I have a question for all of you.
How many hours a week do YOU work?
And this means ALL jobs. Your art, your theater, your "day job," EVERYTHING.
Is anyone else having a hard time balancing hours spent making money and hours spent on their true "work"? Personally, I find myself at an impasse. Slant of Light is at a critical point, I can either take everything I have and push it forward, or I can continue along this path, and we will eventually fizzle out. I've been at this juncture for a while, however, it was never as dire as it is now. We've never had the interest that we have now, and therefore never the NEED to move forward or bust. Yet, how long will that push forward take? How long before MY money runs out? Exactly how many bar shifts should I give up to make my time more "useful"?
There you go--a post full of questions and general terms in quotes.
Thoughts and opinions please!!
xoxo
S.
Whoa, quite the massive question! I'm not sure how to advise you regarding Slant of Light, but the phrase "we've never had the interest that we have now" implies that it could be worth battling to the next iteration of the company. However, if doing so will be a drain on all involved to the point where it wouldn't be stimulating or worthwhile for each of you, perhaps it might be best to honor the company, give it its due and move on to the next phase of your artistic lives.
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing that these extremes don't actually describe your situation in full, though, and you may yet have more options or ways of looking at the question.
I've been trying to balance the day job and my theatre work for a while now. Since I have insane work hours (6am-2pm most days), I tend to have afternoons and evenings open for theatre, but that still means sacrificing sleep and a lot of my personal life. Frankly, I worry sometimes that my current lifestyle isn't sustainable for the future - I can put myself through this now, but I wonder when I'll need some sort of change or rebalancing.
I'd love to hear more specifics about where SoL is as a company, and the choices you're facing now. Thanks for posting all this!
Well, specifics.....
ReplyDeleteI think the biggest thing has to do with publicity. We're actually garnering a name and reputation for ourselves here in Fairfield County, and a name as being this new breath of fresh air cutting edge theater company. And people are responding! They want to work and volunteer and be a part of it all, and it's AMAZING! And we're getting opportunities to do more and more things with the companies, offers from schools to teach workshops, reach-out from other theaters to bring in pieces, and it's all amazing and wonderful. However, I feel in my bones that this is the moment I must jump on, that I should go with the current and ride the wave and work my ass off and get where I dream we can go! Because if I don't do it now, the buzz will fade out, and we will remain that distant star that was once burning, and I don't think it will be possible to ever bring it back to this level of tipping point.
And I'm ready.
Whew!