Perspectivos*

Here's a little comparison of the kind of work I was doing in San Francisco, where I lived from summer of 2006 to November of 2007, and what I do here in New York, where I moved in August of 2008 and live currently:

Grunt Work
San Francisco: All my side work involved costuming. Straight after graduating, I was staff in the costume shop at Berkeley, stitching, organizing, teaching summer students how to do their samplers, assisting Wendy costume Joe Goode shows. In the fall, I designed one of the UCB mainstage plays, worked at dresser at Aurora Theater, and worked in the rentals shop at ACT. I stitched for UCB, Willows (helping Christine), and eventually SFOpera. No benefits, but $15-$17+ per hour, depending where. At SFOpera it was $16 plus time and a half overtime, and there was a TON of overtime (I was overhire, but seasonal staff members get benefits).

New York: First job I got was hawking tickets to Altar Boys and other off-Broadway shows in Times Square. Then moved up to hawking souvenir programs, cast recordings and stuffed Simbas and Pumbaas at Lion King on Broadway, and on to making and selling Muppets at FAO Schwarz, before quitting to work at Trader Joe's, where I currently work. Hawking tickets earned me $10 for every ticket I sold, Lion King was 9/hr, Muppets was 10 and then 12 when I went full time, and I would have qualified for benefits had I stayed longer. At TJ's I've had two raises and now make $12.50 per hour, and have fair benefits.

Living Situation
San Francisco: I was the fourth person on a three person lease, so I had to hide my presence in the house. The "storage/guest room" which I inhabited started out at $475/mo, increased up to $550. I miss that apartment so much - one full bath and one split bath, three housemates, big kitchen, dishwasher, washer and dryer, a living room.

New York: There were three of us when I moved in, now four, about to go back to three. I lived in the small room at first, $331.19/mo, now I've moved into a larger room, $490.04, and I'm about the take over the small room again in addition, $821.23/mo. One bathroom, no dishwasher, no laundry. Living room. Roaches and mice, though both seem to be gone. For now.

The Real Work
San Francisco: I got to a point where I was getting cast consistently enough to move from closing one show to starting rehearsals for the next pretty seamlessly. Most shows I was doing were at the level where they pretty much pay you a $500 stipend and that's it. Venues like the Phoenix Theater, outdoor shows (Hinkel Park, etc.), Off-Market Theater, Ashby Stage (I didn't end up doing the show there but I got cast in it, so I'm counting it!).

New York: I go long periods without getting cast. I go long, long periods without even getting an audition appointment! There's one director who will get in touch with me whenever he's doing a new project, which is every couple of months or so. No pay, very casual and for fun. I've done two shows at The Flea in Tribeca, run by Jim Simpson and through that, I've been in a play with Andre de Shields; used Sigourney Weaver's bathroom; had nachos with Adam Rapp; had Edward Albee seen me act. Auditioned for new works by Itamar Moses and Sheila Callaghan, understudied for new work by Thomas Bradshaw. In May, will be participating in workshopping a new work by Mac Wellman and doing a reading of a new play by A.R. Gurney. For these amazing opportunities, no pay plus volunteer 6 (used to be 5) hours a week of volunteer time at the theater for the duration of the show I'm doing.

So so far, I've already surpassed the level of what I was doing in SF. It's enough, for now, to keep me here, but only with a view to getting further. In a couple of years, if I'm still at the exact same level, it will be time to reevaluate what level I need to operate at in order to justify living in a place I don't like all that much when I KNOW there's a place I love and could live well out there.

It's 4:10am, and blogging late at night can get me into trouble but blogging in the daytime doesn't get done.



*Perspectivos was the title of my Spanish workbook in college (not the textbook, which was Dos Mundos, but the exercise book).