With increasing frequency, waves of Seattle theater artists succumb to the siren lure of New York City. Their goal is easily summarized by Julia Prud'homme, a former Annex Theatre regular who moved to New York seven years ago: "I knew that, should I stay in Seattle, I would never have a hope in hell of getting anywhere near my dreams; I want to eke out a living as an actress." Our current crop of hopefuls includes Deanna Companion, Mary Jane Gibson, Scott Nath, and Paul Willis, all familiar names in the fringe scene, all of whom have worked professionally at the likes of Seattle Children's Theatre, Book-It, or Intiman; how can they brace themselves for the East Coast?
"Have outside job skills," advised John Holyoke, formerly of the much-missed experimental troupe the Compound. "Have a nest egg--save up a bit--so that you can not work for a stretch if opportunity calls. I followed connections [and attracted] the interest of one acting agent. Of course, she needed me to be totally flexible with work; when she learned I was taking a job, she lost interest--I haven't heard from her since."
For aspiring self-producers, Prud'homme warned, "In New York it's like $5 billion an hour to rent, for rehearsals or anything else. I exaggerate a wee bit, [but that affects] the abilities of theater troupes to do things." Holyoke sees an insidious aristocracy taking shape in the performance world: "I meet somebody who is active at a very downtown level and I wonder, 'How do they do it?' Then we have a meeting at their apartment and I walk in the door and say, 'Oh, well, that's how.' A going model in the downtown theaters is to have big patronage: The Garage [home of the Wooster Group] has Willem Dafoe, [experimental director] Richard Foreman's father was a real estate tycoon, and I can tell you the Flea Theater would almost certainly no longer be with us were it not for Sigourney Weaver [who's married to the artistic director]."
Prud'homme commented, "I miss the 'belonging to a family' vibe that I always had [in Seattle]. It may be because I came to this place as an older person, that is to say, not in my 20s anymore." Joshua Parrott, once one of the bulwarks of Theater Schmeater, also finds New York decidedly colder: "In Seattle I saw so many things that just took my breath away. Out here it seems pretty petty and stupid. People are more concerned with their careers or filling a niche than making their art." On the other hand, recent transplant Heidi Schreck reports that she now lives within a few blocks of many of her former Printer's Devil cohorts. "I'm doing exactly what I did in Seattle: working with people I care about and doing new plays for little money. The main difference is that here I get to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge at night wearing a tube top."
Even better, in New York "people can move further and more meteorically if things happen to click," said Holyoke. "By 'move' I don't necessarily mean money or proximity to the carnival at 42nd Street. I mean attention without condescension--articles in papers [without], 'Ooh, look at what the kids are doing over in their sandbox. They're going to grow up to be real good one day.'"
Prud'homme agreed that New York inherently has more to offer theatermakers: "Here I always get paid for my work--maybe only $800 for two months of work, but in Seattle it was far more meager most often." Nonetheless, Prud'homme is about to move to Los Angeles. "L.A. is the only place where friends of mine are actually eking out livings as actors. I don't know anyone in New York who is," she said with a regretful sigh.
None of this will deter anyone who hopes to become the next Paul Giamatti (who bounced around Seattle before playing off-Broadway opposite Kevin Spacey, from there appearing in half the movies released last year). And, as current aspirant Deanna Companion said about Seattle's coziness, "You find yourself in a very comfortable bubble, and I want out. I love challenges."
