The crew deserves content warnings
This message, unlike most of mine, is not aimed at other techs/crew
This is for everyone else involved in a production: directors, stage managers, actors, producers, etc.
It has become standard to include trigger/content warnings for audiences—and this is a HUGE step in the right direction!!!
I have never once received a trigger warning before I started teching a show.
I am not a button-pushing machine. I have a past and I have trauma. If something triggers me, I—unlike an audience member (who has presumably read the content warning and decided to participate anyway)—cannot leave without risking my livelihood.
This may not be the case for everyone, but for me, if I know what I’m getting into, I can prepare myself mentally and it doesn’t bother me as much. I have gone into every single show I have ever done completely blind, and the onus should not be on me to ask something that everyone else involved already knows. Especially because, just by asking, I out myself as having trauma. If this is something that is done all the time, for absolutely everyone involved, no one is singled out.
It takes two seconds and you can spare someone a lot of grief by taking the time to do it. And, in my book, this sets you up as an Awesome Person to Work With from the get-go! Which is a great place to start for everyone!
My personal thought would be for the stage manager to quietly mention any major content warnings to any crew at or around the Q2Q, but obviously it’ll be different for different productions.
Thank you from the bottom of my little stagefeet!
The crew deserves content warnings
