To move away or not to move away? That is the question many LSU theater graduates are forced to ask themselves, but where they end up is not always where they want to be.
Citing a lack of local opportunity, many theater graduates have found they can succeed only by moving away to more theatrically developed cities such as New York, Los Angeles or Chicago.
Theater junior and Baton Rouge native Wendy Morrill said she loves home but soon will be forced to move away to make a living in theater.
“LSU provides most of the opportunities for theater,” she said. “But that still isn’t going to pay for us.”
There are 97 theater majors enrolled at the University, said an analyst at the Office of Budget and Planning.
Travis Kiger, a creative writing and performance studies senior, said the only way Baton Rouge will have opportunity is with a “rise in the creative class” and by artists bonding together.
“The only way [artists] can survive is by going to bigger cities, but the only way to make it work here is to stay here,” he said.
Kiger and a group of fellow artists have recently founded the Port City Project, a local performing arts production company with a goal to create an opportunity for other artists.
Kiger said the lack of opportunity in Baton Rouge can be linked to a lack of awareness both artists and the public have for what is already here and what is potentially available.
“We’ve encountered so many people that don’t think it’s possible,” he said. “But Baton Rouge is ready to pop. It’s already been labeled as a city on the verge.”
Neal Hebert, a philosophy graduate student, said Baton Rouge is up and coming but denied that there is a serious lack of local opportunity.
“If you’re not getting work, then you’re not auditioning and maybe you shouldn’t be in theater,” Hebert said.
Hebert is currently a teaching assistant for a philosophy of art course and has been active in several productions around campus, including working as assistant director in LSU Theater’s “The Shape of Things” in October 2002.
Hebert said there are many theaters and production companies that cast from within the community, such as Swine Palace, Baton Rouge Little Theater, BREC Independence Park Theater and Artworx Theatrical Productions.
Hebert said any artist who tries hard enough will get work, whether as an actor or behind the scenes.
“You have to have an attitude of ‘I need to do this’ or ‘I have to do this,'” he said. “It’s not that there’s a lack of opportunity, but there’s a lack of diligence in the craft.”
LSU graduate Shawn Shaffer said he moved to New Orleans to look for work in the technical area of theater, but he found the lack of work as a widespread problem.
“There is a better chance to find jobs in New Orleans over Baton Rouge,” he said. “But I think the state lacks in that area as a whole.”
Shaffer said the audience in New Orleans is larger, and there are more theaters and businesses catering to the arts.
But this is what gives Baton Rouge the edge, Kiger said.
He said New Orleans is so saturated in the arts that it leaves room for a growing local market without much competition.
“There’s no such thing as too much theater in Baton Rouge because there is so little of it,” Kiger said.
Hebert said Baton Rouge is poised to become a training ground for artists and will at least become an excellent place for them to get some experience and “hone their craft.”
Even if there is no true lack of local opportunity, John Payne, an LSU theater graduate, said it is not always a bad thing to move away.
“It’s supposed to show your willingness to ‘change’ and that you have not just learned from one teacher or are just familiar with one style,” Payne said.
Payne currently attends graduate school at Western Illinois University and said it has been an eye-opening experience.
Although he is away from everything he has ever known, Payne said he is happy.
“As long as I am doing what I love doing, then that is all that matters,” he said. “If you are truly dedicated to the craft, I think you would feel the same.”