Los Angeles Times: The impact of COVID-19 on the American theater industry is immeasurable: the terrible loss of life, the indefinite cancellation of productions, the sudden stop in hard-earned livelihoods. The industry touted it as an intermission of sorts and, two years later, a majority of theaters nationwide are resuming in-person programming. But many of those who sustain the scene have since pivoted away from the stage.
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I found this really interesting because many, many industries have lost institutional knowledge due to a 'generation gap' that has been created due to COVID. This phenomenon can be seen within larger industries, but also within companies and educational institutions. People that have unique and very specific skill sets applicable to theatre are moving to different industries and have chosen to not go back to theatre. The individual stories shared about what people have found about themselves after leaving the theatre industry, theatre and family, being immunocompromised in theatre, new opportunities, and more. A lot of people are underpaid and underappreciated at their own expense–financially, physically, emotionally, and more. It is brave for people to take a step away from something they love, especially if it is again, at their own expense. COVID has been treated as an 'intermission', but it will have a long lasting impact on the industry–perhaps it is time for a restructuring of the theatre to a more sustainable environment.
This raised a lot of interesting questions for me. As artists, how we respond to our environments can inspire a lot of expressions. There is a certain level of synthetization that is entirely dependent on the individual, which is why collaboration can be so thrilling. So, it is disappointing to see the number of artists who felt the need to leave the industry, though it is entirely understandable given the circumstances of this time. It can be really difficult for some to process and reproduce the feelings of this heavy time, and also there was a mindset that this signaled the inevitable downfall of live performance. That made some think this wasn't a sustainable industry to be a part of financially or simply as a lifestyle. I really like the way this article phrases it as an "intermission" of sorts, the idea that there will be another act is encouraging to those of us who chose to stay on this path regardless.
This article made me realize something important about the theater world at large. I feel like in articles I'd read previously, the narrative is that people don't get enough out of theater, and that's why they chose to leave. In this article, the framing made me realize that it's not really their lack of love for theater that's an issue. Rather, it's a love for theater, but a refusal to put up with poor business practices and demanding employers that have been in the theater industry for a long time. It seems like something's gotta give. I don't know yet if this is part of the great resignation, and their employers will come around to offer more pay and more value to their arts employees, or if we haven't reached that point in the cycle yet. Maybe there are still people willing to step up into these too-demanding jobs, and so no one's being forced to change yet. I'll be interested to see how the industry develops in the years to come post-covid.
It’s eye-opening to learn about the ways people can be pushed out of the theater industry; I definitely relate to Margaret Baughman’s story, as it can be exhausting to be constantly working, then finally get your paycheck and wonder what all that work was for, on top of not having consistent hours or benefits. I also related to L. Villegas’s story of walking away from theater due to the intense focus on looks, although for me it was in the opposite direction; I chose not to pursue a career solely in the fashion industry due to the focus on thinness and beauty, and felt that in theater I would be prioritizing storytelling over beauty standards. It seems that for many of the people in this article, they had to make a difficult decision in order to take care of themselves, although I’m glad to see some of them are still involved in entertainment in some capacity.
While many of us are students with no experience in the industry yet, it’s interesting to see how many of us are already contemplating a lot of the things talked about in this article. We all came here for a reason, many of us because of our love and passion for the art form, although it is difficult to keep that from dwindling when you hear of all the hours of unpaid work, unfair treatment, and overall how much it consumes your life. I was taken aback earlier in the semester when someone asked our teacher to talk a bit about what to expect in terms of pay for the job we are training to do and our professor said that they didn’t want to upset us and moved on. The one thing I wished this article had was more job diversity, I felt like the majority of the voices we heard from were actors when there are so many other positions that go into making live entertainment.
The brief intro to the article did not feel like it aligned with the rest of the article. It seemed to focus on the economic presence of theatre, what it does for the economy and generally in a larger perspective how losing people will affect the industry on a scale of years but the stories told by the people were personal and more emotion focused than something on a large economic scale. The theme I saw throughout these was theatre being a very defined experience that prevent them all from exploring other interests or, frequently, restrained them in an aspect of identity that the industry or employers could see. Some of the thoughts in the article are ones I’ve had but in some ways it is very reassuring to see people finding theatrical training useful in the art world and beyond, as well as adaptability in job being a possibility as they moved forward.
An interesting article that seems to air some thoughts and stories from other people that I think we've all thought about at least once or twice. I find it odd the focus on the economic presence of theatre in the beginning and then completely forgetting about it for the rest of the article though. Didn't really matter to me however, because once it got into people's stories, I was really fascinated. One of the things that I love about the arts, and especially theatre, is the that the skillsets you learn are very transferable to other things, and you can find plenty of work in things that aren't live performance - they also open up the door for a bunch of training opportunities.
It made me also consider what I'd be doing outside of theatre. I think that some places I want to go with my career outside of theatre is music production, sound design for video games, and probably also game design and development. I'm also trying to develop my skills in media analysis and criticism, and make video essays about whatever I fancy (more of a hobby than a career option, but it's a creative outlet and occasionally if your videos are watched enough you can make a half-decent side income).
Reading this article gives me bittersweet feelings- on one hand, it is amazing that these people found other passions, but on the other, it makes me sad that they were almost forced into. It makes me think of why I chose to study theatre back in high school. Many of the voices presented in this article ring too similarly to the thoughts I had when I was applying to colleges. Ultimately, I am glad I made the choice that I made, however, I wonder if I too will be forced out of this in the future. Things like financials, timing, and other personal events are not all out of the realm of possibility. I hope that it will not be the same for me, but I found it encouraging in the end because every single person made it clear that they will still love their craft, but it will be in a different way this time.
I am very glad this article is here because we need to have conversations about how theatre is not a sustainable career. The pandemic gave everyone some time to step back and reflect on what the jobs weren’t and aren’t offering, what they aren’t fulfilling, and ask ourselves if this was worth it. In the infamous words of future Doctor Swift, “sometimes giving up is the strong thing”. For any of these people – and anyone like them – making that decision to leave the industry must have been incredibly difficult. The one-story that kept me thinking about this was the one with the swing actor, who got denied a rehearsal and basically told he was replaceable. It is this looming thing that everyone in the entertainment industry must workaround, how in theory, everyone is replaceable. This is definitely a different conversation, but I continue to be in disbelief how poorly swings get treated. Often times they are the one thing separating a performance night versus having to cancel a show.
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