Become like these people? Are there companies in Canada? Is it possible to sustain life on what they pay? I am a shakespeare/theatere nut (second year theatre major, Tulane University) and I would love to be a part of something like this after college.
It's supposed to be based on the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Ontario, Canada, not far from Toronto. And they seem to do pretty well. There are several Shakespeare theaters in the U.S. as well. Alabama Shakespeare Festival (a theater, not a festival), Oregon Shakes in Ashland, and Utah Shakes. are three of the biggest. There's one in Colorado (don't know how big) and the Shakespeare Theater in D.C.
Hey, where'd I go?
There's the Guthrie in Minneapolis, and the Goodman in Chicago -- neither of which produce Shakespear exclusively but which typically do at least one or more by him in a season. And that's not to mention the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, one of the best I've ever seen!
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Basically, you have to become a memeber of a theatre company where they use the same group of actors for different plays.
Your quest will be to find one that performs only, or mostly, Shakespeare.
The above ones will work, but make sure you can work with the people you work with, cause you'll be with them for awhile.
There's also a Georgia Shakespeare Festival and the Shakespeare Tavern in Atlanta. Both are very well respected places. They're hard to get into though. You have to have quite a bit of experience under your belt and be able to audition your ass off.
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To S&M
Do you remember Jackie Burroughs' cameo in Season Two?
She's as esteemed in the trade as William Hutt--and yet, not so long ago, she was homeless. She spent a lot of time in experimental, fringe theatre, real theatre some might call it, and the time came when she couldn't pay her rent, so she was living on sofas in friends' apartments.
She has a lot of friends, and she faced the thing with exactly the kind of gallantry you might expect, but if you're not prepared to face that sort of thing yourself, you might want to find a nice quiet job in a bank.
So . . are you a hero?
By all accounts, it's financially tough to be an actor in Canada. You don't do it to be rich, you do it because you can't imagine doing anything else. My acting friends have other jobs they do when between acting engagements. Some of them have worked on stage and on tv fairly steadily, others not so much.
I don't think Geoffrey's estimate about the average annual income for an actor (in the first season) was too far off. If you go for it, it'll be a labour of love. But if you love it, you'll probably go for it.