Student Blog: Redefining a Career in the Arts: The Survival Job

This past month, and, if I’m being honest, this past year, I’ve spent a mountain of time pondering what a career in Theater means. Not just as a phrase, or a life plan you used to exclaim, touched with a bit of shame in high school- but the notion of being able to balance the cross between a passion and a reliable lifestyle. Theater is not a trustworthy, stable, formulaic path, and it never will be, that’s just the nature of our field. It is, however, the reason to wake up in the morning, the only thing that lights your soul on fire, and the place you can label home when you feel there is nowhere to go. So the question then becomes: How can I have a lifelong, fulfilling, stable career in the Theater? 

I am a Junior at UCLA right now studying Theater, and as made obvious by the text above, I am enamored by the stage, and the entertainment industry as a whole. At 21, this is the time where I really have to figure out what I want to do after I graduate. I’ve always said I wanted to go to New York City, but if there is no stable job there for me, how will I support myself? How will I actually make my dream work? How will I pay rent and also pay for voice lessons and dance classes? I know this is something a lot of artists struggle with, especially those that come from an academic family or background in general. I wish that this article gave you an answer. I wish I had one. In the spirit of Spring, and the Student Blogger article topic of the month, the Spring reset and the mindset change, I want to share how I’ve been able to explore a different genre of life, and subsequently, a different approach to a stable career in Theater. 

Since writing for both Broadway World and Her Campus magazine, I’ve reignited my love for writing, but in a completely different way from what I was originally expecting. I love to write, and it’s become a passion for me, but most of all, I’ve enjoyed connecting with others and writing their stories. I’ve enjoyed it so much that I’ve started exploring Summer Journalism programs, and entertainment writing programs. I’ve started to think more about what a career in Journalism would mean for me in the entertainment-sphere. So many of my favorite writers work remotely, doing interviews and writing about the entertainment scene while being able to uphold varied passions and commitments: like their own families for example. In my mind, being a Journalist for an entertainment-forward publication, having the opportunity to connect with some of my role models in the industry, and still being able to audition and pursue a career on stage seems like the perfect life for me. 

Many actors become dance teachers at various schools around New York City, they become vocal coaches, they work at the front desk of The Groundlings School or Upright Citizens Brigade, and in many cases, they work service jobs that allow them to flourish in their on stage pursuits. This does not mean failure. 

For a while, I framed this as ‘giving up.’ Exploring anything other than the classic actor, dancer, singer track felt like I was letting my dreams and all my hard work go. However, these secondary passions are necessary for many, and in fact, they can be a vital lifeline when rent in New York seems to be higher than ever, and audition seasons are not quite panning out the way we want. Life for the artist is the ‘starving’ one, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be as bleak as we think. Your passion can fuel other aspects of your life, and though it may feel as if you’re abandoning a part of yourself, you’re just solidifying your own comfortability so you’re able to live the exotic life of a performer. 

There is no right way of doing anything, and who knows if these same sentiments will ring true in a year when I graduate college, but it’s okay to let yourself explore a different genre of life for yourself, it is Spring after all!