I’ve asked a lot of students why they want to pursue careers in musical theater. Most answered with versions of, “because I love it,” “there’s nothing else I’m good at,” or “I want to experience theater at a higher level.” These are the safe, practical answers a teenager offers to a relentlessly nosey aunt, or in this case, a voice teacher. But despite the satisfying “rightness” of these answers, they’re superficial. Especially since asking “what do you want to do,” is generally accepted to mean, “what job would you want?” It’s an inherently easy, and useless question since it fully ignores the more meaningful exploration of what someone might want out of life.

This speaks to a more significant issue across American society where more concern is placed on doing than being. We are human “beings,” but based on the questions people most often ask, you’d think we were human “doings.” Eckhart Tolle is a spiritual leader and best-selling author. His teachings center around the ideas of living in the present, letting go of the ego, and rejecting the false equivilance between doing and being. His teachings on spirituality and mindfulness, emphasizes the profound difference between “doing” and “being.” He suggests that “doing” often becomes a focus in people’s lives as they chase success, happiness, or fulfillment through actions and achievements. However, Tolle highlights the significance of “being” – a state of presence and awareness that transcends the ego’s constant need for accomplishment. This common misunderstanding has a significant impact on those of us deeply invested in the arts. The forces that drive this misunderstanding are powerful, and often innocent. Nevertheless, they often drive people to make choices that pull them away from the goals they are seeking to achieve. Only you can know if this or that activity is an expression of who you are, versus what you are doing and most fail to see the distinction. But, as is always the case, you can only answer the questions you know to ask.

So, why don’t we ask this question all the time if it’s so important? Propably because that curiosity is trained out of us. How often do people express a sincere interest in who you really are? We’re asked profunctory, politie questions like “how was your day,” and we answer with an equally polite response like “fine.” Saying “tell me about your day,” would be better, and “what was the best part of your day,” would be better still. But those questions require the asker to pay attention to the response. If your nosey aunt asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Would you say, “I want to be happy?” Probably not. In fact, that might be seen as a provocative answer. Which, if you think about it is ludicris! If you said “I want to be a lawyer,” or a “plumber” or a “fashion designer” you’d get varying levels of approval depending who was asking and thier impression of how you’d best live your life. But they would all satisfy the asker’s need for an answer that allows them to imagine you toiling away just like they do. But society’s emphasis on “doing” focuses the mind on the wrong criteria for making decisions about your future. As Tolle makes clear, “doing,” is about the ego, and the ego is never satisfied. Focusing on what you will “do” creates a loop of perpetual disappointment. When it comes to music, it distorts our connection with the the thing itself. Singing and music are a core human functions, like laughing, telling stories, playing, eating and so forth. We can refine any of these functions into something that can be capitalized on for financial gain, but those efforts will inevitably pull us away from the experiences that drew us to them in the first place. I’m not saying that nobody should pursue a career in the arts, simply that it is not the panecea so many think it to be. We are all singers, and some of us do singing as a career. Only you can decide what path makes sense and sorting that out can be a huge challenge. Especailly when so many forces are feeding you bad information. Therefore, my approach to college and career counseling centers on you as a human “being,” helping you figure out what matters most and charting a path toward it. Career and college decisions are profoundly entangled and enmeshed by powerful psychosocial forces that drag you back into a human “doing” mindset. So we need a plan. Here’s a preview:

• PsychoSocial Pressures: Theater types often feel their work on stage is central to their conception of self. This alone could explain the surprising frequency with which theater students decide to pursue their pastimes as a profession. It turns out, however, that powerful psychosocial dynamics are at play. Sorting through all these factors and arriving at a decision is almost as hard as unscrambling an egg. It is possible, though, especially when you understand what’s happening. People have been worrying about getting into college, paying for college, and if their degrees will lead to a steady job for a long time.
• The Industry: In any high school theater rehearsal, you’ll find at least one student planning on pursuing a career on Broadway. Why is that? There are lots of fantasy jobs, like movie stars or professional athletes, but those tend to stay in the fantasy lane. There is a huge chasm between dreaming about being a star on Broadway (cool, I still do sometimes) and planning on it as a career (risky AF). Ultimately, working in the theater is nothing like working a regular job. Sure, you know it’s competitive, but what does that look like. The training and professional wings of the industry have entered into a co-dependent doom loop. You must understand how this works before you get sucked in.

Why this is important

I had a lot of time to think during the pandemic, and I started to consider the struggles of my former voice students pursuing a career in musical theater. They didn’t lack skill, talent, preparation, or ambition—instead, opportunity. I’d spent a lot of time with these singers. They’d put in the work and successfully graduated from elite musical theater training programs. Yes, some were working, but from my point of view, neither as much as they should be nor to the degree needed for long-term financial stability. I didn’t strong-arm my students into pursuing careers in musical theater, but I mostly encouraged them. I couldn’t help but wonder, was there something I’d missed? There was, and the explanation and its ramifications are the subjects of this entire program. But before we start, I need to make a few things clear:

• The arts and entertainment industries are enormous, but career paths within them often need to be clarified. When I refer to a “career in musical theater,” I refer to singing and dancing on Broadway.
• I have strong opinions about careers in musical theater and look forward to sharing them with you. My goal is to help you make an informed, independent decision, not to convince you that my way is right for you.
• There will likely be a broad audience for this material. These conversations are inspired by my time with high school-aged singers, and I’ll speak directly to that cohort most of the time.

You will never be able to avoid seemingly innocuous, but dredfully irritating questions like “what do you want to do?” Just remember it’s mostly small talk or fodder for gossip. Frankly, I couldn’t care less what you tell your nosey old aunt, or some random inquisitioner. If it were up to me you’d have free license to cause a controversy. Tell them you’ll be an actor because you want to sleep with hot people, or because in ten years all the jobs they think are so great will be done by AI and robots (maybe this is true). Our job here is to devise a strategy for determining what you want from life, not an answer to satisfy some asshole at a party.