This past year at college, I had a lot of problems with a professor in the theatre department. I didn’t take any classes with him (although I have in the past), but my major requires working on production positions and involved working with him. I was supposed to stage manage a show that he was directing with rehearsals starting immediately after we got back from winter break. Before leaving for the break, I was already involved in the process because I was going to production meetings and keeping tabs on everything. Later that semester, a huge curveball was thrown my way and I ended getting incredibly sick and needing to be hospitalized/go home for extended periods of time. I had to withdraw from almost all classes I was taking because I missed so much class time it was impossible to do well. I didn’t interact with this professor on a daily basis, so I’m not sure he knew that I was sick–but I was taking theatre classes with other professors who might have told him about the situation.
Anyway, during winter break, I ended up being allergic to the medication I was put on, which made my health even worse. My doctor told me it would be a while until I would completely recover and suggested I shouldn’t overdo things when I get back to school. So I emailed this professor and told him that I made the decision to quit stage managing his show. I explained that it was because of medical and stress issues, and that I wouldn’t be the best person to get the job done. I never got a response to the email, so I was nervous about his reaction. When the spring semester started, I learned through another professor I’m close with and through students acting in the show that we was very angry at me for quitting. He specifically requested me to be his stage manager, and thought I was being unprofessional because I didn’t follow through with my commitment. What I didn’t like was the fact that, he never told me these concerns himself and I had to hear it from other people.
Also, he told the cast of the show that I quit because I just didn’t want to do it and gave up. This rumor ended up spreading through the entire theatre department, and I was embarrassed because a lot of people believed him and stopped talking to me. I would never have the quit the show if I wasn’t sick. Again, the only way I found this out was through the girls in the cast. Then, later in the spring semester, he sent me an email telling me that I’m unprofessional and will never get a job in theatre because I’m not reliable and have a terrible attitude. He told me that no matter how hard I try, no one will hire me and I need to think about how my actions affect other people around me. This email came out of nowhere and I didn’t know how to respond. My reply ended up saying “I understand your opinion, but with all due respect, I have to disagree with you. I did what was best for me, and I don’t regret that choice. I’m sorry that I inconvenienced you, but I couldn’t perform what was expected of me at the time due to my health”. I left it at that didn’t speak to him again after that because I felt attacked and didn’t think his criticism of me was fair. I did pass by him on occasion in the theatre building, but I’m now not very comfortable in his presence after his rude and inappropriate behavior towards me. I don’t know if I should take this to the chair or not because I don’t want to cause trouble, but I’m worried that this professor will treat other students the same way he treated me. If I do decide to take the complaint somewhere, what is the best course of action?
To clarify, your question is whether you should tell your department chair that this professor has mistreated you, because you want to protect other students from being mistreated in the same way?
To recap:
During the fall semester you were asked by a professor to stage manage a play that he was directing. You were “attending production meetings and keeping tabs on everything” until you got so sick that you had to be hospitalized. Somehow, though, nobody (including the director) noticed that you were sick or in the hospital or missing production meetings. You communicated enough with the school to organize withdrawals from your classes, but did not communicate directly with the director. Then, over the break, you got sicker, before recovering enough that you were able to go back to school as normal, just with a suggestion not to “overdo” it. Based on that you sent the professor saying that you were not feeling up to doing the job.
That you were nervous about his reaction implies that you knew that it was likely to be a problem.
You haven’t given any examples here of rude or inappropriate behavior (your description of his email does sound harsh), and in fact the way you tell the story makes it sound as if his complaints are legitimate. Even the language you say that you used (“I wouldn’t be the best person to get the job done”) doesn’t say “I am medically unable to do this job”- which is what was required: not “I don’t feel up to it” but “I can not do this”. Being asked to stage manage at that level is a huge deal, and the stage manager is the director’s right hand. You don’t seem to see this.
Moreover, the theatre world is tight, and if the professor was being grossly unfair at the least most people would have been supportive of you, rather than believing him and refusing to talk to you.
So to your question: is going to the chair worth it? I ask back: are you ready to face your own part in this?
Seems like you had a “selective” illness. The fact that you weren’t sick enough to withdraw from all your classes doesn’t help your credibility.
It was unprofessional of you not to keep ALL your professors informed. It’s not the responsibility of other professors to be a messenger service.
I agree that this is a terribly worded, weaselly response.
