{"id":36749,"date":"2020-07-29T21:37:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-29T18:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/broadway-workers-turn-to-side-hustles-with-theaters-closed\/"},"modified":"2020-07-29T21:37:00","modified_gmt":"2020-07-29T18:37:00","slug":"broadway-workers-turn-to-side-hustles-with-theaters-closed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/broadway-workers-turn-to-side-hustles-with-theaters-closed\/","title":{"rendered":"#Broadway workers turn to side hustles with theaters closed"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Broadway workers turn to side hustles with theaters closed<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n NEW YORK \u2014 Broadway seamstress Amy Micallef hasn\u2019t put her talent on hold while theaters are shut. She\u2019s been making plush toys \u2014 unusual plush toys.<\/p>\n

Each one goes for $23 and she encourages buyers to unleash their anger on her creations \u2014 be merciless against a virus that has caused so much loss and disruption.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes you need to throw something against the wall, you need to step on something. Do you want to run that thing over with your car? Honey, be my guest,\u201d she said. \u201cHere is here is your chance for sweet, sweet vengeance.\u201d<\/p>\n

While stages remain dark, Broadway workers like Micallef are finding ways to keep the lights on at home with side hustles. Some teach dance. Some offer music lessons or acting tips via Zoom. Some make jewelry or prints of their art. Some sell skincare products or handmade journals.<\/p>\n

\u201cActors\u2019 normal side gigs are catering and even those jobs don\u2019t exist. No one\u2019s hosting parties,\u201d said Jeanna de Waal, who is to play the title role in the musical \u201cDiana.\u201d \u201cA lot of people are having to learn new side hustles and utilize any skill that they\u2019ve got to pay the bills.\u201d<\/p>\n

The survival picture is certain to get darker when the government\u2019s $600-a-week pandemic unemployment compensation program expires this month. Unemployment checks in New York top out at $504 a week but most people get a fraction of that, not enough to get by in an expensive city. The relief group The Actors Fund has distributed more than $14 million in assistance to some 12,000 people, but more is needed. The city doesn\u2019t expect shows to restart until at least January.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t say this any clearer: The arts and the entertainment sector as a whole is on the verge of the biggest existential crisis we\u2019ve ever had,\u201d said Adam Krauthamer, the president of Local 802, which represents musicians. \u201cWe\u2019re on the edge of the cliff.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said many of his 7,000 members are taking a hard look at their careers and may not return to Broadway orchestra pits or symphony spaces. Krauthamer warns the sound of New York may soon be very different without help.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the right politicians and philanthropists and people who help the arts are not engaged to put together a program that will save culture and the arts in New York City, it\u2019s going to change as we know it forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ali Solomon\u2019s career was finally soaring when the pandemic hit in mid-March. Like many Broadway artists, she had a patchwork of jobs: She was an associate choreographer for the off-Broadway show \u201cTrevor: The Musical,\u201d the tour choreographer for \u201cCharlie and the Chocolate Factory\u201d and was helping a show in development. All were stopped \u2014 but rent wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re at the top of your game<\/a> after working for so many years and now to go find a job in another industry, where do you start? You\u2019re at the bottom of the totem pole. You\u2019re lucky if you\u2019ll make minimum wage,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

To make ends meet, she is a skincare consultant for Rodan and Fields and teaches \u2014 both in-person at a studio on Long Island and virtually for PassDoor, an online dance studio created by Broadway veterans.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m starting to add little bits of income. None of it will compare to what I was making before. But it\u2019s something and luckily I\u2019ve been able to save. But the fear, though, is that nest egg that you\u2019ve been saving is quickly going to diminish because the cost of living is so high.\u201d<\/p>\n

Living with easy access to the theater district has always been key to Broadway\u2019s talent pool. But those apartments often command the highest rent. So some workers are letting their leases lapse, moving out and biding their time to when the shows restart, raising fears of a talent drain.<\/p>\n

\u201cI already know tons of people who\u2019ve left the city,\u201d said Solomon. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t mean that they\u2019re never coming back, but they\u2019ve given up their homes. And they\u2019re like, \u2018Until we have a reason to come back, there\u2019s no need to be here.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

De Waal has gone from acting to hiring. She\u2019s put her focus on Broadway Weekends, a company she and her sister, Dani, started in 2017 offering in-person theater camps for adults. Following the shutdown, she decided to focus online and recruited fellow performers. \u201cAll my friends were unemployed. So it was very easy to ask around.\u201d<\/p>\n

Broadway Weekends now offers 20-30 classes a week on Zoom, charging $39 a month for unlimited access. Enrollment has rocketed to over 7,000. De Waal is paying her teachers and is working to establish a non-profit version and an educational arm for school kids.<\/p>\n

Jenny Florkowski, a veteran at \u201cWicked,\u201d crafts jewelry on the side and is also looking to the wider community. She gives away all proceeds from sales of her beaded and friendship bracelets to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and Color of Change.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring this time, a lot of performers feel they\u2019ve lost their purpose,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was nice to connect with a lot of people and feel like we were all giving towards something bigger than ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Broadway producers have donated millions of dollars to emergency funds and one has even reached into her own pocket to employ 70 dancers to lead free virtual dance-exercise session classes.<\/p>\n

Jenna Segal, the co-producer of such shows as \u201cHadestown\u201d and \u201cWhat the Constitution Means to Me,\u201d launched Get In Shape Grrl! on Facebook<\/a> and has expanded it to an app<\/a>, attracting some 15,000 members.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just thought to myself, \u2018Wouldn\u2019t it be fun to bring Broadway to people who are sad because the season was just about to open? Let\u2019s do something where they can participate and we can keep dancers employed,\u2019\u201d said Segal.<\/p>\n

Mackenzie Warren, a dancer and instructor, has turned to a different art form \u2014 offering prints of her lovely watercolor floral arrangements. She says it\u2019s another way to tell a story and bring light to people. But she also hits a heartbreaking note for theater lovers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve gotten to perform some dream shows, I\u2019ve gotten to perform on Broadway. I\u2019m so grateful and I hope that my career is not over in that area. But if it is, I can look back with gratitude and say, \u2018OK, well, what\u2019s the next adventure? How can I adapt?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The pandemic has both revealed the creativity of the Broadway community and its fragility. Micallef, the plush toy maker, immediately donated masks for frontline workers when the virus struck. But now her side hustle is barely enough to keep her in yarn. She still has faith.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have the benefit of knowing two very important things that I think most people may not believe or may not truly understand \u2014 No. 1: This will end. It will. I promise it will,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd second, there is good on the other side.\u201d\n <\/p><\/div>\n

\n

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