The New York Times: Dear Extremely Famous Friend of the American Theater,
You’ve been on my mind a lot lately. I realize the pandemic has turned life upside down, but you’ve gone so quiet that I’ve started to wonder if you ever truly meant it — if all the times you spoke of your love of the stage, if every time you reminisced in an interview about how profoundly it shaped you, you were just … what? Following a script? Trying to fit in with your cast mates while you briefly returned to the theater, this time as a star?
3 comments:
I don't think I realized before this year how fragile the performing arts industry was. I knew that hours were long and pay wasn't so great but besides that, I thought it was a relatively stable institution. The pandemic has really shown the true nature of the industry as well as how few people outside of it care enough to help provide support. The theater industry is so dependent on money and so focused on money, but there is never enough and this pandemic has shown that even big Broadway does not care enough to find the money to support their employees. The way the whole theater system is structured with employment needs serious reform. People need the opportunity to do other things besides their jobs and well and it can be soul-crushing to devote one's self to a career where you work such long hours with minimal pay and minimal appreciation no matter how much you love it.
This article points out the discrepancy between the perception of theater as a rich man’s playground and the economic reality of most theater workers. It fascinates me that this juxtaposition is so difficult to accept considering its such a great microcosm of America as a whole. We are one of the wealthiest countries in the world with leeches like Jeff Bezos making billions off the back of hard workers. Most people understand that CEOs tend to make orders of magnitude more money than the average worker. Why is that same principle not applied to the entertainment industry where sure producers and actors make millions, but that does not mean the rest of us do. I mean I know why it’s because to the average American who’s only interaction with entertainment is as the entertained, they don’t realize it’s a job that someone has to do. Also, because there is this insidious notion that for artist doing what they love should be enough and that they don’t need to get paid.
I honestly am shocked by the amount of people that are surprised by how unstable the theatre industry is and how difficult it is to navigate. I think theatre is definitely not something you go into if you want a stable job or if you want to make a lot of money, it is something you go into to make art. Frankly it is for people who have the means to follow their dreams and pursue something that isn't guaranteed to give you a stable life and stable income. By no means is everyone working in theatre super rich or honestly doing well but they are not asked to quit their dream in order to survive. I think American's forget that the average life here is much better than the average life in other countries. Something that can help put these things into perspective is the GapMinder website called Dollar street. I think it is important for people in America, especially woke kids within America to truly realize their standing within this world and how lucky they are. When creating art to educate others you must educate yourself first.
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