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In the theater industry, one place in particular where we haven’t seen the art of inclusion—yet—is rehearsal rooms. Creating kind, safe, respectful spaces where everyone feels comfortable expressing their thoughts can make or break a production. But when it comes to actually bringing that vision to life… the path doesn’t seem clear. This is why I’m walking you through my CULTURE Roadmap today!
Having a rehearsal space be one where every single human who’s part of the production feels heard, seen, and valued is a gift worth giving, don’t you think? Part of my mission with this podcast is to share what I’ve learned—and continue to learn—on my journey as an EDI consultant. In today’s episode, it’s my CULTURE Roadmap. This roadmap helps establish the culture of the rehearsal and performance spaces for every single show I’m a part of. You’ll learn 7 different pieces of the puzzle and get examples to help you put this into play ASAP. I hope you find this useful and I cannot wait to connect after the show!
In this episode, we cover:
What the Rehearsal Room CULTURE Roadmap is and how to use it
How to create an intentionally inclusive environment for rehearsals and performances
The benefits of thoughtfully creating an inclusive culture in theater spaces
Why it’s important to bring everyone in on this Roadmap—not just the actors
If you have any feedback about the CULTURE Roadmap, please share it with me! You can find me on Instagram and LinkedIn.
Links & Mentioned Resources
Atomic Habits (book)
Connect with Kira:
Thanks for joining me on this episode of Inclusive Stages! If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review on Apple or Spotify to help me reach even more theater makers, theater artists, and theater lovers who want to make our industry a better place for everyone.
Thanks to our music composer, Zachary McConnell, and our producer, Leah Bryant.
More about the Inclusive Stages Podcast
Welcome to 'Inclusive Stages' -- the go-to weekly podcast for theater makers, theater artists, and theater lovers who want to make our industry a better place for everyone. We'll chat with actors, directors, designers, scholars, and more about the current landscape of the theater scene and get their thoughts on how we can do better.
Host Kira Troilo will also give you a sneak peek into live EDI coaching sessions and offer actionable tips for creating more equitable, inclusive, and empathetic theater spaces that support and value the diversity of artists and audiences. Join the conversation, and let's collectively shape the future of human-first theater, one stage at a time.
This post may contain affiliate links, so I may earn a small commission when you make a purchase through links on my site at no additional cost to you.
The unedited podcast transcript for this episode of the Inclusive Stages podcast follows
Kira Troilo (00:03.038)
Hello theater friends, welcome to another episode of Inclusive Stages. I'm so grateful that you're here as always. It's just me today and I wanted today to share something with you that you can take with you, whether you're an actor or a designer or a theater leader, staff member, board member, anyone involved in the arts. I really wanted to take this opportunity to share something that you could take with you.
in your journey toward making more inclusive rehearsal spaces, because that's what we're here for, right? And part of my mission with this podcast is to just continue to share what I've been learning on my journey as I continue to learn. You know, I started this work because I wanted rehearsal rooms to feel better. So today I thought, what better thing to share than, let me stop there.
I'm gonna start that over.
Kira Troilo (01:08.604)
So today I thought, what better thing to share than the roadmap that I've been using in order to create a rehearsal room culture that feels inclusive. Now, I've been doing this for a couple of years now, like a few years now. So my roadmap continues to grow and expand as I learn. But I've come up with what I think is a pretty solid framework for
making sure that inclusion is centered in a rehearsal and performance space. So I'm going to walk you through what I have figured out. I want to know what you think, obviously, please reach out at the end. But we love an acronym here at Inclusive Stages, and the acronym I've come up with is the word culture. So I'm going to walk you through what I've created as a rehearsal room culture roadmap. Okay.
So first things first, you're starting a show. You're gathering a group of people for the first time, a group of, you know, artists who come from all different places and all different experiences to tell a specific story that is about a whole different group of people and their experiences, right? So the first step on the roadmap for me is context. That's the C. We need to consider the context of the rehearsal room itself.
Who's in the room? Whose stories are we telling? What's the subject matter? Is this a lighthearted comedy about friendship or an exploration of trauma in the 1900s or a gender bending take on a classical? Let me go back there. Or a gender bending take on a golden age musical, whatever the story is, right? Who are the human beings in the room?
telling the story and who are the people we're telling the story about. Okay, more context. Where are we rehearsing? So are we rehearsing in the city? Are we rehearsing in, you know, the deep country? And then where does the play itself or the project take place? So are there any, you know, there are similarities? Are there differences there between the actual place we are rehearsing and performing and the place where...
