theatre technicians, though integral to production, is often misunderstood by faculty committees grounded in traditional academic disciplines. The author identifies two primary obstacles: the lack of comprehension of the technician’s specialized domain and the mismatch between evaluative emphasis on product rather than process. Unlike directors and designers, whose contributions are visible in performance, technicians demonstrate expertise through planning, construction, and problem solving—processes largely invisible to evaluators. To address this, the essay proposes a structured strategy of documentation, selection, validation, and explanation. Faculty should document the full technical process through photographs and plans, select representative evidence of craftsmanship and innovation, solicit external validation from professional peers, and contextualize the work for academic committees through detailed narrative description. The essay concludes that without such systematic advocacy, evaluations risk trivializing technical contributions, reducing tenure deliberations to ill-informed exercises detached from artistic and educational realities.
Recommended Citation
Distler, Paul A.
(1986)
"Teaparties in Wonderland, or the Plight of Theatre Technicians at Tenure Time,"
Association for Communication Administration Bulletin: Vol. 57, Article 16.
Available at:
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/aca/vol57/iss1/16