I should clarify, that by the time I got sick, there were no production meetings going on for the rest of the semester. I didn’t miss any of the meetings. I couldn’t withdraw from all of my classes because I should have graduated in the spring and was trying to stay on that track. Unfortunately I couldn’t, and have one semester left. I made everyone I was in contact with (professors, my advisors, registrar, and even the chair of the theatre department) aware of my illness. I did not directly contact the direct of this show at the time because I didn’t think my sickness would hinder me from being invovled in his show. I do understand the importance of being a stage manager because I’ve done it several times before. Of course I was nervous about his reaction, because this professor is known for using inappropriate language with students. He told a girl in the department I know that he would cheat on his wife with her if he had the opportunity, and that is extremely unprofessional.
Another example is last year, I directed a show that invovled stage combat and I choreographed the combat myself. I’ve been to several combat workshops and I also teach it, so I felt that I knew enough to block out this combat. I had other students and my advsior watch it to get their opinion, and they all said it flowed and looked believable. But this professor was the teacher of my directing class, and when he saw the combat performed during tech week, he took me to the side and told me how terrible he thought it was and that I should have just had him block it out for me because I clearly don’t know what I’m doing. I told him that he could come in to our next rehearsal and help polish the fighting, and that seemed to diffuse the situation. But the way he approached that interaction came off as condescending and rude. After my show was performed, he gave me some critique on it. I was totally open to criticism because it was my first time directing a longer show. The main thing he didn’t like, however, was two of the people that I cast. He thought they weren’t invested in the characters and said that I should have known to pick better actors. I worked with these two actors a lot throughout the process and watched them get so much better at the roles. And at auditions, the only reason I cast them was because I had last pick. They weren’t the people I intended to cast, but each actor was allowed to be cast in only one show. When it finally got to my pick, this professor was pressuring me to cast these two guys and talked about how he’d seen them perform before and how good he thought they were. But in the end, he berated me for casting them, which makes no sense.
Hopefully those are better examples of how rude this professor is. And as for people in the department believing his lie, I don’t fit in socially with most of the people in the department and because they don’t know me, of course they would believe it. For the record, in the email I sent him, I did tell him I was medically unable to do the job and was very clear that the reason I was quitting was because of my sickness. So he should not have interpreted it any other way. I feel like I was treated extremely unfairly and I see nothing wrong with the emails I sent him. Keep in mind that I was in a terrible frame of mind coming off of being sick and being insulted by him caused me a lot of stress and anxiety. I really thank all of you for your responses, and I am ready to face this issue with the chair if I need to. I think I just didn’t explain the situation well enough, and you didn’t exactly understand the problem. After the new details I provided it should make more sense. so do you think I should do something?
Based on what you wrote, it appears that you failed to keep this professor informed about the extent of your illness and the possibility of its impact on your joint project. If your illness was serious enough that you contacted your other professors then why not him. If he had known, he could have lined up a replacement in case you could not continue. You could have also offered to help bring your replacement up to speed rather then just completely drop out. As a professor, maybe he could have explained how you should have handle this better. On the other hand, since you have been in this role before, he probably felt you should have known better.
The golden rule in business and group projects is to keep your team and boss aware of ANY potential issues that could effect your project and team. You failed to do this. It sounds like you were closely working with this professor in a key role. You should have meet with him personally and worked out a plan to transition your role to someone else.
Personally, I would not got to the chair. As I would consider meeting with the professor and apologizing. In this case, your efforts might be better spent mending fences.
^Excellent advice. OP, not everything is about YOU - you have to remember that your actions have consequences for other people. It’s good to learn that lesson while you’re young.
The other thing I’d say is that a lot of being involved in musical theatre is having great endurance…my D has a friend at Northwestern and he’s dragged his butt on stage many a night. I’m not saying that serious illness doesn’t happen…it does…but that being able to push through it is a big trait of live theatre…its not always fair but there ya go…
If you are seriously ill, even episodically, you must notify all professors ASAP. Not to do so calls into question your commitment to class. Faculty as neither your friend nor parent; you bear the burden of keeping everyone informed.
Faculty aren’t particularly gossipy. Except we all learn the names of the problem kids, when someone complains of a elusive student who turns in little and faculty all nod. When someone is truly ill, faculty can be very helpful. If you don’t inform them, they will lump you with students who blow off class.
Moreover, faculty and even the school may require students to turn in medical documents to substantiate illness. You don’t realize how many students report grandparents’ death (5 at least died on a student in one semester in a class) and I learned sometime later that several more had died the previous semester. Students use and reuse the same excuses year after year. I wonder how anyone thinks they still do.
