1 INTRODUCTION *

2 ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE *

3 MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS *

4 CRITICAL EVALUATION *

5 REASSESSMENT OF STRATEGIES AND CRITICAL EVALUATION *

6 ENDNOTES *

1. INTRODUCTION

 

For our term project we have chosen METU Players, the university theatre club in METU, as the non-profit organization to work on. Our contact person for our project is Galip Özgür Yazıyurt¹, one of our group members. Having one of our group members as our contact person has some obvious advantages like getting first hand information (our member knows practically everything about the organization), observing the organization whit in its natural environment, easy access to resources (like Tüzük) etc. On the other hand we also faced some aspects, one of which is highly biased ideas about the current and ideal running of the organization. Being a member of a voluntary non-profit organization, our contact person is a part of the culture of the organization and is understandably –and sometimes excessively- possessive and protective of this culture. Throughout the report, we tried to overcome the disadvantages of this aspect by critical thinking/examination and communicating other members of the organization (which actually are friends of our contact member) and make use of it especially while describing the organizational structure and establishing a proposal for action.

While writing the report, we have also tried -sometimes had- to give information about the ‘values’ METU Players is based on and some important details. For the sake of the conceptual integrity of the report, we give such information, including some comments, using endnotes.

To sum up, we should admit that our report sometimes loses the formality and unbiasness, which may be a characteristic of the project. But in our opinion, this informality comes partially from the structure of the organization we have been working on. On the other hand, our being biased does not mean being unfair in our judgements because of not considering the facts, but rather giving some weight on our opinions.

 

2. ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

 

1. General Council²

1. General Council is the top and the most general decision making body in METU Players.
2. General Council is composed of the members of METU Players who have worked for at least two semesters in the club.
3. General Council meets regularly at the end of each semester.
4. General Council abolishes the previous Executive Council at the end of each semester and establishes new Executive Council with secret ballot and open counting method.
5. Standing orders of the METU Players have to be read at the opening of each General Council.
6. Three of the members of General Council who are not the members of Executive Council direct the meetings.
7. Directors of the General Council, two secretaries and a director, are selected by open ballot from among the candidates.
8. General Council meets with the absolute majority of eligible members. When the absolute majority can nut be reached, number of the participants looses its importance in the second meeting.
9. General Council makes decisions with the absolute majority of the participants.
10. General Council meets extraordinarily with the written proposal of one third of the members.
11. General Council meets extraordinarily within seven days after the delivery of the written proposal to the Executive Council.
12. General Council puts the written proposal of the one tenth of the General Council members, about a change in the standing orders on the agenda and it is either accepted or rejected after the discussion.
13. Executive Council can call the General Council for meeting. Agenda of the meeting is defined in the call.
14. Members who have worked in the club for the last two semesters can vote in General Council.

1. Executive Council is composed of the members of METU Players who have worked at least two years in the club.
2. Members of Executive Council have to be the students of METU.
3. Executive Council makes decisions by the large majority rule.
4. Executive Council is responsible against Cultural Affairs Directorate and General Council.
5. The previous Executive Council presents its reports about the works of the club at the beginning of each semester.
6. Decisions of Executive Council are written.
7. Executive Council represents METU Players in and outside the METU.
8. Executive Council works for the highest communication level with the other clubs.
9. Executive Council works for the highest communication level with the other amateur clubs.
10. Executive Council decides on the proposals within a week.
11. Executive Council decides on the play proposals with their reasons and announces its decision on them with their reasons within a week.
12. Executive Council decides whether to perform the plays or not.
13. Executive Council controls the exercises and rehearsals according to the program drafts and proposals.
14. Executive Council presents the changes in standing orders and in Executive Council to the Cultural Affairs Directorate for the approval on the day following the change date.

1. Sub-units

1. Décor Sub-Unit:

 

1. Disposition

1. Preparation of a list of all the décor material with their sizes functions and in which play they are used in the list also includes simple drawings of decors.
2. Preparation of a list including the current situation of these décor materials.
3. Preparation of a list of material that are not qualified as décor (covering material, wooden, iron or aluminum pipes etc.)
4. Up-dating lists described above
5. Storing décor material according to their classifications. The storing should be in a proper manner such that the material can be easily reached.

