Thursday, January 24, 2008
A career in theater is a fast track to poverty
OCRegister.com: "In November I had coffee in New York with Kate Whoriskey, one of the most well-regarded under-40 stage directors in the country. She was working with Elizabeth Franz on the New York debut of Julia Cho’s “The Piano Teacher” at the Vineyard Theatre. Despite her success, Whoriskey said she was worried about the future. “It’s not easy living from job to job,” she told me. “Often I have no idea where the next (directing assignment) will come from, or when it will come."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
8 comments:
This seems to be incredibly related to the article that was posted shortly after this one, "Live Nation sells off theatre division". Whether it's individual directors or multi-million dollar promotion companies, no one is getting good in the theatre industry. Why aren't articles like this permanently placed in the minds of so many stage parents that are shipping their kids into the already overflowing talent schools across the nation that can't even promise scholarships anymore. I'm afraid that by the time I'm at the point where I have to entirely support myself off of an income...I'm going to be so far in trash that I can't help but to do anything else.
I have chosen a major I like and will one day live in a box on the side of the street.
one piece of advice; marry rich.
I blame reality TV for taking a lot of jobs away from real writers and directors. Its sad that talented people cant get ahead because money is just what drives the bus.
Artistic careers are not known for the job stability. Is this news to anyone?
But seriously, actors, director and playwrights are in different positions than those who work in technical fields. Although Anthony is right about many of the actors who have decided to pursue careers in theater because they have some undue fascination with it, not considering the irresponsibility of the choice.
I think from a directing standpoint, jobs definitely can be hard to find. For each show, only one director is required, and usually a famous one is preferred. These shows, though, require many more technicians than the one director that is required. Hopefully, I can look at this as one saving grace towards my poverty. And reality TV is absolutely not to blame for these issues, because they use just as many directors, producers, writers, etc. as a regular show. And the actors try out for these shows tool
I think what people should think about before deciding to do theatre for a living is if they are willing to go from job to job every couple months. Where everything is only for a show period of time and everyone is fighting for that one job. Not to mention that this business is rough in who it decides to let in. If that is truly what people are ok living with then that is totally up to them. I think that we have all comes to term with us being poor or nothing really near rich in the future. But while we are doing theare we can be doing side jobs that demand the type of skills we have. In the end that might be the most we can ask for.
Its really unfortunate that this is how theater works. Like the last playwright in the article said, you have to be really passionate with your work and truely love what you do. A part of why theater seems to be slowly declining is partly because people leave working in theater to find some stability in life.
though true, this is a constant concern of mine in the industry however, this article deals mostly with, directors and playwrights, and though they deserve work too, I think that as far as my future job security goes, I hope I am not one of these people who feel totally insecure. As far as the bigger picture is concerned, they are happy, and like what they do, which is far more important in my book than breaking the bank in the entertainment industry.
I don't see this being new. We're all here because we want to be, not because we're expecting to get rich from it. Lighting is nice because if theater doesn't keep you busy, you can always temporarily defect to the concert, dance, tv, or even corporate event worlds. After that, I feel that most of us have a few skills we can fall back on during downtime or while building a career, jobs that while not awesome will pay the rent.
Post a Comment