BIO

Sophie Patenaude is a freshman from Poland, ME pursuing her Bachelor of Music degree in Voice Performance under the direction of Dr. Sahoko Sato Timpone. A believer in the impact the arts can have on global issues, she hopes to work as an active operatic performer and teacher and use her platform to create change within the industry specifically related to representation, diversity, and inclusion. Her research interests include representation in performance art and production administration, casting, and creation, intersectional art, collaborative art, and production of new works.

Montage: The Tallahassee Theatre Index

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to create a collaborative platform where production and performance art communities in the greater Tallahassee area can communicate, collaborate, and provide for the wants and needs of a growing community of artists. This platform currently exists as a database filled with information about local performance art and production companies, opportunities for locals, and a community-wide calendar. Furthermore, the database houses our current survey which seeks to help the greater Tallahassee community address industry-wide issues related to the diversity of race & ethnicity, gender & sexuality, socioeconomic class, etc. in casting and characters, administration, and artistic direction, admissions, and crew work. This study seeks to learn more about diversity and inclusion within the Florida State University community with the goal of eventually encouraging open discourse around representation, equitable opportunity, advertisement, authority figure interactions, and the production of progressive work. Montage would like to be at the forefront of reducing/eliminating the disproportionate effects that current art production and performance trends have on BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, women, and socioeconomically disadvantaged individuals. This research would allow Florida State University to address growing issues related to diversity in performance art and production based on student, faculty, administrative, and community feedback. The university would be able to better serve its current and incoming students and prepare them for advocacy-related work as industry professionals. Furthermore, collaborative, community work could potentially have a lasting effect on diversity trends not just in Tallahassee, but within the performance art and production industry as a whole.

Keywords: theatre, community, performance, production, diversity