So, you have a Theater Degree: Now What?
For today’s blog, let’s start at the end of one chapter… and the beginning of another: college graduation.
Let me paint you a picture.
When I was 22 years old, I joyfully walked across a stage to receive a piece of paper, with some fancy writing, in a fancy booklet… that stated a collection of fancy words. A “Bachelor of Arts in Theater,” to be exact.
Besides a collection of mediocre headshots and a less-than-impressive acting resume, a college degree was the next best thing that I could use to market myself as an actor. The rest, was fate.
Honor your own Success
The truth of the matter is this: a Theater Degree won’t guarantee you an acting career. It’s not a free ride into the industry you spent four years studying, it won’t promise you success or guarantee you jobs, and it certainly won’t assure you the security you’re looking to have.
An actor curates their own experiences through time, and only time can tell the type of career you’ll have.
There are many factors that play into this and success can look a number of different ways. For starters, it’s important to get out of the toxic mindset that an actor “must make it” in the entertainment industry. There are a multitude of successful actors that people don’t necessarily “know about,” but they are still successful nonetheless, booking gigs, teaching young artists and monetizing their creativity in a plethora of ways.
Success is an inherent reflection of your personal wins. My wins might look different than yours and yours might look different than mine.
Your wins are YOURS: they uniquely reflect the experiences and accomplishments that have (and continue) to nurture your career. So, embrace these wins and continue honor your success!
You have a Theater Degree: Now What?
Let me just begin by saying this: no amount of training can prepare you for the act of pursuing a career as an actor.
An education and a profession are two very different things: we’re talking about developing your craft and we’re talking about establishing yourself as a working artist. Graduating college with some acting degree doesn’t magically give you the latter.
Sure, you took some notable classes, with some notable professors at some notable schools. You poured your heart and soul into those Eugune O’Neill scenes (that you’ll likely never get to perform in real life), memorized a collection of lines that won you some prestigious awards, and likely maintained an undefeatable status in those Zip-Zap-Zup warm ups during acting class.
But what about the act of auditioning? What about the act of putting yourself out there, in search of a career you’ve always hoped for?
Yes, you have a Theater Degree but now what? What happens after you graduate?
Spoiler: it starts with you.
1. Personal Drive
Training is the vehicle to being an educated artist but personal drive is the motor that moves us forward.
When I graduated college, I was determined to find representation. I took my degree and my faithful optimism, and began self-submitting myself to projects. I registered for agent seminars and memorized lines of dialogue just to be seen at auditions for 3-5 minutes, at most.
I began to experience rejection but I also began to experience the joys of booking projects and doing work outside of being an actor that fueled my creative soul.
I didn’t want to sit on my degree. It was important for me to use it, as an actor and in any capacity that emulated a parallel career.
That was my personal drive. I’m thankful I had (and continue) to have it.
2. Doing the Work
At this point in the game, it’s all about getting yourself out there and doing the work.
This includes a whole lot of things and for some actors, it might include a whole lot more. Some of them might include:
Subscribing to casting websites and updating your actor profiles
Submitting yourself to projects (theater, film/tv, voiceover, commercial, print, modeling, etc.)
Getting new headshots
Cleaning up your resume
Researching your actor type
Perfecting your audition monologues and scenes
Maintaining a self-tape set up (tripod, ring light/ light source, blue or green pop-up screen, etc.)
Updating your acting reel or filming new footage
Creating a new reel (voiceover, commercial etc.)
Reframing and prioritizing your goals
Writing and producing your own work
Auditioning, accepting rejection and ultimately… getting up the next morning and choosing to do it all over again.
Now this last bullet point is where a lot of people stop and look the other way, because to put it simply: being an actor is not glamorous and it’s certainly not easy. It’s not for everyone and that’s OKAY.
From Theater Degrees, to Thriving Work
Going to college and getting a Theater Degree is a great first step. While having a theater or performing arts degree is not a mandatory requirement for aspiring actors, it’s always a positive asset to have, especially when you choose to pursue a career that compliments and supports your artistic one.
Being an actor is a choice. It’s loving an art form that doesn’t always reciprocate that love back to you. It’s understanding that success is not measured by A’s and B’s on a homework assignment but rather, by staying disciplined through failed auditions, rejected bookings and all of the unstable work flows that this career will throw at you. It’s embracing that success is not solely limited to the work you do in a college classroom, but the work you do in your field as well.
Embracing Challenges post College
I’ve heard many people describe their educative experiences and college years as “some of the best years” of their lives. I suspect this is due to the fact that, while college introduces us to adulthood, it’s still a phase of our lives that tends to be cushioned with a great deal of comfort. It’s a preparatory stage to the rest of our lives but we’re still holding someone’s hand along the way. This is the fundamental difference between being at school and being in the real world: the real world is not always comfortable. Being an actor is not always comfortable.
It's a journey that will:
Excite us and enlighten us.
Break us and strengthen us.
Challenge us and groom us.
But it’s through these challenges, that we oftentimes find our greatest joys. So go out, and graduate and get that Theater Degree but know that your journey doesn’t stop there. It’s only just beginning.
Embrace the challenges that come after graduating college and find your joys as an actor, along the way. I promise you, they’ll be plenty.
