Author Topic: Moving for a Career  (Read 13551 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

DeeCap

  • Permanent Resident
  • *****
  • Posts: 319
    • View Profile
Re: Moving for a Career
« Reply #15 on: May 29, 2009, 11:43 am »
I have always moved because I had a job lined up.

I got a job out in Washington State and I drove from New Jersey out there. I rented an apartment from pictures I saw online. The apartment was great, the only problem with it was that it was right next door to a minimum security prison!  :o

Driving cross country was more exciting then the job. It was agreed upon both the theatre and me that I should seek other employment when the contract ended 9 months later.

I had all intentions of staying and making the Pacific Northwest my home, but a theatre in upstate New York called me, and I moved back east. I dropped my stuff off at my parents and went into actor housing.

The one show turned into 4 years of work. I left that job for the current job I have now. I wouldn't mind setting roots where I am now but I could be looking for a change if the job was right.

GalFriday

  • SM Expert
  • ****
  • Posts: 106
  • Gender: Female
    • View Profile
  • Affiliations: IATSE
  • Current Gig: Programmer for Hire
  • Experience: Former SM
Re: Moving for a Career
« Reply #16 on: Jun 01, 2009, 08:07 pm »
I have always moved with a job lined up as well.

I arrived in Vegas a few years ago to work with Mystere. I was on tour in Australia when I was hired. I flew in from Perth and arrived at the LAS airport at 10 AM. I was at the theatre by noon. That was a long day :). Thankfully the company I was working for had arranged temporary housing for me. I had a corporate apartment for 30 days while I looked for a home. It was frantic learning a new show while I also apartment shopped, car shopped, furniture shopped. I moved here with two suitcases in July and by August had an apartment set up. I was only really able to accomplish this because I had a decent amount of savings. it is very expensive to set up a new household and I do not think we realize all of the little things we have taken for granted in Company Housing all these years. I know I did not.

So, now I have been in Vegas for 5 years. This is the longest I have lived in one place since college. I am considering moving on. I am terrified of what a new city will bring. I am not a member of Equity which is going to make it difficult to find a job at the pay level I am used to. I have settled into a job as an Automation programmer for now. I am hoping it will allow me to make the jump to a new city with some stability and look for work without being unemployed. In this day and age I am certainly not looking at quitting my current job just hoping to find something different. I am now also saddled with a house that is very upside down....Hopefully, that will make some recovery soon.

I also had a very sad day when I surrendered my Ohio license for a Nevada one. I will always be an Ohio girl at heart.
"Now the best way to learn the theater, always, is to be a stage manager" - Stephen Sondheim

BeckyGG

  • SM Expert
  • ****
  • Posts: 130
  • Gender: Female
    • View Profile
  • Affiliations: AEA, SMA
  • Experience: Professional
Re: Moving for a Career
« Reply #17 on: Jun 02, 2009, 02:11 pm »
The only permanent move I have made thusfar was from Chicago to NYC.  It was right after I got married and neither my husband (who is a set designer) or I had a show lined up, but took a leap of faith.  Luckily it has worked out for both of us.

Otherwise, I have worked regionally but the move was only for the term of the contract and it included housing, etc.
CHAOS: Where Brilliant Dreams Are Born
Before the beginning of great brilliance, there must be Chaos
Before a brilliant person begins something great, they must look foolish to the crowd.

Lizzie

  • Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 75
    • View Profile
Re: Moving for a Career
« Reply #18 on: Jun 05, 2009, 06:29 pm »

I also had a very sad day when I surrendered my Ohio license for a Nevada one. I will always be an Ohio girl at heart.


Not really related to the topic, but I was just wondering why you have to do this ? In the UK, a driving licence is valid everywhere !

