Text from the script of REVOLT.
Having It All
video
“We Should All Be Feminists” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Syncopated Speech
Our team has been playing with incorporating various rhythms and syncopated beats into the process — here’s an oldie from the musical theatre canon we are using as a bit of inspiration for one type of syncopated dialogue:
Lean In
In the first act of the play, a scene opens on a woman in conversation with her work supervisor as she negotiates a seemingly simple request: she would like Mondays off. As her boss pushes back by offering various perks and alternative options, we see the woman try different tactics to make her case.
The scene immediately calls to mind all of the ways women are advised to approach workplace negotiation. Google is chock-full of articles and how-to guides about the best way to ask for what you want in the office (see here, and here, and here for a representative sample), while career-focused conferences, workshops and books offer off-line suggestions for working women.
Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, released in 2013, is one of the most well-known books to tackle this subject in recent years. Part memoir, part self-help guide, Sandberg’s book offers suggestions for women in the corporate world, especially in the tech industry, as they navigate everything from office politics to asking for a raise. By providing personal examples, Sandberg shows readers how to “lean in” to corporate culture by identifying inherent obstacles for women and illustrating how to create opportunities for advancement despite the challenges. Though the book has been widely criticized for taking a non-intersectional approach and largely ignoring the systemic obstacles most women face at work, the book was a huge hit and helped to create a cultural moment where workplace issues like pay equity and family leave are in the public eye.
Advertising is one place you can see Sandberg’s concept play out in pop culture — here’s a recent Secret ad that illustrates one way a woman might “lean in”:
Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. 