This is something I’ve been noticing and talking about for a while now, the lack of Production teams being credited and acknowledged in social media and online promotion. These are the people who have physically built and delivered the show, without them there would be no props, no costumes, no lights, no sound, no set, and ultimately no performance for audiences to see. Their work is not optional or peripheral; it is fundamental to the success of the production.
I appreciate that social media posts sometimes have limited character counts or visual space, but there are still effective ways to ensure everyone is credited. This could be as simple as including a link to the full creative and production team on the company website, using a QR code that directs audiences to a digital freesheet, or posting an additional slide or carousel panel listing the full team.
I once had a conversation with an Artistic Director about this, and something they said has always stayed with me. They explained that only the actors were credited on social media because they are the ones onstage, visibly offering their vulnerability as performers. I completely acknowledge that in a photographic post, it makes sense to credit those pictured and the photographer. However, when the post is celebrating the production as a whole—whether it’s the start of rehearsals, the mid-point, press night, or the end of a tour—there is absolutely space to acknowledge the wider team. Those milestones are achieved through the collective work of every department.
Recently, I spoke with a colleague — a very experienced stage manager — who had contacted the Marketing Team for the third or fourth time to ask why the Stage Management team for the Christmas show was not being credited on the website or in social media posts that celebrate the whole company while naming only the performers and creative team. In response, her line manager received an email from a senior manager in that department stating that her “threatening to go to Equity” was “unnecessarily combative.”
This Stage Manager had simply quoted the section in the Equity contract (signed by both parties), the section states that: The Manager shall credit the Artist at each performance in a medium which is at no cost to the audience (cast sheet, Projection boards, social media, website etc). It also states that where Cast and Creatives are names in the credits stage management shall also be named. She indicated that, should the company be unable to resolve this, she would share the situation with Equity. Her message was entirely professional — not threatening or combative in any way. It shouldn’t have to be a point of contention.
Recognising us is not just a courtesy, it is an accurate representation of the collaborative effort that contributes to the entire production. When we are omitted from public credit, it diminishes not only our contribution but also the reality of what it takes to make a show happen.