I’m a community theater guy. For 15 years it’s been my hobby. I’ve been a part of four dozen shows in venues throughout Maine. Many people ask how I can act in a show and balance it with my work as the executive director of the Bath-Brunswick Regional Chamber. The truth is, I need it. I need an outlet, and something besides work and home life, to pour myself into.

Separately from the theater life, I’ve been noticing how the pandemic, and the wave of retirements over the last 2-5 years, has shifted business norms in so many ways. Some of those are heavily discussed- like flexible scheduling and remote work- while other aspects are not discussed, but simply accepted. An example is how our perception of business attire has changed in many industries and parts of the state. What other business norms have changed in the last 2-5 years?

There is a grander point to all of this, so please stick with it.

I’m thinking about the high standard that we expect from certain figureheads and community leaders. Has that changed too, or do we will reserve the right to hold certain positions in a community to a higher standard?

I bring this up because the other night I was performing in an improv group with The Theater Project. Improv is an unscripted, formatted performance in which the performers make up scenarios and scenes on the spot. If you’ve ever seen the uber-popular “Whose Line Is It Anyway” television series, that is improv. We perform improv games that drop performers into scenarios that sometimes go off into hilarious, albeit at times, innuendo-filled sketches.

After one game the other night, I said “just so you know, I’m not the Cory King that works at the Chamber of Commerce, I’m Cory King who definitely works somewhere else,” and it got a laugh from those in the audience who know me. But, it stuck with me — did I need to say that? Why can’t I, in my personal time, perform on stage being ridiculous without fear of it wounding my professional life?

Here’s a more severe example- about ten years ago, a favorite theater mounted the musical The Full Monty based on a film of the same name. The story is about a group of average-looking, unemployed mill workers, deciding to hold a fundraiser and become strippers for one-night-only, and go “all the way” — “The Full Monty” as it were. In both the film and the stage musical, that is the closing moment, where the actors, backlit by thousands of lights to blind the audience close the show in the buff. There is a tremendous role for a heavy-set character who doesn’t have the courage to follow through with it until his wife urges him to- it’s really very sweet. I didn’t even audition for it, because in 2011 I couldn’t be the Chamber director who did that.

But why do we hold certain community members to that standard?

For instance, could the local retail shop owner play that role in “The Full Monty” as a stripper in a show? Sure.

Could the town manager or city councilor? Probably not.

Dean of the college? Likely not.

College student? Absolutely.

Local realtor? Yeah.

Local banker? Maybe not.

I’ve turned down parts and auditions because the character was abusive or overly political. In each instance I turned it down because there was a danger audience members couldn’t distinguish my personal beliefs from those of the character, and it might be a “bad look”.

To be clear, no one on my current board of directors or anywhere near my leadership team brought this up to me, and in no way have I gotten in trouble for anything I’ve done at the improv nights or anywhere else on stage. The question is, should I even be held to that standard?

If people can’t separate a role I perform from who I am, is that my fault? Or if I play an improv scene with obvious innuendo played to adult audience for comedy, and one person doesn’t like the joke, do I need to stop performing? If I’m held to that standard as a chamber executive, are others in the organization held to that standard, or only me as the lead staff person?

Furthermore, if my job prevents me from performing certain roles on stage, does it prevent me from joining a march for a personal political belief I support that may offend others? What about posting a pro-life or pro-choice sign on my lawn — no matter which way I feel — can I do that or not?

It might be time for us to rethink some of our old notions about how much of people’s lives we think we should have a say in controlling. Again, for the record this absolutely, 100% has not affected me in my career, but it could. As we start to replace our CEOs, company presidents, city council members and community leaders as they retire after so many years of service, we need to confront this question.

We don’t want to get ourselves into the situation where those who are best qualified to do a job aren’t considered or don’t apply because they want to pursue hobbies and other interests that 100% of their constituents might not like 100% of the time.

Make no mistake, we aren’t just talking about jobs — we already see this happening in the political arena. Many smart, good-minded people refuse to run for office to avoid having their personal lives and choices constantly scrutinized. Therefore, some seats are held at all levels of government by those less qualified, or less representative of who we are.

I’ll say it again: it might be time for us to rethink some of our old notions about how much of people’s lives we think we should have a say in controlling. We all might be a little happier if we did.

Cory R. King is the executive director of the Bath-Brunswick Regional Chamber.

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