I had always hoped that with my degree in Theatre from Eastern New Mexico University that I would be able to come back one day and tell the students about my experiences trying to do something useful with my education, even if I didn't get paid for it. It's never happened, and I don't think it's ever going to happen. What follows is what I would share about the realities of the world they are about to enter.
You probably came to ENMU to study theatre so that you can have a career in the arts. And you're probably hoping that you're going to be very successful at it. But none of you are probably going to hear what I have to say today. I know this because we were told the same thing, and it seemed like no one else was willing to listen then, either. You may feel like there's too much emphasis on designing and building sets, installing lighting, sewing costumes and applying makeup and not enough on performance. There's a reason for this. This program is preparing you to become a valuable asset to an independent theatrical organization. When you go out trying to find work, it's probably going to be a long time before you actually start getting paid doing what you want to do, and you'll have to find a job completely unrelated to the arts to make this possible.
When you graduate from college, you may try your luck at acting in a large metropolitan area. After exhausting that route, you're likely going to come across the theatrical organizations and you're probably going to want to align with one of them. But what you need to know is that they kind of operate like pyramid schemes. It seems like the people who got in on the ground floor get to experience all the benefits of getting cast in major roles, directing and having their own plays produced. Anybody who comes in after that may get cast, may get to direct and may have their plays considered, but only at the discretion of the founders and only after they've put in some time paying their dues.
This means that if you want to be considered favorably by them, you're going to have to do a lot of free work behind the scenes. And you may have to do this for a couple of years before the people in charge start taking notice of you. Now, you may get cast in a minor role if they have no one else who's willing to go on stage with a chicken mask over their head or some other thankless role in which you may be lucky to get a one-word line out of your mouth. But you'll find out later there's a reason for this. And who knows? You may even get asked to understudy for an actor who's just never going to get so sick that they can't make it to the stage.
But you're also going to notice that some new people don't have to do all the hard work before getting cast, directing or having their plays produced. You'll probably find out that these would be the new love interests of the people higher up the chain. At this point, you may start wondering how this organization got this way. Aren't they interested in helping you develop as an artist? Don't they want you to feel like you're making a contribution to their productions? Aren't we all in this boat together? The answer to all these questions is "No."
So, how does this happen? I am about to describe the theatrical cycle to you: Basically, you have a few members who don't like how the people in charge are running the organization. This comes after promises have been made to them that weren't followed through. This small group figures they've learned enough from this company to start their own. But they're going to be different. They're going to be an open organization. They're going to give artists a chance to develop without making them do slave labor for free for years before getting to set foot on the stage. They're going to strongly consider all new plays that are brought to their attention. Above all else, they are going to be fair in the way they treat the talent that is interested in being a part of their projects.
And they are able to maintain this code for a little while. But something will inevitably happen early in the new company's existence. A casting director will come to one of the performances and an actor in the play with no prior ties to the organization will get cast in a notable role in a prestigious production, whether it be a stage play or film. Since this actor didn't spend much time bonding with the company, he appears to feel no need to try to get other people from the organization involved in the project. All of a sudden, the founders are upset that they put someone in a position to just blow them off later.
This changes the way they view every new person who comes in wanting to be part of their productions. They feel like, if you're not going to repay them later, they'll just give you a reason for doing that. This is why it's so hard to become part of the more established theatre groups.
But of course, what the founders normally don't realize is that when those casting directors come to check out new talent, the first thing they look at is the program. They'll study the names of the cast members. If they see their names elsewhere in the program, like as company founder, or artistic director or even set and lighting designer, they know to ignore that person as the production just appears to be a vanity project. They also look at the biographies of the other cast members. If they list several plays with this same company, the casting directors know to look past these people as well. They want to focus on the actors who got cast because of their talent, and not their ties to the company.
And then, a few people from this company will get fed up with how things are being run and THEY'LL start their own company. And the process just goes on repeat.
This is not to say that these companies are not worth being a part of. In fact, some of them go on to do major productions that can reach the New York theatre scene. Sometimes, waiting it out can be a risk worth taking. The only problem is that you don't know until its too late if you were just spinning your wheels dedicating time to one organization when you could have found more success with another.
I'll bet that up until now, very few of you realized there would be so much politics involved in theatre. There's actually politics involved in every aspect of the real world. Maybe everyone should just major in Political Science so they don't have to find that out the hard way.
I also know that none of you will heed this advice and will completely forget about it when you graduate. All I can say is "I hope you like rocky road, and I'm not talking about the ice cream."
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