1. Research

1. Décor use in contemporary theatre
2. Trends influencing the core understanding and their characteristics
3. Butafor (models used on stage) making techniques

1. Trips for learning about new material (“Bit Pazari”, “İtfaiye Meydani”, workshops, ironmonger)
2. Visiting décor storage of State Theatres and private theatres that can be easily reached

1. Training

1. Makeup, Costume, and Accessories Sub-Unit:

 

1. Disposition

1. Listing make-up material according to their characteristics and quantity
2. Listing costumes according to their characteristics and quantity
3. Listing accessories according to their characteristics and quantity
4. Storing each material according to the lists introduced above

1. Research

1. The understanding of costume during the theatre history (since Antique Greek until today)
2. The understanding of make-up during the theatre history (since Antique Greek until today)
3. The understanding of accessories during the theatre history (since Antique Greek until today)
4. The development, change, and evolution of make-up and costume manner affected by the theatrical trends
5. The relationships among make-up, costume, accessories, and player in modern theatre
6. Art of preparing masks
7. Butafors
8. The material of plastic make-up
9. The details of costume preparation

1. Practical information can be gained from State and private theatres
2. Also a huge file can be created by simple drawings of faces

1. Training

Some presentations both inside and outside of the club can be done. Especially a film, a slide, or a one on one meeting would be sufficient

2. Archive

1. Technical Sub-Unit

 

1. Disposition

1. All the technical material (illumination resources, tools) on hand are listed, and the list is put on the door
2. The storage is sorted according to that list and a categorized storage technique is improved
3. The technical needs are realized by the cooperation of the Décor Sub-Unit

1. Research

1. The illumination techniques during the theatre history
2. In-stage mechanisms
3. The meaning and function of illumination according to the trends
4. The use of illumination in modern theatre
5. The use of visual and audial effects

1. Practical information is gained from State and private theatres
2. Illumination resources, tools for effects in the market are investigated
3. An archive for effects are created

1. Training

1. Some presentations both inside and outside of the club are done
2. The members are trained in some subjects about simple technical know-how’s

1. Archive

1. Archive Sub-Unit

 

1. Disposition

1. The library of the club is arranged so that it is used easily and it is ran effectively
2. All the documents, posters, brochures, photos, slides, videocassettes are listed as archive and placed in sufficient space. A copy of the list is provided and put on the door of the archive room
3. The posters on hand are copied by colored photocopy in the size of A4 and kept in the shape of a brochure
4. All the information in the media about the club is archived
5. The cassettes about the club that are owned by the TV channels are archived
6. Some studies in order to enrich the library are made and some new cassettes are provided

1. Research

Some relationships are provided with libraries and archive departments of organizations in order to get information about archive techniques and document saving operations.

2. Archive

1. Training Sub-Unit

 

1. Disposition

1. The training file on hand is checked and some lacking studies are identified
2. Some new study topics are investigated and related subjects are identified
3. The pool of tirades is enlarged
4. Voice-breathe and diction-articulation studies are detailed by new investigations and inventions
5. The working principles with the other sub-units are identified

1. Research

1. Some studies are made on "Player Classifications or Types" in order to clarify the doubts on terminology and conceptual problems
2. Training studies are classified by specific investigations such as

1. Training of the body

i) Acrobatics

ii) Stretching

iii) Balance

iv) Control

v) Condition

2. Voice-breathe training
3. Diction training
4. Face training

i) Mimic

ii) Expression

5. Exercises about stage

i) Individual

ii) Group

6. Theoretical training

1. “Şenlik” and Press-Publication Sub-Unit

1. This sub-unit works with all the other sub-units
2. Before the “Şenlik” the communication network is established
3. The needs for the guest groups are determined
4. The studies in order to achieve these are done
5. Technical possibilities are announced to other sub-units by the help of Technical Sub-unit
6. The program for the “Şenlik” is prepared
7. “Şenlik” is announced to the press
8. The work of the sub-units are finished and exhibited in the “Şenlik” program
9. A group for reporting the activities in “Şenlik” is made up and this group is controlled
10. The documents and other things are collected with the help of the Archive Sub-unit
11. This sub-unit transfers the data about the studies of the Training Sub-unit when needed
12. A group for taking the photos or films during the “Şenlik” is organized
13. All these studies about the “Şenlik” are filed and submitted to the Archive Sub-unit, and the background for a “Şenlik” brochure is prepared
14. The results of the “Şenlik” are identified and a report should be prepared.

1. MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS

 

In METU Players, general council can be accepted as the main planning, organizing, and controlling body. Executive council selected from among the members of general council uses its authority to plan, and organize the activities and perform the leading function. The group members consider the responsibility inherent in the executive council as a managerial position far more important than the authority in it. The authority, in the meaning of rights to give orders and expect them to be obeyed, usually does not come from the managerial position but from the knowledge and experience of group members.³

In our opinion, the reason for organizations not being able to achieve objectives is generally hidden in internal factors. Motivation is the key factor for METU Players to achieve its goals. That is why leading is the most important management function in the organization.

 

1. Planning

 

As being a theatre group, the main goal of METU Players is predetermined; that is theatrical production in terms of training process, performance of tirades and passages, written documents, ‘şenlik’ preparations, and a play at the end of the year as the main production. Executive council develops plans and establishes strategies to achieve these goals. In the beginning of the fall semester, the executive council together with training sub-unit decides the training program suitable for the play that is going to be performed and which is decided by the executive council from among the proposals. The council determines the deadlines for specific activities.

 

2. Organizing

 

The executive council organizes the activities too. In the beginning of the year, the council establishes sub-units in accordance with the planned activities and decides the responsible people, who are also the members of the council and will report to the council about their activities. Final decisions about the activities are given by the executive council.

 

3. Leading

 

There is no leading body in the sense of accumulated power in METU Players. The head of the executive council has a symbolic meaning. He/she is responsible for the bureaucratic activities together with the executive council and represents the group in meetings with other groups and meetings with the president’s office. But the executive council can be accepted as the directing and co-ordinating body of all activities. Proposals about the activities and structure are all worked on by the executive council.

As stated earlier, the main product of the group is the play that is performed at the end of the year and the activities become play-oriented. In that sense, decisions and plans of the director of the play are very important, so he has to communicate with the executive council for a better performance, because the executive council is responsible for the communication among the sub-units and the members of the group. At the same time, as the period for preparations and practices of the play starts, the director seems to take over the decision-making duty and becomes responsible for motivating members, resolving conflicts between them and direct activities.

 

4. Controlling

 

It can be said that the METU Players as a whole, performs the controlling function. The group has a self-controlling mechanism. At the end of each year regular meetings, in which all the members join, is held for evaluation of the performances. Besides, unusual meetings can be held with the call of a group of members, about any subject. On the other hand, the executive council can be claimed to perform a continuous control over the activities of the group.

 

2. CRITICAL EVALUATION

 

1. General Information

METU Players has a strong organizational culture, the term referring to a system of shared meaning, understanding of the organization’s mission and objectives, political and ethical values, ideology. The organization’s culture has substitute for the rules and regulations that formally guide members; that is why there is little for written documentation.

Managers do not need to be concerned with developing formal rules or regulations. Instead, those guides will be internalized in members when they accept the organization’s culture.

METU Players has the characteristic of an organic organization. It is low in specialization, formalization, and centralization.⁴

This is a loose and flexible organization. The group members are trained and can focus on any area they want. The training process occurs on a master-apprentice relationship, METU Players is not a theatre school. The specialization does not mean doing only that job but nothing else. The group has an ensemble understanding, which means that everything is done together.

As the organization is low in centralization and the group members are supposed to have a common understanding of values and culture of the organization, the group members can respond quickly to problems and can initiate activities on their own, without disturbing activities that are performed routinely each year with contribution of the whole group (training program, play, “Şenlik” etc.).

As expected from a student group, the communication is informal, there are only rules resulting from the culture and collaboration is essential, which is also consistent with the characteristic of adhocracy.

What is the definition of culture of METU Players?

