Backup Plans and Working in the Arts | brokeGIRLrich
In college, my parents were horrified when I said I wanted to major in theater. I was actually forbidden from doing it, so I just quietly double majored while they didn’t pay any attention to where their money was going.
Mentally, I think I was prepared for a Plan B from the get-go.
I’ve maintained a substitute teacher license for the past decade “just in case.” Even when my schedule is so busy I can barely function, I keep brokeGIRLrich running “just in case.” A few years after college, I took the PRAXIS, “just in case.”
I always had backup plans swirling through my head. I could go back to school for a year and get a teaching degree to go with my English degree.
In the last two years or so, I’ve noticed something strange. Other than brokeGIRLrich, I really don’t have a backup plan anymore. I couldn’t sub full time (unless I was completely desperate) because I hate it with the fire of a thousand suns. And as for other skills – I’m not sure I have any.
I’ve also been turning over my original backup plan from college – to keep going to school and become a professor. I don’t think 20 year old Mel had a clue how difficult that “back up” plan actually would be.
I’m on the brink of going to visit a university I’m considering attending next year and I’m a little overwhelmed by how large of a commitment I’m considering making. I’m also terrified I’m not nearly smart enough to be there. And I’m a solid 95% sure that if I do go through with applying, I’m going to just get rejected anyway.
I’m also conscious that if I go this route, the next 5 years will probably have a much lower income than the last few, which the personal finance blogger in me cringes at.
Additionally, I’m not convinced that I’d just be trading one difficult kind of job for another. It doesn’t seem like there’s much more stability in academia.
Anyway, all of this left me wondering if other people who stick with working in the arts get a little older and a little burnt out and then realize that while they were totally prepared to fail and need a backup plan at the beginning of their career, they are now no longer sure what they could actually do.
And let’s be real, the last decade of my career has pretty much ruined me for life. I’ve woken up in a different country every morning for five years. I spent a year living on a train and hanging out with elephants. I wander America and get to eat gumbo down south one night and go horseback riding on a beautiful Vermont day a few days later.
None of that even takes into account the rush I get from calling a show or solving a difficult problem and still managing to keep the show running.
If only I could figure out how to incorporate weekends and all my family and friends into this life… c’est la vie.
I still think it’s probably time for a change, but I’m a little flummoxed regarding exactly what it will be.
Hmmm, seems like you really want to go for academia, but you’re not sure you should. Do you have some acquaintances in the field that you could talk to and get a better feel for things? If you’re considering investing 5 years of your life to prepare, you don’t want to find out at the end that you’ve just traded into another job you might hate with the fire of a thousand suns. If you’re worried about missing the rush of keeping a show running, what about doing that once in a while for community or college theater? Mel, I don’t know much of anything about working in the arts or working in academia, but I do hear you wanting something different, and I hope you’re able to figure it all out.
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Thanks, Gary! I don’t think I could really handle switching to community theater. It’s a pretty different environment. I do have a few professors I’m still in touch with who are encouraging me though. So… we’ll see what happens.
You sound like you love what you do, which is always a good thing, but like it isn’t conducive to marriage and family life–which as you get older gets more attractive. Instead of substitute teaching, do you think you’d like teaching high school? You could direct teenagers who are interested in theater and have a steady income and stay home. I think that’s far less of a reach than academia, especially in an impracticle field like the arts. If you get a terminal and then don’t get a job in academia, what else can you do with it? Are you willing to move where the jobs are, or do you want to stay near home?
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I’m willing to move where the jobs are, which I think makes academia a little less impractical. I don’t think I have any interest in teaching younger kids at all though.
Or solely get involved in working with high school theater. My district paid a pretty penny for professionals to come in.
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If you’re just looking for something stable, I’d recommend maybe looking at Production Manager jobs at regional theaters. You’d get to live in one city, oversee companies/shows coming in and of one theater, and have (somewhat) of a steady schedule. Plus with a salary job you’re able to map out your finances better, right? As a fellow wandering stage manager, I’ve gotten weary of the road and have been looking for an SM gig that keeps me in one place.
I was a Production Manager for a year and I hated every second of it – so I think I’d hold off on going for after that gig. Solving technical problems all day, every day is miserable to me – the logistics and scheduling were all fine, but things like how to transfer European power needs for shows overseas or renting the correct generators gave me ulcers. I also found zero satisfaction in the job – there was nothing that made me happy about it like stage management did. At least if a stage management gig is rough, at the end of the day, I still get to run the show, which makes it all seem worth it to me. With production management, it was just endless piles of problems with no feeling of payoff.