Taking Time Off

[Kelly_O]

Hello,

   I'm graduating from college this May. Over the past three summers I've worked at different summer theatres moving up  the ladder slightly and have a couple of people who have expressed an interest in working with me, though no definite jobs, after I graduate. Yet, the more I keep thinking about it, I would love the chance to see the world and do some different kind of work.  I'm thinking about join the Peace Corps (two year commitment) or some other program that's similar except for maybe not as long.  I'm nervous about leaving the business for awhile before I even really get started.  Does anyone else have a story, or an idea if taking two years (or a year) off is a good thing or a bad thing?

Thanks in advance! Hope this finds you well.

[SMrose]

Theatre will always be here---a chance to travel may not happen for a long time.  I've come back from a 12 year gap in stage management and had no trouble picking up sm/tech jobs.

[MarcieA]

You could travel to NY and visit me, Kelly!

We could sign and see shows. 

[BeckyGG]

If you really want to experience something like The Peace Corps or another volunteer agency of the sort, I'd say do it now.  As SMrose expressed, theater will always be here. 

Keep in touch with those people that have expressed an interest in working with you and reconnect with them once you are back and doing theater again.  An experience like the Peace Corps will enrich you as a person and a stage manager.

Best of luck in what you choose to do!

[MatthewShiner]

Travel and experience life while you are young and still have the courage to do so.  Once you settle down, with a spouse, kids, pets, a mortgage, etc . . . life gets in the way. 

Living life will make you a richer, more interesting person, which will make you a better person, which will make you a better stage manager.

[DeeCap]

I've wanted to do the Peace Corps forever, so I am a little jealous that you have the opportunity.
Go for it. Theatre will always be here.

[nmno]

Do it now while you are young.  When you are young you don't care about sleeping in a hostel or eating ramen noodles all day.  As you get older you have more baggage (literally and figuratively), more committments and it's so much harder to take time off for this kind of thing. 
Just think of it like starting over for anything: it's much easier to start over toward the beginning than once you are into it. 
Most people will understand the "I just graduated and want to see the world" thing.  And I think people will be impressed if you've got Peace Corps on your resume.  Especially as an SM, it tells me that you are committed, that you aren't afraid of getting dirty and doing grunt work and that you are up for a challenge.  It's not like you are saying, I took two years off to go surfing in Hawaii or following Phish. 
Do it!  Do it!  Do it!  And then send us pics and tell us all about it so that older ones of us here can live vicariously thru you!

[Ebuckser]

I started work immediately following graduation.  I don't regret making that choice.  One of the great things about our work is that you can often take shows you want, and give yourself time off if you need it.  I have traveled a month in Israel, a month in Europe and took a trip to Vietnam.  I am a travelor, I will travel for the rest of my life.  I have found that people who take a large chunk after college tend to travel less the rest of their time, and don't have as great of a time as those who take smaller trips.

Only you know what's right... good luck!

[sievep]

To put my two cents in, I agree with the post above that theater will always be there, and who knows, it may be a better job market in a year's time. 

[centaura]

From a totally unrelated situation, I can say that you can take a year off after graduation and still get into the industry just fine.  In my case, I literally had a serious car accident on the day of my commencement from college, which put me in a hospital for a month and a wheelchair for three.  I lost that year, basically, as I had to work my way back up to full time work through some part-time jobs.  I was able to get a theatre job the following season, though, with no issues - I was honest about why I hadn't worked in theatre for the year after I graduated, but that I was better and was able to handle the physical aspects of the job.

If you are thinking of joining the Peace Corp and traveling outside the US, I say DO IT!  I spent a year overseas when I was younger, and it was the best experience I could have done.  It will broaden your horizons so much more than can be easily explained.  And it will be fine to explain to someone why you didn't have theatre work - its a very respectable thing to do for two years, and now is the best time when you don't have life pinning you in place.

-Centaura

[KMC]

Toss another vote in the hat for doing it!

It will definitely be a great experience for you, and I think it will actually help your career as opposed to stifling it.  It'll show potential employers your character and desire to help others, which is a very desirable quality for any employer.

[MatthewShiner]

"The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page."
St. Augustine

[nmno]

"The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page."
St. Augustine

I love that quote.  To add for inspiration:
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." -- Mark Twain

Another favorite:
"Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has courage to lose sight of the shore."

Apparently I'm inspired by sailing metaphors today.