Lots of kids are sick on test days and want to take the test later. That can be arranged if and when the student submits verifiable medical information. I had one student who said she was unable to take the test because she was hospitalized. I asked for medical records, prescription bottles, bills, doctor’s note, plastic wrist band, anything. Nothing came. She did not have to worry about taking the first test until the final.
Another student, the top student in a difficult class, missed the midterm shortly before Thanksgiving. No comment ever from her about the missed test. She became hysterical when she found the missed test attached to her final. Oh, she was sick and in the hospital. Oh dear, provide me with any medical documentation and I will WAIVE the test. No, you should trust me. I insisted that I needed verification and she refused. I gave her an incomplete.
No word from her until the late spring when her dean called mine to tell her how mean I was. I was summoned to account for myself. I told my dean that I offered and would waive the missed test as soon as verification was provided, but it never came. Dean to dean again. The student’s dean did not know that the girl had refused to document illness and called the student’s adviser for a three-way discussion. The advisor sent the verification under threat of me turning in an F ( my dean wasn’t signing any grade change form with a passing grade until documentation arrived). I received it in the campus mail, immediately reviewed it, and included a copy of the grade change form (A) when I returned the verification to her advisor. That all happened in one day. The only remaining question from my dean “Why didn’t you make her take the test?” Because she was a super student, having a perfect average in all components of the grade. She was a good kid who didn’t needed to take the time and effort needed to get another perfect grade on a test she missed because she was so very ill.
Don’t talk to the dean because you have screwed up. You wouldn’t garner any sympathy if you talked about the faculty person as you described the teacher in your CC email. Instead, you could be joining the biggest s=list in the department. I understand how tight the theater group can be. You have burned many bridges and dug a bid hole for yourself. Serious reparations are in order for a long time.
No it isn’t worth it. I’ve had a run in with a professor and lets say we won’t be on the best of terms anytime in the near future. However, sometimes you have to learn from experiences and move on. What would you gain from reporting him? If anything you would get a fake apology, and that wouldn’t be worth the hassle. Now you know to document everything and not to rely on others to spread your news for you.
i disagree…if one is sick, one should drop ECs and stick to doing well in classes.
Maybe go to p
I think I make an appt with the Dept head and be very professional about the issue. Stick to the facts and talk to them in person…or maybe first talk to the Professor.
"I have a situation with Prof Theaterdude I would like to discuss with you. I am a Theater major and In January 2016, I was set to be the stage manager of “Name of the PLay” that Prof Theaterdude was directing. Before winter break that year, I had started getting involved in pre-planning for the play. Unfortunately, late fall semester, I was diagnosed with XXX disease and was hospitalized 3 times. I have documentation for that if you need it. I spoke to my professors, my advisors, registrar, and you about my illness. I did not speak to Prof Theaterdude because at that time I thought I would be well enough to be stage manager when I got back from break. Unfortunately over break I found out I was allergic to the medication I was on. At that point my doctor advised me that it would be a while until I would completely recover and suggested I shouldn’t overdo things when I get back to school. At that point I contacted Prof Theaterdude to let him know I would be unable to be Stage Manager due to my medical issues. I need to graduate and am still not up to 100% medically so am focusing on academics. I understand his frustration, but when the spring semester started, I learned through another professor I’m close with and through students acting in the show that he was very angry at me for quitting and thought I was being unprofessional because I didn’t follow through with my commitment. He never addressed this concern with me directly. Also,I heard from multiple other people that he told the cast of the show that I quit because I just didn’t want to do it and gave up. This rumor ended up spreading through the entire theatre department, and I was embarrassed because people believed him and stopped talking to me. Then, later in the spring semester, out of nowhere, he sent me an email telling me that I’m unprofessional and will never get a job in theatre because I’m not reliable and have a terrible attitude. He told me that no matter how hard I try, no one will hire me and I need to think about how my actions affect other people around me.
So today I am here to ask your advice on how to repair my relationship with Prof Theaterdude as I do not want him to continue to spread false information about me and ruin my reputation and career chances in the future."
I do have to say that your communication may not be the best…did you explain to him your diagnosis and hospitalization? Or did he just hear about “medical issues and stress” which would seem more flaky?
Sh
“My reply ended up saying “I understand your opinion, but with all due respect, I have to disagree with you. I did what was best for me, and I don’t regret that choice. I’m sorry that I inconvenienced you, but I couldn’t perform what was expected of me at the time due to my health”.”
I think I would have gone into more detail or went to talk to him in person.