Decide

This week at JWS Online,  our artists stepped into some very challenging and emotionally vulnerable conversations about what it means to need to make a decision. 

The Broadway League has stated “a date to resume performances is yet to be determined”, but we know in our hearts (and in our logical minds) that a 2020 return would be a fantasy. The regional market is a similar unknown, with the Guthrie stating a spring 2021 return, while The Muny still has a delusional July 2020 start date on their calendar. 

So where does this leave the tens of thousands of theatre artists whose industry has no sense of a timeline, where employment in a theatre is non-existent, and whose immediate futures are becoming less and less clear?

This leaves them with a decision that needs to be made. 

The first step in making a decision is actually stating that it is time to decide.

And let’s be clear, not deciding is a decision too. 

When we dug into this challenging moment with our JWS artists, we found quite a range of decisions that needed to be made.

“I need to decide…”:

“If I am leaving the theatre industry.”

“How I am going to pay my taxes.”

“If I am postponing my wedding.”

“If I am going all in on a new career.”

“If I am renewing the lease on my New York apartment.”

“What I am going to do to make money.”

“If I want to go back to school.”

“What I’m going to do with my brand new BFA.”

“Where I am going to live.”

Although it was hard to say these things out loud, for so many of our artists, it was ultimately a huge relief and a tool of permission. Now that they had said it, now that they had acknowledged that a decision needed to be made, they could get to work and start figuring it out.

Whether or not you identify as a theatre artist, you might also have a decision to make.

If you are unsure of how to even begin, consider using these seven standard questions to get your wheels turning:

• Who?

• What?

• Why?

• Where?

• When?

• How?

• How much?

Or consider answering my two favorite fill-in-the-blank questions:

• How might I…?

• What if…? 

Or inspire yourself by journaling your answer to the ultimate question:

• What would Lin-Manuel Miranda do?

Whatever you do, take the wheel in your own life.

Pluck up your courage.

Build your future.

Make a decision.