by Amanda Jane Snyder
Theatrical Success in the Time of Corona.
This photo was taken backstage, before the corona virus. It was easy to take these moments for granted. We had no idea what was coming.
It’s been almost a year since theatres have been dark and creatives worldwide have been out of work. Slowly but surely film/tv started safely filming again, zoom/tik tok performances started forming...but live theatre is still dark.
Many creatives started to ask the questions... “who am I?”, “who am I without access to what makes me feel alive?! To what connects me with humanity?! To what brings me community and love and presence?”
But as some of us sit here sad and disordered from the lack of performance opportunity for a year... some of us have already been out of that for a year, two years, three years. What happens to those performers who go a whole year without getting cast (pre-covid)? We hear of Tony Award winning actors catching their “big break” as adults. But there’s not enough talk about this inbetween.
The inbetween when you’re without performance work, when you’re slinging alcohol behind the bar til 4 am or you’re pushing strollers around the upper west side to give you extra money for new headshots or workshops
That inbetween when you audition for everything you’re right for and get to final callbacks but it doesn’t count and you can’t celebrate it because you can’t put final callbacks on your resume. And you hear in pearl studios the job this person got and the opportunity this person got, but all you have to show is just final callbacks or an agent audition.
And a year goes by and you question your worth and your identity because your soul is aching to be where your soul wants to be.
And the cycle goes on and you know why?
Because we live in a society AND an industry that only celebrates certain markers as success.
The cycle goes on because you’re basing your identity on something you don’t necessarily have control over.
The cycle goes on because you’re comparing yourself to others and devaluing your success. Yes, you are successful just by practicing the craft you love. Yes. That is success.
If a forced lack of opportunity has done anything for you I hope it has helped you to:
1. stop focusing on the outcome
2. diversify your interests
3. celebrate yourself and others
Amanda Jane Snyder is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, Corrective Exercise Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer, and Mindset Coach living in Brooklyn, NY. She has been vegan for 4 years. She specializes in Strength and Conditioning for Actors, Singers and Dancers.