• METU Players do not sell its tickets; it distributes. That is seldom for even university theatre clubs. (Universities being the last "areas of freedom" for thought-including freedom from money)
• The art of theatre is under the threat of a capitalist consumption culture and a mediatic entertainment esthetic. In order to resist against this threat and survive, it has to bring high quality products into being. In this respect, as being amateur theatre players they do not have the luxury of bringing up bad products.
• In order to produce good plays (considering the plays as the main products of a theatre group) and as a sign of respect they have for their ‘work’, discipline is essential. Theatre itself is a discipline, so talking about discipline in theatre is a little bit absurd actually, but sometimes necessary.
• As it is stated in ‘Standing Rules’, it is forbidden for group members to take part in political activities. But as stated above, the organization has a flexible structure. By the way, theatre is political by definition.
• There is no means of elimination in organizational basis for accepting new entrants. People exist within the organization as much as they work.
• Power, in the meaning of an individual’s capacity to influence decisions (book), lies in knowledge and experience and nowhere else. But because of its being composed of ambitious young members, there may be some exceptions.
• METU Players demonstrates a practice living taking their job seriously and doing it as good as they can.
• This is an amateur theatre group. (See endnote 2)

The organization also shows the characteristic of an informal workgroup. A workgroup is considered as an alternative to formal organizations in the following sense:

Individuals are employed by an organization to perform specific functions. Although the whole person joins an organization, attention is usually focused on the partial person, the part of the individual doing the job. Because people have needs that extend beyond the work itself, informal groups develop to fill certain emotional, social, and psychological needs.

Especially for new members the organization satisfies the needs stated above. And it can be said that the degree to which the organization satisfies its members needs determines the limits within which individual members of the group will allow their behavior to be controlled by the organization.

The organization serves as a means of satisfying the affiliation needs of its members for friendship and support, provide a means of developing, enhancing, and confirming sense of identity and self-esteem, serves as a defense mechanism against forces that group members could not resist on their own. As a result, the organization serves as a means of escaping from depersonalization, because of formal organizations in everyday life.

Two points are important to note about the norms of informal groups that are also important while analyzing METU Players.

• First, where both formal and informal norms exist, the informal norms transcend the formal. At moments when norms conflict with organizational objectives, organizational effectiveness suffers.
• Second, members of an informal group may be unaware that the norms of the group influence their behavior. Norms are particularly potent because without knowing it members would not even think of acting otherwise-norms are that ingrained into their behavior pattern.

An aspect, probably related with the informal group structure, is the concept of ethnocentrism⁵. In this group, the members work seven days a week, up to thirteen hours a day including all kinds of official holidays (besides, they are students). Which means that they eat together, sleep together, live together and, most important of all, produce together. Being closed to the outer world is somehow unavoidable. This is considered as a weakness below but is necessary for producing a good play, which is the reason to exist for METU Players⁶. Combined with the understanding of culture and tradition of METU Players, this leads to the phenomenon of the group members putting the group and its product to the first place. I will not name ethnocentrism as good or bad. But the group should be aware of this concept existing inside the group and should not allow it to lead to underestimating or looking down on products of other groups.⁷

1. Graduate Members

 

METU Players’ tradition can be said to depend on the accumulation and transfer of knowledge. In that sense, interaction of the graduated and undergraduate METU Players is very important. Especially face to face relations of the new and old members is a must because of the lack of written transmission of culture.

Although being a university club, graduated members work together with undergraduate students in METU Players. Graduated members choose staying in the club after graduation, because being a university club offers METU Players some opportunities as well as some disadvantages. Not being a profit-oriented organization, and having no structural hierarchy, a player or a director is free to some extend in his creative actions about theatre in METU Players.

On the other hand it is not possible to talk about an organized graduated METU Players community, which continues performing after graduation as a separate body. The participation of the graduated players to the activities of METU Players depends on their will and ability.

Some graduated players choose participating to the activities not only as players or directors but also as financial supporters. But again, it depends on their will and ability. Besides, their financial support is not in huge amounts.

Together with graduated players staying in the club, some graduated players choose to perform in some professional theatres.⁸ That is maybe because they choose to earn their life by theatre after graduation or maybe because of getting out of the university’s pressures during theatral activities and enjoying a deeper freedom.

 

2. The Play

 

The product of theatre, what METU Players put on stage is the ‘play’. The play sums up all the effort of the year and accumulation of METU Players. On the other hand, play is the means through which METU Players articulate their ideas and feelings about the system, world. So the selection of the play should satisfy some criteria.

First of all, the context of the play must be suitable for the Players’ vision of life and politics. The group that is going to perform may change the written text in accordance with the vision of the group, during the practice of performance.⁹ In that sense, the context of the text, at least, should be appropriate for the intervention of the Players.