Kira Troilo (03:34.843)
the story takes place. And then probably the most important consideration of all when we're talking about context, why are we gathering to tell the story? I know that's something directors ask all the time is, you know, what's the why? Why now? Why are we telling this story? That's so important when we consider the culture of a room as well. Why are we gathering these people to tell this specific story? So for example, you know, if we're gathering a group of
black artists to tell a story about black trauma, why are we telling this story? That why is so important as we figure out the balance of how important it is to get this story across to audiences and also the cost to those artists in reliving trauma to tell the story. I hope that makes sense. So as we consider all of these
contextual factors, right? We can start to envision an environment that supports all of the players involved. So, first and foremost, before you even get into a space to rehearse, or start working on a project, just consider the context first. Okay, secondly is our you, and that is unify. Now that we've established the context, it's time to gather.
the group together and to do it intentionally. So, you know, we've considered context and who we have in the room. However, you know, I want to have a caveat here. There can't be any assumptions made about people. It's more just an awareness of who's in the room, what story you're telling, just a general idea, right? But when we unify, this is where we create a new system for the room, which is the equity piece.
that can work for the particular group of artists that we've gathered. That's the diversity piece, right? So creating that system that works for the people in it. And the only way we can do that is to get together, gather intentionally and unify, right? So when I set up rooms, this is what I've started. Let me go back there.
Kira Troilo (05:57.978)
So when I go into rooms, what I do now every time, no matter whether it's a rehearsal or a quick workshop or a facilitated conversation, I always want to unify the group around a set of guidelines. Some people call this a room agreement or a room contract, but whatever you call it is just basically a document, a living document that can hold the group in how do we want to show up at work.
How do we agree to be in space together to tell this specific story at this specific time? The guidelines around an institution or an organization, those aren't gonna be super specific to the work that the artists are doing in the room. So when I gather folks for this guidelines conversation and anyone who's worked with me knows this is where I start every time, I ask questions like, how do you wanna feel at work?
What are some barriers that get in the way of your thriving? What are your expectations of this process? What about when challenging moments come up or we disagree? What are some tools that we want to utilize in order to do that in a safe and effective and productive manner? So you can see if we don't start off by unifying around understanding that there will be missteps, there will be mistakes, right?
by starting off asking how people foresee doing that. How are we going to come together in those moments? What expectations do we have? Just getting all of that out at first that helps us to, all of us, no matter what position you're in, figure out what is this room? So we can really dig deeper into the context of what we've established and then intentionally create a room based on all of those factors.
So this is, to me, this is the most important thing you've created in this unification process, whether you do, you know, my technique of guidelines or whatever kind of conversation you have, you've created the first draft of an intentionally inclusive environment. You have centered people before you dive into the work itself. So super important. Then we move on to the L. I'm going to keep probably saying this is the most important thing, but...
Kira Troilo (08:23.448)
this is probably the most important thing. Listen, okay? Listening is so hard. And as artists, we have this ingrained thing in us that it's, and it's ingrained for a reason because there have been, you know, there's been retribution and there's been consequences for speaking up. But we feel like we're being difficult for...
for saying anything that's on our mind or speaking up about something that's uncomfortable or not working for us. So there are lots of barriers in our way to being able to speak and barriers in the way of leaders to create an environment of listening. So this is why when leaders say things like, our door is always open. You can always come and tell us things.
It's really hard to say that when you haven't established that it is a listening culture, that it is safe and available to folks to speak and that listening goes somewhere. So we'll go a little bit more into that in the next step. But I believe that creating several different avenues for listening is the best thing that leadership in theater can do. I like regular temp, what I call temp checks. So.
You know, just kind of checking in throughout the process and, you know, just, just being around, you know, as a consultant myself, sometimes I just go to, I shouldn't say sometimes all the time. I will just go into the room just to be there and just to listen, just to feel what it's like. You know, I won't have any other, motive other than just, just listening to what's going on. some people don't feel comfortable.
speaking aloud, so, you know, like I said, the different avenues for listening. So is it anonymous feedback surveys? Is it giving multiple options for people to go to depending on their comfort level? Sometimes the person who says that they're there to listen hasn't built trust with the people who need to speak. So multiple avenues, different options for people.
Kira Troilo (10:46.327)
And then there's also just opening the floor for listening at rehearsals or at, you know, working when you're working on projects. So rather than just jumping into, so rather than just jumping into work, why not give two to five minutes to say, hey, let's open the floor. Anyone have anything to share? Just carving out that space shows people that there is a culture of listening at, you know, in the project.
This leads me to the next step which goes hand in hand with listening, which is trust building. That's our tea. We can't just say we're here to listen and then what? To be able to share things in any setting, but especially in theater, we have to feel a sense of trust because so often as artists, our trust has been broken time and time and time again.
I love the book Atomic Habits by James Clear. I will link that in the show notes, but just the conversation that he starts and continues to have about building habits is so powerful. So I'm going to read this quote from the book and see how you feel about it too, because it's just stuck with me. Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become.
No single instance will transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity. This is one reason why meaningful change does not require radical change. Small habits make a meaningful difference by providing evidence of a new identity.