Lizzie

MatthewShiner

  • Forum Moderators
  • *****
  • Posts: 2478
  • Gender: Male
    • View Profile
  • Affiliations: AEA, SMA
  • Current Gig: Freelance Stage Manager; Faculty for UMKC
  • Experience: Professional
Re: Moving for a Career
« Reply #19 on: Jun 05, 2009, 06:43 pm »
In the states a driver's license is tied to the particular state (or district of columbia) that you live in.  It's sort of right of passage once you move to a new state, to get a new license.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Anything posted here as in my own personal opinion, and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of my employer - whomever they be at a given moment in time.

centaura

  • Permanent Resident
  • *****
  • Posts: 405
  • Gender: Female
    • View Profile
  • Experience: Professional
Re: Moving for a Career
« Reply #20 on: Jun 08, 2009, 08:50 am »
As well, car license plates are only valid for a year, and must be renewed each year.  I kept my MN plates on my car as long as I could, but when they expired I had to get new ones.  And though my driver's license hadn't expired, to license my car in the new state I had to get a new driver's license.  If you have a residence in another state, you can keep your car and your license still registered there even though you live elsewhere.  I did that for years, kept my car licensed in MN because my mother lived there and I used her address.

-Centaura

MarcieA

  • Permanent Resident
  • *****
  • Posts: 371
  • Gender: Female
    • View Profile
  • Affiliations: AEA, AGMA, SMA
  • Current Gig: PSM, Lake George Dinner Theatre/Tri Cities Opera
  • Experience: Professional
Re: Moving for a Career
« Reply #21 on: Jun 08, 2009, 11:57 am »
I love hearing everyone's stories!

I too have only moved when I knew that I had a job lined up, but I did move to NYC with only 9 days notice, and it was for a NYMF show - so only a stipend of a few hundred dollars, 4 weeks of work and no guarantee of anything after. It was the biggest risk I've taken so far - both financially and professionally, but I'm still here 2 years later, making my way and finding out where I fit in.

Prior to NY, I moved to Ohio for a job - a seasons worth of work, with the potential for more - but I didn't have an apartment and I knew not one single soul in the city. I had never even been to Ohio at that point, all of my interviewing was done over the phone, but nonetheless my oldest friend and I filled my car and drove the 12 hours. I was given company housing for the first show (10 weeks) and a lot of insight into neighbourhoods and housing costs and ended up moving into my own place right before tech.
Companions whom I loved and still love, tell them my song.

BalletPSM

  • Permanent Resident
  • *****
  • Posts: 226
  • Gender: Female
    • View Profile
  • Affiliations: AEA
  • Current Gig: Stage Management Faculty at Baylor University
  • Experience: Professional
Re: Moving for a Career
« Reply #22 on: Jun 09, 2009, 11:43 am »
Quote
Not really related to the topic, but I was just wondering why you have to do this ? In the UK, a driving licence is valid everywhere !

Still a bit off topic...but not so much that I don't think this is applicable.

In some states - like California - your residency means a whole lot more for you than just living there. 

I had to become a California resident as part of my tuition waiver for grad school.  I will have to prove my residency - i.e., my intent to live permanently in the state of California - for my tuition waiver to kick in.

Also, if you want to vote in current elections that your city is having (for example, all of the various very controversial elections California has recently held!) it's vital that you are a resident of that state.  If you don't change your residency, you can still vote absentee in your old state - but if you want to make a difference in where you are living NOW and what budgets will impact you now (cf., again, the recent ballot measures that did not pass), it's important to become a resident as well.

I had this huge list of things I must make sure I did within 10 days of arriving in California for my residency to be considered.  Get a driver's license, establish bills in my name, change my car registration over (which...CA has the strictest smog laws in the country, so you can't just bring any car and expect that you'll be able to register it there), get a bank account (not good enough just to switch your address - I had to actually open a NEW bank account in California).  This summer I'll have to show all my move documents, I'll have to prove memberships at various clubs, grocery stores, the library, etc.  Its intense.

Moving there for a job would be a little different, but it's still an extremely expensive (and sometimes difficult) place to live. You absolutely cannot survive without a car there.

I'm not sure where I'll go next when school is done.  Moving across the country is expensive and time-consuming!
Stage managing is getting to do everything your mom told you not to do - read in the dark, sit too close to the TV, and play with the light switches!

 

riotous