Interesting that networking keeps coming up . . . I feel, in reality, networking, even if you are aggressive about it - is a pretty passive way to take control of your career - it seems to me to be more about getting your name out there and waiting for someone to activate something your way. To me, networking is about getting jobs, making a choice for a career is much more active.
I think it's a smart move in everyone's career to only take jobs that pay a living wage (I wish we all held to this belief . . . it might end those $300 run of the show contracts) . . . but there will be times when it may be in the best interest of your career to take something that pays a little less to open up new doors. I took about a 10% pay cut to take my show in New York City, but it got me working in the city, on a pretty popular show, gives me a steady income while I work with a Broadway GM, make connections, "network", and sort of wrap my head around what I want to do next.
Also, on the personal front it has allowed me to flex the muscles of maintaining a show in the long term - something that is not really a major issue in most regional theater. We just hit 100 performances this afternoon - very few regional theatres get to 50 performances, let alone 100. I wanted to prove to myself that a) I could still do this (I did 2 long running shows earlier in my career) and b) if I still found it interesting (especially in a market where the best paying gigs are on long running shows, you need to be able to find an interest in maintaining the show and where your skills lie in that situation - if you are going to market yourself there.) It was also interesting to “take over” a show – and everything that is involved in that.
In my two months here . . . I have learned quite a bit about myself - what I miss about being in the regional theater model, what I don't miss, what I like about being in the commercial theatre world, what I don’t like, and some of the major frustrations of being a freelance stage manager who wants to stay in NYC and in the commercial theatre world. I wish, for myself, that what I learned made the next choice clear, but in reality, it has made it very difficult – in that I love and hate things in both worlds, and the reality of the situation is I think I could be happy in either, but always doing the grass is greener thing. Sigh.
One of the biggest things I find myself facing is “what type of stage manager” do I want to be – do I jump from one show to another? Do I show loyalty to a show and the direction? Do I show loyalty to a General Manager? Do I just look out for myself? These are all things that sort of reflect on me – and word gets around pretty quickly about what time of SM you are. (To this day, the two contracts I bailed on . . . for very legitimate reasons – still haunt my mind, and I think may have hurt my early career.)
But, I do want a career filled with fresh challenges, that will continue to make me grow – which is why I want to take control of my career and be able to steer in the direction that I feel can make me the greatest success I can be.