GoodWork Paper 30: “Memes,” Genes,” and “Scenes": A Comparison of Veteran Professionals Working in Journalism, Genetics, and Theater

Author(s): Becca Solomon

Editor(s): Jeff Solomon, Series Editor

Media: Paper

Description: As part of the GoodWork® Project, researchers have studied veteran professionals working in journalism, genetics, and theatre. The goal of this phase has been an examination of the relationship between two aspects of “good": high-quality performance and social responsibility. While important similarities obtain among these three domains, theatre is distinct in several ways. Most instructive is the incredible passion theatre artists have for their work. As evidence, many of the artists interviewed described theater as a calling. Indeed, their work is their life, and more than professionals working in other areas, theatre artists evidence a confluence between personal and professional goals. Also unusual to theatre among these three professions is the importance of collaboration to the exclusion of competition. Finally, theatre artists describe their vital connection to the audience. Unlike journalists who write for a largely anonymous readership, or geneticists, who are similarly removed from the population affected by their work, the very breath and immediacy of the theatre audience shapes the artist‘s work. These unique elements of theatre may prove enlightening in thinking about how to identify and accomplish “good work."