Nothing for the Group is a weekly newsletter about the American theatre.
Since its launch in July 2020, Nothing for the Group has built an audience of over 7,500 subscribers. It was cited as the "Best Way to Learn About the American Theatre Industry" in Washington City Paper's 2021 Best of DC issue.
Every Friday, I compile a round-up of industry news, reviews, links, along with my commentary. (I’m a little salty but never mean.) I’m interested in exploring the power structures and dynamics that create and perpetuate inequity in the industry, and dissecting how institutions frame their public narratives.
In October 2021, I started offering occasional premium content for paid subscribers, including in-depth season planning analysis and forthcoming essays exploring intersections between theatre and pop culture.
In June 2022, Nothing for the Group launched Bills, Bills, Bills, a monthly series of anonymous money diaries from theatre workers curated by Jenna Clark Embrey. The first installment was featured in The New York Times’ feature on pay equity and salary transparency.
I spoke about the origin and evolution of the project — and how it’s become a core part of my dramaturgical practice — on Rachel Lin’s podcast Upstage Left in November 2021.
Notable Excerpts
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August 20, 2020
“Your workplace is not your family. This language is designed to manipulate and exploit employees, especially ones that are younger, marginalized, and underpaid. It can sugarcoat organizational toxicity and dysfunction, or serve as a roadblock to career advancement: think of how many theatres advertise themselves as close-knit families, yet dismiss women who come forward about sexual harassment or abuse, silence BIPOC employees who call out racist and discriminatory behavior, or condition workers not to ask for raises or time off.”
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February 26, 2020
“it’s been over three years since the start of the #MeToo movement and we’ve seen dozens of similar resignations as the theatre industry reckons with workplace inequity, racism, and sexism. It’s inexcusable for media outlets to give artistic leaders accused of abuse and harassment a platform for their personally crafted exit narratives. Centering McSweeny's version of the story — one that reduces the staff’s brave advocacy to a marginal plot point — allows him to retain his power.”
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April 16, 2021
“The onus should not fall on former assistants airing their trauma en masse to persuade movie stars and artistic leaders to divest from a bully with a decades-long history of rampant, unchecked abuse and harassment. But this is what always happens: we rely on workers on the margins of power to tell their stories — risking their individual livelihoods — for the promise of a more just future for everyone.”
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June 11, 2021
“The theatre industry is also in the midst of a sea change — the regional theatre game of thrones, the financial ramifications of a year-plus shutdown, the calls for anti-racist action and accountability — creating ideal conditions for scammers…. It’s a familiar story: white man fails upward into a 200K salary and leadership role, assisted by corporate incompetence and a résumé woven out of red flags. But Christopher Massimine’s rise and fall also illuminates the grim reality of organizational power structures in theatre, and how, as Jia Tolentino writes, “scammers are always safest at the top.”
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July 23, 2021
“Over the course of my 15-year theatre career, I accepted countless low salaries and promotions without raises. It’s well-documented that unpaid internships perpetuate socioeconomic divide and racial inequality…At a time when American theatres are issuing passionate public statements about their EDI work, it’s beyond hypocritical to continue relying on unethical compensation models.
If you do not pay your workers a living wage, you’re not committed to anti-racism and equity. Are your institutional core values a practice, or are they words on your website?”
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November 5, 2021
“Every time I read one of these paint-by-numbers, heavily spun resignation statements, I always wonder: Who is the desired audience for this creative writing exercise? What’s the point of crafting a statement with the structural integrity of a wet paper bag, especially when investigative journalism and your own publicly available institutional documents contradict your explanation? Are donors and subscribers comforted by the glaring opacity and obvious spin? If real transparency is hampered by legal agreements and settlement conditions, why not say nothing? Powerful people will never pass up the opportunity to salvage the remaining tatters of their legacies — even when they’re halfway out the door.”
Press
“Explicit and implicit in Halvorsen’s work are pointed questions for theatrical hiring entities: If your workers are going to have to rely on supplemental income from a family member to survive, who can you hire? And if you think it’s acceptable to pay your workers less than a modest yet adequate standard of living, how much do you value them?”
— Lily Janiak, San Francisco Chronicle
“You should read Lauren Halvorsen’s Nothing for the Group newsletter just for the pleasure of Halvorsen’s wry, singular humor.”
— Nicole Hertvik, DC Theater Arts
“Passionate, committed, opinionated, and fierce, [Halvorsen] consistently advocates for a new and better vision of theater in America.”
— Mike Fischer, Forward Theater
“Halvorsen breaks down the week’s news with wit and context, while also pointing out the economic realities those working in the theater face. (The “This Is Not a Living Wage” feature, comparing listed salaries for positions with theater companies to that area’s living wage, is so depressing you can only laugh when you see the contrasts, which often exceed $10,000.) As theaters reopen and audience members decide when to return and to whom they’ll give their ticket money, they’ll need to make informed decisions. Let Nothing for the Group guide those choices.”
— Caroline Jones, Washington City Paper
“A must-read theater newsletter…Halvorsen has her finger on one of the most important reforms any professional company can make: the need for all employees, on and off the stage, to communicate any grievances directly to their board, whenever the artistic leadership grows toxic…As Halvorsen puts it: ‘The primary responsibility of a board is financial oversight—and that’s not changing—but it’s finally registering that they’re also responsible for protecting and investing in a theater’s greatest asset: its workers.’”