Another point is that the technical requirements of the play, either acting techniques or the mechanical techniques, should not exceed the qualitative and the quantitative potential of the Players or at least they should be possible to satisfy in a given time period.

METU Players believe in the theatre with the director, and play offers cannot be separated from the director nominee who offers the play. In that sense the director is chosen together with the play -vice versa- and the director should be qualified enough and get the consent and trust of METU Players. Director is the one who will unify the Players and he must be good at human relations as well as having theatral knowledge accumulation.

 

3. Other university players

METU Players is in contact with many university and amateur theatre groups. In last years, there has been an attempt to organize those groups, which gave some results in İstanbul. Theatre groups from BÜ, İTÜ, MÜ etc. and amateur theatre clubs have come together under the name of ‘Amateur Theatres Environment’. METU Players is out of that organization. In this report, we will not go deeper in that subject but rather analyze briefly the organization of other university theatre groups taking BÜO (Boğaziçi Üniversitesi Oyuncuları) as an example.

Generally BÜO has more or less the same problems, threats, weaknesses but more important than all a similar mission. There are of course differences in practice. BÜO does not have a director for its plays but a team of directors. In order to keep the consistency of the play they use the assistance of a graduate member. Here comes the main difference in the organization of BÜO. There is another organization, BGST¹⁰ (Boğaziçi Gösteri Sanatları Topluluğu), which was established by graduates of BÜ, most of which were members of the theatre and folklore clubs. This organization is under the constitution of the BÜ Society of Graduates. It is a ‘half-professional’ group in which the members have jobs other than theatre. There are teachers, financial accountants etc.

This obviously gives strength to BÜO as it serves as a solution to the problem of human capital loss. BGST is a pioneer for university theatre clubs.

1. PEST

 

Like all other student groups, METU Players is responsible against the Cultural Affairs Directorate. Each year there are negotiations between the Executive Council of METU Players and the Cultural Affairs Directorate about the yearly program of the Architecture Auditorium¹⁵ and the budget of the group, which are the two most important subjects to be clarified. Two years ago, the university management has began to make the student groups prepare a yearly budget draft at the beginning of the academic year. This is hard to do for METU Players because the budget constitutes to a great extent of the costs of the play (light, décor, costume etc.). As the play is usually announced in November, it is impossible to estimate the costs in September. This is supposed to be a bigger problem in the following years.

In the last years, money has always been a problem for METU Players and nowadays they should also resist against the pressures to utilize a sponsor. But the subject should not be misunderstood. METU Players are not after ‘big’ projects, which need a lot of money to do; their main capital is human, and they need money to utilize that capital.

Theatre art is always open to changes in social environment and habits. This not only changes the product, the play, but in such a group with high member turnover it also defines the structure of the group each and every year.¹⁸ In such a dynamic environment, protecting the mission and culture is only possible with preventing the human capital loss. METU Players must learn to write.

There are obviously a wide range of technological factors affecting METU Players. Use of the web page and the Internet²⁰, putting the archive into electronic environment¹⁴ are two subjects to be highlighted.

 

2. Mission¹¹

• Communicating and sharing thoughts, feelings and ideas by means and in the context of art of theatre.

• Creating living cultural areas with potential and active audience

• Producing alternative products and displaying alternative characteristics against the existing structure and common understanding of theatre.¹²
• Bringing dynamism to the static theatre structure.
• Seeking and employing alternative performance techniques.
• Criticizing the existing problems of the society in particular and the world in general.
• Carrying the production to different groups of audience even to those, which are stranger to the art of theatre.
• Surviving as an independent organization away from a concept of financial profit and any related concept.
• Keeping the culture of the organization alive.

1. Objectives

• Increase in the knowledge accumulation.

• Increase in the communication with other amateur and university theatres.
• Motivation for increasing research, writing and thinking activities among the members.
• Making countrywide tours to perform in front of different groups.
• Establishing more qualified ‘şenlik’ which has a richer context.
• Transferring the culture of METU Players to the next generations.
• Engaging in new production areas within the theatre besides plays like theoretical writing and forming a theatre magazine that will be published at least once a year.

1. Strategy

• Enlarging the library of METU Players in size and in context.

