Bombshell Theatre's Intimacy Advocacy
Bombshell Theatre Co. proudly supports and utilizes the work of intimacy education in the theatre. It is our goal to provide an artistic workspace that encourages consent, boundaries, safety, and comfort to all those working under our care. We believe the practice of this in any production, of any genre or age, promotes an environment of communal trust that allows for creativity to thrive. Physical and emotional boundaries are not artistic limitations, they are instead invitations to explore a wide scope of creative possibilities safely and effectively. Not only do we aim to provide this positive culture in our productions, we strive to have those involved, especially our youth performers, bring the normalization and expectation of consent with them to all of their future theatrical and personal endeavors.
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Marcee Doherty-Elst is Bombshell Theatre's Resident Intimacy Consultant. Through her trained guidance, Bombshell Theatre is commited to providing Intimacy Training and Consultation to all of those working with us.
BOMBSHELL THEATRE'S
RESIDENT INTIMACY CONSULTANT
MARCEE DOHERTY-ELST
Marcee is a Certified Intimacy Captain (iCap) with Intimacy Coordinators of Color (ICOC) and a Consent Forward Artist (CFA)* with Intimacy Directors and Coordinators (IDC). Marcee began her training in 2020 and has trained with Theatrical Intimacy Education (TIE) in addition to IDC and ICOC. In addition to her 73 hours of training with these organizations, Marcee has also completed complimentary coursework in inclusive leadership and the power of workplace diversity at the University of Colorado and is in her final year of doctoral study at Tiffin University in Ohio where she is pursuing a PhD in global leadership and change.
In her role as Intimacy Consultant for Bombshell Theatre Company, Marcee provides training on consent-forward practices and protocols and serves as a resource for actors. Intimacy professionals are choreographers, advocates, and liaisons between actors and the production team for scenes that involve nudity or hyper-exposed work and intimate physical contact. They help create consent-based boundaries for actors so that everyone can feel confident and inspired as they experience stories being told onstage.
Make consent the culture, not the exception. Marcee provides an introductory “Consent in the Rehearsal Room” training and information session to the entire cast and production team in the beginning of the rehearsal process for each production in Bombshell Theatre Company’s season. This training defines the roles and responsibilities of an Intimacy Professional, called Intimacy Directors for theater and live performance and Intimacy Coordinators for television and film. This session also clarifies that a scene of intimacy is defined as any scene in which performers are hyper-exposed physically or emotionally and extends beyond physical intimacy. IDC’s five Pillars of Intimacy in Production are used to create safe and artistic scenes of intimacy. These principles - Context, Consent, Communication, Choreography, and Closure - are used as the framework in which to understand and implement healthy boundary-setting to protect from physical or emotional harm.
It is important for actors to understand that boundaries go beyond touch and can include any material that you are not open to engaging with, such as life experiences, cultural, religious, or social boundaries. IDC’s CRISP framework is used to further understand consent. Character relationships, romantic or platonic, are a series of behaviors that people engage in with one another. Consent is the key to creating healthy relationships that allow for all parties to have control, power, and agency. Consent is often incorrectly associated with merely saying “yes” to something, but there are several elements that must be present for consent to truly happen. Those elements make up the CRISP model: Considered, Reversible, Informed, Specific, and Participatory. These components create healthy relationships that are built on choice, respect, and consent.
“We want to create repeatable, safe processes to tell a story. The culture of consent-based practices is one of honesty, transparency, and respect. My hope is that this extends beyond rehearsal rooms and performance spaces to all spaces where we live, work, and play.”
- Marcee Doherty-Elst
Credentials
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Consent Forward Artist Program: Certificate of Completion (2003)
Intimacy Directors & Coordinators
This program includes 27 hours of online learning designed for all industry professionals who wish to bring more consent-forward practices to their workspaces. This certificate of completion is a designation of study and an acknowledgement that the holder has passed a written knowledge assessment of the program’s learning objectives.
The designation is earned following a written knowledge assessment of the program’s learning objectives in IDC’s Level 1 (Foundations of Consent & Intimacy) and Level 2 (Applications of Consent & Intimacy) curriculums. IDC’s full pathway to certification as an Intimacy Professional culminates upon completion of Levels 3 and 4 (online and in-person specialization and mentorship).
Resources:
Intimacy Directors & Coordinators (IDC):
https://www.idcprofessionals.com/
Intimacy Coordinators of Color (ICOC):
https://intimacydirectorsofcolor.com/ & https://anncjamesintimacy.com/
Theatrical Intimacy & Education (TIE):