From Lost in the Sauce (she/they):
I’m an early-career theater worker. Because of my financial situation, I need to have a day job to make ends meet, but when I get home I am so exhausted that I rarely have energy/time to go out and network or the brain space to create, let alone do things for fun. Any guidance on how to still participate in theatre while in this weird limbo time?

From Anette (she/her):
For a very early-career director, is it more helpful to be working as a server etc. that allows you to have flexibility and direct constantly, or to be working in the artistic office of a major theater which doesn’t leave much time to direct but provides connections and behind the scenes access?

‍

--

Dear Not a Trust Fund Babies,

DAY JOBS ROCK. Embrace the day job. Embrace doing something that gets you out of the theater silo. Hell, I’ve been doing this for 15 years, and I still have day jobs (they’re now a little closer to the industry). Day jobs taught me how to talk to people outside of theater. They teach me what people find important, and they help me talk to strangers. I recommend day jobs for every director, the same way I recommend watching reality TV (it’s non-actors trying to act with very high fake stakes.)

So, we’re all searching for that magical, flexible, high-paid/low attention position. I promise they exist; it just takes a while. I make sure to always protect my directing time, so the day job needs to not require much attention or energy. The best one I found paid me a lot of $ to do nothing, it was great. I miss it.

After 3 years at an institutional theater, I swore I’d never return. I got roped back into one after 10 years out. I love it. I hate it. I really struggle with being seen as an artist at these institutions. I think the office worker-to-artist pipeline is a myth.

Yours in the day job grind,

Fefu

‍

‍