Art-strippers come and go but the complaining does not.
Because we like to complain. We like to proclaim, and be clever, and point out
the problems with “the community,” and tell each other how shows should be run and how performers should perform, and how festivals and competitions should be organized and crowns and titles should be awarded, and how producers and audiences and
musicians and costumers and DJs and bartenders should behave and just exactly who should be allowed to do what; and sometimes a larger
percentage of “the community” is in agreement over these shoulds, and more
often they are not, but time and again over the last ten years I have read and
I have heard (and I too have proclaimed) what should be done and what should be changed and that is followed almost immediately
by a chorus of voices singing out:
“But a gig's a gig.”
“And I need the
work.”
And this, right here,
this is the crucial moment where the pause needs to happen and
everybody but everybody needs to stop
talking and get off the internet and put down the phone and go off alone onto a
mountaintop or into a quiet locked room and really, really think. Because unlike the Muggle world
in which jobs provide things like food and shelter but require a high degree of
not-punching-that-asshole-district-supervisor-in-the-face, our Jellicle job is
low on income and security but high on the
not-having-to-put-up-with-civilian-bullshit-like-that-and-also-we-can-wear-boas-to-work
scale. In exchange for never really
making a living getting naked, we do actually have more freedom in certain
areas; and therefore:
If you honestly and truly believe that a performance situation is wrong, professionally or morally (the facilities are inadequate, the pay is too low, you are being asked to compromise your personal or artistic beliefs), then do not take the gig. That’s it. Don’t take it. **
If you believe that the situation is acceptable if certain conditions are met, then propose those changes. If they are made, great; if not, do not take the gig.
If you are willing to take the gig as it is, if you’re comfortable with the reality and morality of the situation, then take the gig. And shut up. ***
I’m tired of hearing about how shitty this gig is, how awful that show is, how this one pays almost nothing and that one is a horrible degrading experience and this venue doesn’t have a stage and that venue doesn’t have a bathroom and this producer owes me money, didn’t say anything when the
bar owner grabbed my ass, let a dozen photographers into the dressing room, did
nothing to promote the show - from performers who keep taking
these same gigs, again and again and again. (What’s that thing that Albert Einstein probably
never said? “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over
again and expecting different results.”) If you want the situation to change,
your behaviour towards it must change; if you don’t require it to change, if
you can accept it even with its imperfections, then complaining about it serves
no purpose and just takes away from bunny-stripper-Tumblr time.
To be sure, this doesn’t address the monetary aspect of the
situation and all I can say is, personally I have not yet been faced with the
ethical/financial dilemma of “Do I turn down that Republican Party Fundraiser
gig on moral grounds even though it pays $100,000 and a unicorn?” And I daresay
that until a major political upheaval occurs, most of us will never find
ourselves in anything even approaching this situation.
However: I have
turned down private gigs that paid half a month’s rent but required ten months
of work; well-paying day-trip gigs with a producer I was totally skeeved out
about spending six hours in a car with; regular gigs in venues so inappropriate
as performance spaces that I want to claw my own pasties off in frustration, or
locations so difficult to get to that they require three hours of subway
travel, or so dangerous that I literally fear for my safety coming home. I have
stopped working with producers that have accepted massive pay cuts from venues,
or don’t oversee or curate their shows, or do nothing to protect their
performers from sexual harassment by venue management or audience members; and
in contrast I have supported the decision of a producer who cancelled a
long-running, decently-paying regular gig when an audience yelled racial slurs
at a performer and the venue management simply shrugged it off. After ten
years, I’ve even stopped taking gigs that are just kind of a pain in
the ass, simply because I’m too old and
tired and I don’t want to
complain all the time.
In this fragile art-stripper economy, I have felt the loss
(and so has my landlord) of every single one of those turned-down gigs, be they $40 or $400 paychecks. And it’s not
to say that I haven’t decided to take plenty of less-than-ideal gigs just to
pay the rent, or just because they were incredibly fun. **** But over the years
I’ve realized the importance of making actual, conscious, deliberate decisions
about gigs – Am I satisfied with the circumstances of this job? Do I feel
the money is fair? Is this a producer I’m comfortable working with, and a show
I want my name on? Is this gig going to be a fucking great time that I’ll
remember forever, and is that alone important enough? – rather than taking every show that’s offered despite my misgivings
because, well, a gig’s a gig and I
really need the work.
Because despite a decade of changes, two things have
remained exactly the same: I always need the work, and there’s always another gig.
* Get it? “Decadent”? Like decade? Word power!
** And hey, if you feel strongly about the situation (and if
you Care Enough To Complain, then let’s assume that you do) why not politely
and appropriately voice your reasons for turning down the gig? If that producer
hears enough times and from enough people “Thank you for the offer but I
simply can’t travel three hours and perform four acts in your show for a $30
guarantee,” or “The last time I
worked at your venue the host was incredibly offensive and inappropriate; as
much as I enjoy your show I can’t work with you again as long as she’s
hosting,” then maybe just maybe the pay
scale will increase, or the quality of the hosting will improve. But if she
never hears otherwise, there’s very little impetus for that producer to up the
pay or fire the asshole who thinks “Our next performer is pretty hot for a fat
chick!” is a valid hosting schtick.
*** Blowing up FaceTube with blind-item posts about how SOME
PRODUCERS in the community really need to learn to VALUE PERFORMERS and RESPECT
that what we do takes TIME AND SKILL and REALLY SHOULD LEARN that WE DON’T WORK
FOR FREE and THEY’d be NOWHERE without performers!!!!! does not count as shutting up.
**** Not that I’ve yet experienced The Ideal Gig (despite a lot of truly excellent ones). I
rather suspect that if I ever do
perform in The Perfect Show, I’ll crumble into a pile of dust and glitter as I
leave the stage.