• Making the sub-unit of translation more effective.
• Tour opportunities around the country are closely investigated and followed.
• Undertaking attempts for organizing regular meetings with other amateur and university theatres to increase the communication.
• Making ‘documentation’ a must and giving written culture more importance.
• In order to select the plays that are going to be performed in the ‘şenlik’, they try to examine the plays and groups in their own places and try to increase number of panels besides the plays during ‘şenlik’.

1. Strengths

 

 

The culture and tradition of METU Players since 1960¹³

There is an accumulation since 1983¹⁴

METU students are qualified potentials for membership in terms of intelligence (if you consider ÖSS as a measure for intelligence)

Work force diversity referring to heterogeneous nature of the group members in terms of department, interest (other than theatre), regions of country they come from etc., which provides a multidimensional consideration of the subject matter.

METU Players have a well-known name especially in the serious theatre environment and among the serious theatre audience.

Having a stage and a room, which is actually a very important resource for every theatre group.¹⁵

 

 

 

2. Weaknesses

 

 

Restricted financial resources¹⁶

Personal interest conflicts

Underutilization of socio-cultural accumulation of members

Lack of diversified products¹⁷

Continuous loss of human capital¹⁸

Non-written process of knowledge\experience transfer between members¹⁹

Underutilization of graduate group members as a resource of experience and money.

Highly sensitive to personal relationships that leads to inefficiencies in the workforce utilization and sometimes is a reason for the group members leaving the organization.

Groupthink, which leads to undermining critical thinking.

As being low in formalization, METU Players experiences difficulties in adapting and transmitting their processes and training their members in them.

Sub-units cannot make full use of board members' expertise, time and commitment, and ensure diversity of opinions on the board.

METU Players have a web page, which can be reached through the web page of METU. Again not utilized fully.²⁰

Being closed to outer world and ethnocentrism.⁵


3. Opportunities

 

Potential, active audience in METU, having a sense\idea of esthetics, culture, intelligence.

Opportunity to interact with other cultural groups in METU²¹

Opportunity to interact with other amateur theatre groups²²

 

4. Threats

Pressures of rectorship for finding a sponsor

Pressures about the use of the Architecture Auditorium.

Decrease in the quantity of audience

Quantitative and qualitative decrease in new members

Politics of university management in order to centralize and keep cultural groups under pressure.

The recession in high school theatres which are a main resource of human capital for university theatres

1. REASSESSMENT OF STRATEGIES AND CRITICAL EVALUATION

Regarding the strategies, we see that they are consistent with the mission and objectives of the organization. Our SWOT analysis stresses the importance of making decisions that will ensure the organization’s ability to successfully respond to changes in the environment²³ unfortunately, this is not that easy because of the special structure of the organization. We definitely need more authority to sanction. For the improvement of the management processes we have identified following problems and made solution proposals for them.

Being a student organization, the general belief in METU Players is that routinization and bureaucratization may reduce opportunities for independent action and creative expression, but for those delivering and those receiving the results of routinization, there are some benefits in every aspect of management process. But as we are talking about art, creativity can not be sacrificed for any other gains like workforce utilization. Putting something on stage is more important than how you put it there (in terms of industrial engineering aspects). But of course, this mentality should not be exaggerated; this is still an organization and needs some critical examination of management processes.

As stated above, METU Players has 6 sub-units. These sub-units are established because it's apparent that issues are too complex and/or numerous to be handled by the entire board. Although the sub-unit has a specific charge or set of tasks to address, and board members understand the sub-unit's charge, we have observed that after they are established, they perform only a few of the functions, which are written above. Especially the ‘research’ function, which is essential for the survival of the organization and achieving missions like "Bringing dynamism to the static theatre structure" or "Seeking and employing alternative performance techniques."; is not mentioned at all after a few meetings. The sub-units turn out to be death-born structures with a painful and loud birth (long meetings, discussions about ‘how to do it’ etc.) and a silent death (they just disappear). The result is not only an enormous time-loss but also demotivation of group members, which is more important actually.²⁴ To deal with this important issue of utilizing sub-units, we propose the following action to be taken:

1. Have at least two board members on each sub-unit, preferably three
2. Don't have a member on more than two sub-units
3. In each board meeting, have each sub-unit chair report the sub-unit's work since the past board meeting
4. Sub-unit chairs are appointed by the executive council; consider asking sub-units members for a volunteer for sub-unit chair

Another important issue to deal with is the insufficiency of internal mechanisms to force the group members to fulfill their responsibilities. This is of course not that easy. Control here comes through education and training and the sharing of values and ethical standards which inspire loyalty. Unfortunately, this understanding can easily be abused. Abuses of goodwill in such an organization erect disbelief in this goodwill and again demotivation.

