| Work is both the way in which we bring the satisfaction of material rewards and upward mobility into our lives and our potential source of alienation and frustration because of the lack of dignity we receive on the job. Dignity among academic theatre collaborators was defined in this study as the sense of respect one experiences and the trust one feels from co-collaborators. When collaborators' found their dignity challenged by abuse, overwork, or lack of autonomy, then they individually created actions to maintain or regain their dignity.;Four areas of research illuminated the findings of this study regarding the challenges and the strategies collaborators faced. These areas included status roles and hierarchies, gender inequality, leadership, and the socialization of theatre students. The data revealed four conclusions. First, high status and leadership roles within the collaborative group combined with departmental authority and complex social networks gave some individuals greater autonomy and power, which afforded them more opportunities to maintain and promote their own and, in some cases, others' dignity. Second, women in traditionally female dominated roles tended to express powerlessness and struggled to be heard, thus enacting strategies to maintain their dignity. However, women in traditionally male dominated roles holding positions of high status and having a great deal of power and authority tended not to see gender as a challenge to their dignity. Third, students, even those who held higher status and leadership roles, frequently tended to have their dignity challenged and their autonomy limited by faculty and staff members. And finally, directors as leaders holding high status roles within the collaborative group and within the Theatre Department defied the director as auteur behavior that is commonly associated with their status and approached their work as opportunities to teach students. |
