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<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">What Were They
Thinking:<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>A Career in the Theater
Arts<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
/><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Bob
Abelman<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Cleveland Jewish
News<o:p></o:p></SPAN></I></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Member, International
Association of Theatre Critics </SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"></SPAN> </P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">This article will
appear in the 9/26/2014 issue <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">“I get up every day
as a freelance theater-maker and try to figure out how to make a
living.”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><EM><SPAN
style="BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; FONT-STYLE: normal; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; BACKGROUND: white; COLOR: #222222; BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt; PADDING-TOP: 0in; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in">~
</SPAN></EM><STRONG><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">Caridad
Svich, nomadic playwright and songwriter<o:p></o:p></SPAN></STRONG></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal><STRONG><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></STRONG></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Ms. Svich has had
quite a career.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>She received a 2012
Obie Award for Lifetime Achievement in the theater, a 2012 Edgerton Foundation
New American Play Award, and the 2011 American Theatre Critics Association
Primus Prize.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>And yet she struggles
daily – not with churning out creative work but with turning that enterprise
into a living wage.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN><FONT size=3>This is true for local artists as well, where there are
plenty of theaters but few that support a sustainable, salaried ensemble of
players, playwrights and designers.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>Acting jobs are particularly rare.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>The Actors’ Equity Association (AEA) reported that only 38 percent of the
professional actors who make up its membership work at any given time.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>And they work an average of only 17
weeks a year.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang=EN>Nearly
70 percent of these working actors earn $15,000 or less.<SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN><FONT size=3>Despite the odds of theater artists obtaining employment
and the difficulty of making a living doing so, college programs designed to
prepare students for a career in the theater arts are bursting at the seams.
Conservatories specializing in musical theater are as hard to get into as the
most competitive medical programs and prestigious law schools.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; BACKGROUND: white; COLOR: #222222; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>Last Fall, there were </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; BACKGROUND: white; COLOR: #222222">4,595
applicants to the Mayo Medical School and 1.8 percent were admitted.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Yale Law School accepted only 7.9
percent of its applicants.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>By
comparison, 2.8 percent of the 800 musical theater applicants to the
</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">University of Cincinnati
College-Conservatory of Music were accepted.<SPAN
style="BACKGROUND: white; COLOR: #222222"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #363636"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #363636"><FONT size=3>According
to a recent article in <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">American
Theatre</I> magazine, 98.6 percent of those graduating with a degree in the
theater arts leave with student loan debt; nearly half of them owe $50,000 -
$100,000.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #363636"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #363636"><FONT size=3>So why
pursue a career in the arts? <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Here
is what a few local professional theater artists have to say on the subject.
</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #363636"><FONT
size=3></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #363636"><FONT size=3>For more
of this article, go to: <A
href="http://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/news/local/article_8ff1e568-432f-11e4-874d-93ff11b3e778.html">http://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/news/local/article_8ff1e568-432f-11e4-874d-93ff11b3e778.html</A><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P></FONT></DIV>
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