Our proposal is increasing the level of formality in the organization and using the executive council as a controlling mechanism more effectively as it is the holder of the right of sanction. This right can be used in the following way:

1. The executive council has already the right to discharge group members for three absences without excuse. The council can use its authority in such cases.
2. The executive council can force the group members to explain their absenteeism in front of other group members.

1. ENDNOTES

1. Galip Özgür Yazıyurt

Member of METU Players since 1996,

Member of the executive council 1997-2000 (5 semesters)

Head of the executive council 2000 2.semester

2. While preparing the tasks of general council and executive council, Standing Orders (tüzük) is utilized
3. This actually is the ideal case, which is not always true. Sometimes, the ‘loud-mouth’ rules.
4. Being amateur does not mean some fickle people coming together to satisfy their desires. There are many difficulties an amateur theatre player (amatör tiyatrocu) has to face. Amateur theatre player is an actor, a carpenter, a painter, a tailor, an electrician, an artist; gets ready for his play, prepares his décor himself, paints himself, attaches the wires for his light, sews his costumes, distributes his tickets. (Taken from the introductory booklet of " Şenlik’66")
5. We will use the description of ethnocentrism in the analysis of Roy Preiswerk and Dominique Perrot, Ethnocentrisme et historie: L’Afrique, l’Amérique indienne et local’Asie dans les manuels occidentaux (Paris, Anthropos, 1975, p.49): "Ethnocentrism is the manner of a group made up of choosing a centric place for itself with respect to other groups, putting more value on its products and freedoms and showing a reflective behavior against other groups."
6. This is a totally biased opinion of course.
7. To give an example: All the group members share more or less the same idea about State Theatres: ‘The State Theatres produce plays of little political (‘State’ Theaters) and esthetical value.’ Whether this is true or not is out of the scope of this report. What should be mentioned is that there is a difference between a ‘learned idea’ and a ‘common understanding’.

8. One of the graduate members is working in the group of Şahika Tekand, another one has prepared the décor for a play of State Theatres etc.
9. "Theatral searchings during 60’s and 70’s have put two important concepts in the center : Régie and Régisseur. And those concepts have ended the period of playwright theatre began the régisseur theatre." (Taken from the foreword of Patrice Pavis’ book: To Stage, The Crossing of Cultures/Authority Croisement des Cultures, Turkish translation: Ankara, Dost, 1999, p.12)

There is a difference between the written text and the performance text.

10. For further information about BGST, you can take a look at Mimesis Theatre/Translation-Research Magazine 6, BÜ Press,1996.

