Performing arts and the art of performing – On co-construction of project work and professional identities in theatres

While working by projects and re-constructing organisational and institutional norms on how projects should be, individuals also successively construct an image of themselves in relation to these norms. In this article, we will thus analyse how people in project-based operations simultaneously construct projects and individual identities.The analysis of interviews from two theatres indicates that project work and professional identities are co-constructed by means of mutual confirmation, simultaneous confirmation/disconfirmation, and mutual disconfirmation. The individual projects become arenas and critical incidents for such co-construction. These discourses are not always consistent with each other, but they are important for what the individuals expect from projects and what project managers expect from individuals.