“I would feel more comfortable if we wrote requirements that were very specific and we agreed that these specific things would be implemented and it wouldn’t change,” Corriel says.

He says he’s also concerned that the flexibility will mean that people will fail to fulfill their requirements or that future board members might make them unreasonable.

Corriel says in place of official requirements he would prefer what he calls a “tech environment,” where “everyone gets encouraged” to do technical work.

“In this community it’s expected of you by your peers that you branch out and do new things, that you light design, that you do stage crew, that you don’t just stick to what you do,” Corriel says.

Whatever the requirements eventually are, Sherwood will have the responsibility of enforcing and administering them. He says he will update an already-existing database of theater community members, adding a function that will allow directors to track who has fulfilled his or her requirements.

As far as the requirements themselves, Sherwood says he wants to combine an hours-based system—asking for a certain number of hours that can be filled in any way possible—and one that’s position-specific, where an actor might serve in a single technical role for the entire duration of a show.

—Staff writer Laura L. Krug can be reached at krug@fas.harvard.edu.