Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Alli St. John. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alli, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Any advice for creating a more inclusive workplace?

A key result of hiring an intimacy director for a theatre production is creating an inclusive environment. The presence of an intimacy director ensures that everyone not only understands their own boundaries (physical, emotional, professional and cultural), but those of their coworkers. Historically, actors have been taught to always say yes and to eschew their boundaries for the sake of the art or director’s vision. Actors who assert their boundaries are warned that they will be known as “difficult” and will not continue to work in the field. I consider myself not only an intimacy director, but an actor advocate. I am present in rehearsals to choreograph theatrical intimacy that supports the storytelling as well as actors’ boundaries. If an actor feels unsafe, it is part of my job to ensure they do feel safe moving forward. For example, I once served as intimacy director for a musical that traditionally features simulated intercourse on stage. In collaboration with the director, I choreographed the scene in a way that honored the story that needed to be told while respecting the boundaries of the actors and the conservative audience the theatre serves. By moving away from a more literal interpretation of the scene and using creative staging, the core of the scene is preserved without asking anyone to cross their own boundaries.
Boundaries come in all shapes and sizes, and part of my work as a consultant is to work with educators, directors, or other professionals to establish a culture of consent that honors individuals’ physical, emotional, professional, and cultural boundaries in a way that sets everyone up for success and provide resources for people to get the support they need in the workplace.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I have been a theatre educator and director for ten years, working with students ages 3 through adults. During my graduate studies at Arizona State University, I began to research how high school theatre educators handle staging moments of theatrical intimacy with students. Three years of qualitative research led to the development of a set of suggested practices for building cultures of consent in educational theatre spaces, with a focus in high school and undergraduate theatre programs. A large part of what I do includes consulting with theatre educators and directors about how to center consent in their classrooms or rehearsals and utilize intimacy directing techniques to stage theatrical intimacy with minors or student actors. I specialize in working with minors, creative staging and storytelling that works within the boundaries of individuals or communities, and choreographing theatrical intimacy. Services I offer includes intimacy directing for educational, community, and professional theatre, consulting on consent-based practices for schools, theatres, and workplaces, arts integration, the creation or expansion of educational theatre programming, team building, and directing theatre productions. I love to work collaboratively, and one thing potential clients should know about me is that I will include them in every step of the process to ensure they are getting a customized experience that will best serve their unique population. I pride myself on my adaptability- I have provided services in-person, for short residencies, and even virtually.
While my practice started in the theatre, I assert that these concepts and services are applicable in any workplace, and I encourage people to consider the importance of consent-based practices even outside of the theatre or performing arts.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I found my home in the theatre as a young person trying to find herself. I was shy, I was obedient, and I desperately wanted a place I belonged. As I grew as an artist and educator, I frequently found myself asking, what is the difference between obedience and consent? How many times have my students or actors agreed to my directions because they wanted to or because they felt they had to? How many times did I say “yes” as an actor where I really didn’t want to? Actors are taught to say yes and be easy to work with or else they will not be successful in the field. This mindset has caused decades of harm for actors- the choice to be an actor does not mean they do not have boundaries, trauma, or accessibility needs. There is a difference between being professional and being “easy to work with”. Asserting your boundaries and needs does not make you difficult and it is necessary for individuals to have autonomy over themselves. It is my mission as a creative person who works with other creatives (and especially young people) to advocate for consent and autonomy in the rehearsal room. As an industry, we are seeing more professional theatres and production companies (such as Netflix and HBO) require intimacy professionals on their sets; however, it is less common to see intimacy directors in higher education and even less common in high schools. As a theatre professional who has worked in both spaces, I really feel that consent-based practices and the empowerment of actors needs to start in educational theatre. Young actors, early career professionals, need to be able to advocate for themselves as they go into the professional world, because not every theatre or film set they encounter will prioritize their physical or emotional boundaries. If we want to see a cultural shift in the professional industry, it needs to start in our training programs.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding part of being an artist is seeing how art impacts the lives of everyone who experiences it. Of course, it is fulfilling to create the art and I get a lot of joy and esteem from the process, but the best part of the work I do is the impact it has on others. Especially when it comes to consent and culture building, it has been the height of my career to see how much this work is desired by students and young artists and they so openly and quickly adopt these practices into their own creative spaces. They will take the skills and lessons from our time together and carry them into future creative and non-creative spaces they inhabit, promoting consent and boundaries as a standard of care and professionalism.

Contact Info:

• Website: allistjohn.com

Image Credits
Taylor Emerson Alli St. John Thomas Underdal Andrew McAllister