Hello wonderful world!

Towson University has an incredibly decadent MFA program, directed specifically for theatre artists interested in being generative artists.  Traditionally actors and directors are taught to be interpretive artists.  This program is one of the first in a shifting paradigm.  

When I say decadent, I have recieved some pushback.  The argument posed by those who push back is that training is a necessary part of expanding your skills as an artist.  In order to really focus on the training, it is necessary to cut our other activities like a full time job.  Art is necessary, but we are constantly told that art is peripheral - it's not a practical real job.  If we state that something is decadent we run the risk of reinforcing the idea that the training, empowerment, and support are extra or unnecessary. 

Let me explain my perspective.  I spent 2005 - 2012 working for an ensemble theatre company to earn the majority of my income.  It was my first real job out of college.  I knew it was rare to have full time employment in theatre, but I didn't know how rare.  I was able to generate and perform original theatre during the day, and then I was working for local theatres as an interpretive artist (actor) in the evenings.  During the day I was creating characters and puppets and songs and props for concepts that were given to me.  It was an excellent training ground.  I was also too inexperienced to truly appreciate what I had.

In 2011 I completed a masters in Communication, and I was then offered a job teaching college level public speaking full time. I had the opportunity to increase my income by 1/3 of what I was making working in theatre.  I took the job.  I stopped working in theatre full time.  I knew I could make theatre in my evenings and weekends.

This gave me a glimpse of what the rest of the artist world had been dealing with all along.  I would work for 8-10 hours on teaching activities.  I would grab food.  I would rush to rehearsal, then rush home to sleep.  6 hours later I was up again for the next work day.  I did it because I love theatre, but it's a hard grind to sustain.  There are many artists who sustain this lifestyle indefinitely.  I had trouble with this pace, so I went back to school, this time to be a self-generative theatre artist.

In this program, I am encouraged to generate new performance pieces 2-4 times each week.  I am still teaching public speaking to pay my bills, but my teaching load is less than half of what it was at my last job.  (I'm also a bit poorer than I was).  The opportunity to pause, listen to myself, develop the work that interests me, and recieve generous feedback is not an opportunity that exists frequently in the outside world.  I have time to make my own food each night.  I have time to exercise.  I have time to see the theatre other people are developing.  I have time to take workshops.  I have time to develop my voice.  Here in the US, this is an unusual situation.  And even for me, it will likely be a fleeting situation.  I will have to work very hard after graduation to pay my bills and continue to have time for feedback, reflection, and self-care.

The opportunity to be in theatre - and to be encouraged to be a generative artist - and to be given resources that make it possible - is one of the most decadent and empowering situations I've ever been in.  I still love being an interpretive artist.  I love finding the nuances in a character I'm playing.  I love developing the arc of a well crafted play.  When I graduate I will continue to generate theatre for myself, generate theatre for outside organizations, teach performance, perform existing roles, and direct existing plays.  But now I have enough life experience to know how rare my current opportunity is.

I think my point, meadnering as it may be, is this:  Art is important.  Supporting and empowering our artists is equally important.  Theatre culture is begining to shift to encourage artists who are not specifically playwrights to generate original work.  It's empowering.  Being a theatre artist in a supportive situation with reasonable production resources shouldn't feel as decadent as it does - the feeling of decadence is caused by the rareness of the situation.  

This situation should not be this rare.  How do we shift our culture so that being an artist is seen as a valuable contribution to society?  How can we shift the public image so that when I child says she wants to go into theatre, the standard reaction is pride rather than fear of debt?  I know I will be working to answer these questions for a while.

REFLECTION:

One week revision thoughts

Following this post I realized - based on resulting conversations with friends - that a lot of what I am feeling comes from being older and having worked a bit. (I have a friend who is preganant at 36 and she's informed me that her pregancy is categorized as geriatric.  The 30's years are older than I thought.)  Grad school is something you are expected to do in your 20's.  Grad school is less expected in your 30's.  There are several folks I went to high school with who are tenured professors right now.  If I had gone straight through to a PhD program even after my first masters I would be looking for a professor position right now.  I am a bit behind.  So I appreciate the freedom to go back to school on my own timeline.  And I appreciate the risks associated with this choice - more student loans and no guaranteed job at the end of it all, and the fact that I'm taking a break from the active climb towards upward job movement or whatever that means.  And I appreciate the support of folks who are making it possible - I keep being reminded that doing things by yourself (usually my first choice) is the more lonely and difficult route.

There is room for every type of artist.  My claim of the shift is based on my recent experience at the NET conference in NYC this fall and the conversations I had with theatre professionals involved both in ensemble theatre and academia.  It is possible that the shift is in acadamia and not as much in grassroots or corporate theatre.  I've been working in ensemble theatre professionally for 10 years.  I was not consciously paving a new way.  It just was. 

It's Thanksgiving.  I am thankful so many things right now.  I'm nervous about the risks I've taken, but feel confident something will pull through when the time is right. Hopefully that time will correspond with graduation :-)  Or at least finanical need.  Necessary risks.  The time I am spending focusing on being an artst will be time well spent because it has given me time to hear myself.  I don't think we are encouraged to find that time in our Go Go Go culture.

 

Thankful.