I love that. And James Clear is talking about habits in general, but for me, that's what it is to build trust. It's just these small votes, right? That build up. We can't just show up on day one and say, trust me, we have to build it. And, you know, we have this struggle in theater of not having much time in order to do that, but...
Kira Troilo (12:57.268)
we shouldn't let that stop us from attempting to build trust. So, you know, when I think about trust building, I just keep in mind when I go into any creative space, every artist there is carrying a backpack full of their previous experiences, and there's probably trauma in that backpack. There's probably a lot of stuff that needs to be unpacked. So all of that to say, you know, it's not a theater's or leader's responsibility to unpack that backpack, but we have to consider those invisible barriers.
when we're trying to build trust. So how can we do that? Here are some of my ideas. I like to make sure that we carve out that intentional space for humanity. Make it a practice to make connections in the room beyond the art. Again, we're all people. We're all just people, right? Working together. So we love art, that's why we're here. That's why you're listening to inclusive stages, I hope. But we are all people, right?
Reading the room is so important. You know, at the end of the day, all of us just want to feel seen and heard. So being able to be flexible in the space, depending on what's going on, that helps people understand that you see them and hear them. And that is a vote for trust. Responding to feedback is really important. So, you know, if you're listening, then, you know, some showing that you're listening.
is a great way to build trust. So this is so, you know, this might sound trivial, but someone says, yeah, my birthday is during rehearsals. Okay, great. So finding out when is that birthday, and then can we carve out five minutes to sing and maybe have a cupcake that shows like, we heard you, right? That is huge. So those small gestures, you know, asking about food allergies, or are there any needs that you have?
outside of what we've established in our room guidelines. So just building that trust, super important. Next up is unlearn our other you. We have ingrained in us as creatives this show must go on mentality without stopping to consider human costs, right? We just suffer later. So we've been really, let me start over there.
Kira Troilo (15:24.5)
we've been really slow as an industry to unlearn. So, you know, we're playing like HR catch up right now. We don't have HR. So, you know, if you think about it, less than a decade ago, people were staging sex scenes on stage with no intimacy professional. We've have so many norms that we have just let fly and we haven't stopped to consider and then perhaps unlearn. So,
I think in trying to create an inclusive culture in rehearsal rooms, we all need to try to be committed to unlearning. Unlearning the things that always have been that we haven't examined. So again, some ideas I've come up with. I love to create a discomfort mission. This is something that I've just come up with, but what is your mission going into any specific environment? Not just the art mission.
but the human growth mission. So are you going into something that is outside of your comfort zone? And if so, taking that time to say, okay, I am really going to use this experience to sit in discomfort with something or a theme, a story, or people that are unfamiliar to me and make it a conscious effort to unlearn around whatever that is.
You know, interrogating your bias on the daily, it's so hard, but just what is maybe just taking moments every day to say, what's going on here that I might be missing based on, you know, who I am and my own lived experience. You could also keep a journal, just write things down that pop up for you in rehearsals with something maybe kind of hit you the wrong way, or you got confused about something. I am a writer, so I'm a big...
Proponent of writing stuff down so you can process it later. Don't just let it fly by You can create the time and space that you need outside of the process And again then show up to the next process in a more mindful way, right? So, you know always continuing to unlearn that is something I am actively doing every day as well. So I'm with you
Kira Troilo (17:44.049)
Okay, next is super important to reestablish. I think establishing an environment in your initial rehearsal space is crucial. And equally crucial is when you move to a new space with new factors and new people, you have to take the time to reestablish that room because...
the room you were in maybe felt comfortable and great, and then you have all these new factors. It might completely change the tone of the room. It might completely undo all the work you've done to build trust and create a listening environment and all of that. So it is so important, especially in theater, to take some time during tech and reestablish the room. Reestablish the culture of the room. This 15 minutes can save you from...
massive tech blowups that don't need to happen, but can completely halt a process as I'm sure many of you can think of experiences when that's happened. And that's because there was no intentionally setting the culture of the room beforehand. So reintroduce people, right? We need the entire team, the actors, designers, directors, crew, everyone who's there, get on the same level.
Get in the full house light. Make sure everyone makes eye contact. This sounds so simple, but I can't tell you how hard it has been to carve out this time in the rooms I've been in. Now, you know, a lot of the people I work with just understand, okay, yep, we're gonna reground at tech, but this is crucial to me. We all need to know who we are with no power dynamics, no people up high in the dark with people in bright lights below.
then I just have so many memories of being an actor and straining my eyes through blinding light to see who's looking at me while I'm pouring my heart and soul out on the stage. And vice versa, those people, the stage management's been with the room, but the directors, the designers, the crew, they're people too, and they need to be reintroduced to the environment so that they can be a real part of it and be...
