9 to 5

Director/Choreographer

I directed/choreographed this piece at The Hartt School in West Hartford, CT in the wake of the #metoo movement really taking root. The climate of how we perceive sexual harassment in the workplace was drastically evolving certainly from the culture of 1980 when the movie came out, but even since 2009 when the musical opened on Broadway. I took this charge very seriously and aimed to create a version of this piece that laughed off the transgressions less than the comedy in the might suggest. Obviously comedy is an effective form of statement at times, but what I wanted to avoid was the appearance of perceiving the seriousness of violence and harassment toward women as something we’ve moved beyond since the ‘old days’ of the 1980s—which the strong nostalgic bent of the material might seem to imply. I worked with the cast to reexamine closely each moment—both with the principals, but also the workings of the ‘officeplace Greek chorus’ to create more dimensional retellings of the events. In addition, we created a #metoo confessional-type lobby display which invited the audience to share their stories and included a video of the cast sharing their own, which is displayed below as well. Donations were taken after the show that went to a charity supporting victims of domestic abuse.