11. In 1960 as METU Players was first established, the mission of the founders was

12. The amateur theatre practice (see culture of METU Players and footnote 2) displayed especially by university theatres like METU Players, ITU Players, BU Players etc. is an alternative for e.g. State Theatres, where there is more or less a government official perception (memur zihniyeti) of theatre. (this again is a very deep discussion which is out of our scope) ‘Ensemble theatre’ is a common saying for describing the amateur theatre practice, which roughly means ‘we do it together’.
13. What the tradition of METU Players is, is roughly explained above, but lets mention some points again. METU Players is self-sufficient. The culture brings an esthetic\political understanding, which is the main resource for making ‘good’ plays. Besides there is an accumulation since 1983 (the archive was burnt in 1980). METU Players do not give graduates. There are members who are active since 1992, which means a huge experience. There is a "spiritual" (read: loving, sharing, compassionate, etc.) consciousness to the ‘group’ and theatre and at the same time "entrepreneurial" consciousness to ‘business’ among the members.
14. The archive was burnt in 1980. Nowadays there is an attempt to put the photographs and slides on a CD.
15. METU Players stage their plays in the Architecture Auditorium. This stage was build not as a theatre stage. There are problems in the acoustic and lightning systems, which need some repairs almost every year. METU Players are capable to use and repair those systems. They are also responsible for the cleaning and maintenance of this place and they serve -by preparing the décor or lights- for any kind of programs in the Architecture Auditorium if necessary. Each and every year, the executive council has to make ‘long’ negotiations with the Cultural Affairs Directorate to come to an agreement about the yearly program of the Architecture Auditorium. The problem here is that the METU Players is not the only student group that needs a stage. The Architecture Auditorium is the only place where they can stage their products inside the university, because the Cultural and Convention Center, which was build for the use of university, is ‘rented’ to the students for some thousand dollars, which is a shame for METU actually.
16. METU Players insist on depending only on the resources of the university and believe that to support students by ‘producing’ is a very important part of the mission of a university. Why does a university exist at all actually?
17. Considering theatre as a means of expressing thoughts and ideas and considering the ‘group’ as an area of freedom and as a resource of thoughts and ideas, this area can be utilized by group members for other means of expressing these thoughts like ‘writing’ (plays, articles or any kind of manifestation of METU Players). By the way, it should not be forgotten that this is a theatre group.
18. In many university theatre groups, there is a small group of people supporting and enduring the activities of the group. With their energy, devotion and obstinacy, products of high esthetical\political value are brought into being which adds a value on the culture of the group and prepares the base on which the organization survives. But after they leave because of graduation or any other reason, the group is under the threat to loose the whole experience of this member, which means a lot to a university theatre group. One reason for that is the lack of a complementary institution (a theatre group out of the university), in which METU Players can continue ‘producing’. This can be summarized as lack of permanent staffing\institutionalization. Another reason is the lack of an alternative\opposite (muhalif) cultural understanding, which is essential for a theatre group to build up long term work groups (main reason for the people staying there). With the dynamic environment and dynamic characteristic of the group members, METU Players is now experiencing this problem too.
19. Transmission to written culture may help fighting against human capital loss. Every member of the group agrees upon that fact, but does a little for progressing. Actually two years ago there has been a serious attempt to write the ideas and put tem into archive. This attempt was an obvious failure. The problem was that the group members started to communicate on paper and stop talking which led to misunderstandings and non-understandings between the group members. Lack of effective communication –even in such a student group- or the discussion about the degree of formalization are some points where this subject may be related. On the other hand written ideas or proposals are not considered effectively within the group and even by the executive council although this is a primary task of the executive council. This partially is simply because of laziness. Another reason is the ‘wrong’ belief of sincerity inside the group. Everyone thinks that if someone has something to say or want to share something, he can simply say. This is not always true. In our opinion, here comes the concept of power into consideration.

Another aspect, which should not be forgotten, is the psychological effect of this process on the –especially new- group members. If a group member gives a written proposal to the executive council and receives an answer -positive or negative- that will make him feel to be taken seriously by the ‘organization’, which is sometimes a very big ‘thing’ for him. On the other hand if he does not receive an answer then it may break all of his excitement about the subject. (The properties of informal workgroups already stated in the report are to be remembered.)

20. This web page was first established in 1996. Unfortunately this again is a resource, which is not fully utilized. Although this is a ‘university’ theatre group members of which are using computers all the time, the web page can not satisfy the functions like introducing the group, giving information about the products, establishing a dynamic environment for interaction whit other theatre groups and the ‘audience’ etc.
21. Theatre is an art embracing many other arts like painting, literature, sculpture, photography, music etc. (bütüncül sanat). In this respect cooperation with other cultural groups in METU is a golden opportunity for METU Players. Unfortunately this opportunity is not made use of effectively yet. On the other hand, close relationships with other groups is essential for resisting against ‘pressures’ coming from the university management and other environmental factors; furthermore the groups have some common sayings (söylem), which they can support more strongly being together.
22. Bringing university theatres in Turkey together and identifying an organization model for them is a very deep subject including many aspects. These discussions are out of the scope of our report, but it should be mentioned that the ‘Şenlik’ (Üniversite Tiyatroları ve Amatör Tiyatrolar Şenliği) claims a very important mission of bringing the products of many amateur theatre groups together.
23. Like for example the dynamic structure of the university student characterisctic in Turkey or the changing relationship with the university management.
24. In such a time-, energy- and effort-demanding ‘job’, sometimes motivation is simply everything you have.