Behind The Curtain With Brooke Flanagan of Steppenwolf Theater
Brooke Flanagan is the current Executive Director for Steppenwolf Theatre Company, America's premier ensemble theatre. She has worked in the theater industry for many years, including working at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater and the Santa Fe Opera. JT sat down with her during Women’s History Month to talk about her work as a female business leader in the arts.
When did you know you wanted to have a career in theater/arts, specifically one on the business side?
I grew up in Nashville, Tennessee, and started acting, singing, and dancing when I was very young. I attended a small liberal arts school in New Mexico called the College of Santa Fe (CSF), where I received my CFA in Theatre with a concentration in Acting and consider myself fortunate that I have been able to forge a career in a field that started off as my passion.
I remember a key turning point in my journey from an artist/scholar to an arts administrator was a luncheon in honor of the CSF commencement speaker, Jane Alexander. She is an amazing American actress and was, at the time, the head of the National Endowment for the Arts. My conversation with Ms. Alexander illuminated the importance of an artist embracing their role as a citizen, in terms of advocacy and activism that ensure the arts are available to all and arts education is safeguarded in our schools.
That conversation shaped my drive as a professional, leading to a practice and body of work as an arts administrator that has included both management of organizations as well as the development of programs, capital projects, and civic initiatives/legislation that will impact generations to come.
How has your experience at Steppenwolf shaped your career and how do you think Steppenwolf has benefited from having women leaders like yourself?
In my first stint at Steppenwolf, I was mentored by our former artistic director and ensemble member Martha Lavey as well as our former Executive Director David Hawkanson. My initial tenure was about a seven-year stretch from early 2004 to late 2010. It was a time when Steppenwolf was trying to figure out how the theater was going to formalize itself as an institution—beyond the celebrity of the initial ensemble members. We went through an incredible amount of institutional reflection and visioning.
I had the honor to watch and participate in this process with Martha and David as they dug deep into creating core values and a vision statement for Steppenwolf. It was amazing to experience first-hand how important the role of a leader can be in taking the vision and the passion of all the folks who are involved on the team and focusing that to drive an organization forward. That experience created my internal compass, in terms of how to lead, how to think strategically, and how to ensure that as an arts administrator, my priority is always to safeguard the art and support the artists who call the company a creative home.
What strategies do you think the arts community can implement to promote inclusion in the workplace?
The arts and culture community has worked to center inclusion, diversity, equity, and access in our work for many years. That said, the racial reckoning in the summer of 2020 dramatically changed the tenor of the conversation—becoming less about education and awareness and more about action and impact. And, when I think about the conversations and the work that we're all doing now, it's really about creating a culture of belonging. Not only making sure that we have representation in the workplace from the perspective of racial and cultural identity as well as gender and gender identity but also making sure that everyone has a seat at the table and is offered a metaphorical meal once they take their place. Tragically, we have 400 years of systemic racism to undue, and that is going to require a commitment now as well as the continued work of generations to come. Inclusion demands both collective action and each individual committing to incremental shifts in our professional practice.
How does the Chicago theater world differ from its contemporaries?
There is a healthy serving of grit in the Chicago Theatre ethos. Our city doesn't really suffer fools. So, the work we produce here is very authentic and tends to catalyze very deep conversations. Our economics are different than New York, meaning that the institutional overhead and related costs are lower, so we can take bigger risks. This leads to Chicago theaters having less of a commercial lens in the development of new work. That allows the impulse of the artist to drive the development of a production, which results in thrilling experiences for artists and audiences alike.
Chicago has an extraordinary landscape in which to forge a career as an artist. And luckily, we have an ecosystem that allows talent to flourish, both on and off stage. This includes the work of the Chicago Film Office to support the development of movies and television/streaming shows “Made in Chicago”. It also extends to voiceover and commercial work for artists contracted by the robust network of advertising agencies that call Chicago home. So, it's a fantastic place to work as an artist!
What is your advice to young girls who hope to be in a leadership position one day?
Tip #1: always make sure that the job you're taking will engage your curiosity. Tip #2: make sure that the culture of the organization is just as much of a fit as the scope of the job you are being offered. Tip #3: ensure the people you are working for are positioned to serve as mentors for your professional development and will help expand your network. Tip #4: Ask yourself these questions … Will this job give me happiness and allow me to have balance? Will I be able to save for my future? Does the environment allow me to own my own space?
Never let anyone make you feel small or anything less than a valued contributor.
As it is Women’s History Month, what do you want people to take away about women that work on the business side in the arts?
I tell this infuriating story sometimes. When I was studying to be an actress and a director, I had a professor that really did not suffer fools. But you know, the more serious I got about my craft, the more counsel he gave, and one day in my senior year before I transferred to study in London, he pulled me aside and said, “Brooke, I think you have the chance to go far. But you need to know that you can never have a spouse and you certainly cannot have children. You have to give that up to be successful as a leader in the theater.”
You know, I have made it my life's work to refute that assertion. I'm not saying it's easy – but to tell a young woman that you have to choose – that really pissed me off. I am proud to say that I now have three children (in seventh, eighth, and ninth grade) and a spouse, who is also a theatre professional. I do think it is possible to be a leader of a major arts company and be an active and engaged partner and parent. And that goes for both gender roles, but I think that there is a stronger stereotype that women can't “have it all”. The road to balance is still something that we're all trying to navigate and that will always ebb and flow. But, my journey as a mother has made me a more compassionate, curious, and empathetic leader.