Kira Troilo (19:59.215)
considered as a part of this group, as an important part of this group, right? We also need to re -examine. So I bring, when I do guidelines, I bring them back into the room for tech, and we need to open those guidelines up again. We have new people, they might have new things to add to our guidelines, but we wanna make a point to read the rooms. I create a room mission statement, but this can be done in many ways. But what I do is I make sure to read aloud the statement that we've created.
as we welcome new folks in to this set of guidelines we've created. We might come up with a different or adjusted mission statement as a full group, but you won't know that unless you create the space to intentionally set up the new environment. And then we have to reacclimate, right? So environments, when environments shift and people shift,
We have to also just stay aware of the new space and check in. Again, I like to, if possible, I love to create the space for people to kind of reacclimate in a check -in kind of way, like chat with each other. Is there food or coffee or like quick engagement thing you can do with the group to feel grounded? I know time is always a struggle for us in this industry and it can feel really...
impossible to ask for 15 or 30 minutes during that wild week of tech. But I'm telling you, for those times where culture and humans have stopped the process in its tracks, you'll be so grateful to have had that 15 minutes, that 30 minutes. And then we are on to the last step in our culture roadmap, which is empower.
We need to make sure that the show team feels empowered to continue to reach out for support throughout the entire process until the final curtain. We can't make the mistake of setting up a room, having it feel great, right? You know, we're all good. And then we, as directors or choreographer, you know, anyone who is leaving the space after rehearsals, we just leave the performers, the stage management team and the musicians.
Kira Troilo (22:19.599)
off on their own. We can't do that. I mean, we can do that. I've seen that happen and the room can devolve because the audience brings a whole new set of challenges every single day. So we need to make sure that the people who are there every day during performances feel empowered to continue to ask for what they need, to ask for support, to share. And there's someone or multiple people listening.
So there still needs to be attention to the culture of the space beyond some folks leaving the project, right? So I like to say in this final step, empowering artists to reinforce this culture model for each performance on their own. So you can literally go back, this is why I love acronyms. You can go back and take every day through this culture roadmap.
So we can consider the context of the group with each new audience. We can make time to unify around that before each performance. So example, personal example, I remember in 2016 after that horrible presidential election, I remember performing a show that following night for a group of women business leaders. So the context of that group.
that we were performing with and what we were all going through and the story we were telling on stage mattered in the way that we unified before that performance, right? We encourage listening. Let's keep the lines of communication open so we can talk about what this is, how it felt. Are there additional needs coming up based on what happened in this audience? We need to continue to work to build trust every single day with those small daily actions.
We wanna keep up our unlearning journey. We wanna reestablish ourselves as environmental factors change. Again, something like the 2016 election completely changed all of us in this specific show. So we might need to reestablish an environment based on something that's happened in the world. And then we need to empower folks to continue to self advocate throughout the final curtain, right? If people feel it's an environment where they can share,
Kira Troilo (24:39.567)
they can be heard, then they will speak and they'll speak before it's an explosion. You know, they'll speak before it just feels too, too uncomfortable or, you know, just we've all been there. Something blows up and it's just been simmering and simmering and simmering. If we give people the opportunity to speak daily, then we take the fear out of it and we make a
We create a culture that just feels better for us all to be in. So I hope that was helpful. This culture roadmap is something that I continue to develop, but I have created an actual PDF of this roadmap. It's like a full guide. Let me just start that over.
Kira Troilo (25:34.672)
So I hope that was helpful. This culture roadmap is something that I'm continuing to work on and adjust and use and try out as I go. But I have actually written this whole culture roadmap out as a freebie for anyone who would find it useful. So it's a 13 page rehearsal room culture roadmap that walks through the exact steps I just walked you through with a lot of extra content in there.
You know, really my goal is to just make sure that we are taking those steps, you know, like I say in the podcast, one stage at a time. If we can make rooms that feel good to be in, then the people who leave those rooms won't settle for anything less after that. So we are making a huge difference just by creating that intentional culture and space in the areas of the world and theater space that we're in. So if you'd like this free,
Kira Troilo (26:33.103)
So if you'd like this free roadmap, this PDF for yourself, you can head over to Inclusive Stages. All you need to do is sign up for our email list and you will receive a free copy of this rehearsal room culture roadmap. And again, I think it's helpful for artists, leaders, and even anyone who's just a lover of the arts to understand what's going on behind the scenes. And as you enter rooms as an audience, is this a space where...
Trust has been built intentionally and we've empowered artists to ask for what they need. It's so important. So again, please head over to InclusiveStages .com to find this freebie, use it, change it, adjust it, send me any feedback you have. You can find us always at InclusiveStages on Instagram or on LinkedIn as well. We would love, love, love to hear from you.
So thank you so much again for taking the time to spend with me in my learning journey and just keep on building those spaces that feel good to be in. We'll see you next time.
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