What We Do

Our audition process is a little different from most.

At first it’s a regular audition. We may ask you to prepare a text, or a song, or a dance, but we may ask for a short story of your own.

At callbacks, things get different. Everyone is called back together. We invite you to play with our company members for up to 3 hours. The callback includes games, exercises, and creative exploration. This is our chance to see how you work in a group. It’s also your chance to get a feel for the company and how we work.

We encourage you to ask questions, take ownership of the work, and dive into the experience. Our work takes time to create, so we want you to see how you like it, and see how you like us!

Auditions include the Artistic Director, the Executive Producer, and other company members. We strive to make the room welcoming and playful, rather than intimidating and judgmental. We want you to feel comfortable to play.

We strive to create a safe environment to welcome new voices. In the spirit of our continuing DEIA work, we may ask outside advisors to attend auditions, witness LaB’s inner workings, and lend their support towards making our process inclusive and transparent.

Each artist is a complete human being, with a unique life/work balance, including other jobs, partners, and children. LaB is also home to working artist-parents. This balance requires attention, grace, and care.

We holistically support the individual and their particular needs, in order to bring their best self to the work. In return, a balanced commitment is asked from the individual to commit that best self to the work.

To accomplish this balance, we employ the following practices:

• We pay a living wage for all hours worked.
• The full ensemble is consulted when building schedules.
• We provide or pay for child-care within reason as needed.

Liars & Believers (LaB) is committed to a work environment in which all individuals are treated with respect and dignity. Each individual has the right to work in a professional atmosphere that promotes equal employment opportunities and prohibits unlawful discriminatory practices, including harassment. Therefore, LaB expects that all relationships among persons in the company will be business-like and free of explicit bias, prejudice and harassment.

LaB has developed this policy to ensure that all its employees can work in an environment free from unlawful harassment, discrimination and retaliation. LaB will make every reasonable effort to ensure that all concerned are familiar with these policies and are aware that any complaint in violation of such policies will be investigated and resolved appropriately.

Any employee who has questions or concerns about these policies should talk with the Executive Producer, Georgia Lyman.

These policies should not, and may not, be used as a basis for excluding or separating individuals of a particular gender, or any other protected characteristic, from participating in business or work-related social activities or discussions. In other words, no one should make the mistake of engaging in discrimination or exclusion to avoid allegations of harassment. The law and the policies of LaB prohibit disparate treatment on the basis of sex or any other protected characteristic, with regard to terms, conditions, privileges and perquisites of employment. The prohibitions against harassment, discrimination and retaliation are intended to complement and further those policies, not to form the basis of an exception to them.

Equal Employment Opportunity

It is the policy of LaB to ensure equal employment opportunity without discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, marital status, citizenship, national origin, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law. LaB prohibits any such discrimination or harassment.

Retaliation

LaB encourages reporting of all perceived incidents of discrimination or harassment. It is the policy of LaB to promptly and thoroughly investigate such reports. LaB prohibits retaliation against any individual who reports discrimination or harassment or participates in an investigation of such reports.

Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment constitutes discrimination and is illegal under federal, state and local laws. For the purposes of this policy, “sexual harassment” is defined, as in the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Guidelines, as unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature when, for example: a) submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual’s employment, b) submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as the basis for employment decisions affecting such individual, or c) such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual’s work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive working environment.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 recognizes two types of sexual harassment: a) quid pro quo and b) hostile work environment. Sexual harassment may include a range of subtle and not-so-subtle behaviors and may involve individuals of the same or different gender. Depending on the circumstances, these behaviors may include unwanted sexual advances or requests for sexual favors; sexual jokes and innuendo; verbal abuse of a sexual nature; commentary about an individual’s body, sexual prowess or sexual deficiencies; leering, whistling or touching; insulting or obscene comments or gestures; display in the workplace of sexually suggestive objects or pictures; and other physical, verbal or visual conduct of a sexual nature.

Harassment

Harassment on the basis of any other protected characteristic is also strictly prohibited. Under this policy, harassment is verbal, written or physical conduct that denigrates or shows hostility or aversion toward an individual because of his or her race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, marital status, citizenship, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law, or that of his or her relatives, friends or associates, and that: a) has the purpose or effect of creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment, b) has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual’s work performance, or c) otherwise adversely affects an individual’s employment opportunities.

Harassing conduct includes epithets, slurs or negative stereotyping; threatening, intimidating or hostile acts; denigrating jokes; and written or graphic material that denigrates or shows hostility or aversion toward an individual or group that is placed on walls or elsewhere on the employer’s premises or circulated in the workplace, on company time or using company equipment by email, phone (including voice messages), text messages, social networking sites or other means.

Liars & Believers recognizes our privilege and our limitations as a historically white, cis-gendered, able-bodied theatre company. We are committed to changing, through inclusive and equitable practices and by holding space for diverse voices. This work is centered around practiced power sharing. It includes partnerships with BIPOC-led organizations, continuing our practice of universal design and accessibility, diversifying our company and our board, continual anti-racism education, and active participation in decentralizing European concepts of arts & culture.