Do Theater in Small Towns

When someone finds out you're a theater artist but live (and have always lived) in small Midwestern towns, they usually say something like, "Well, you know you will probably need to move to a bigger city if you want to be successful." Even non-artists know that the place to make a name for yourself isn't a town of 10,000. It's places like NYC, NY; Portland, OR; Chicago, IL; Greenville, SC; LA, CA. Lots of theaters, producers, actors, and, most importantly, audiences and their money are in the big places. The big places filter down to the smaller places. More people hear about your work and hopefully, it will live long after you do. That's the generally accepted pathway. Maybe these people are right. It's certainly the most obvious observation. But it's not the only one. Small-town theater has a place in the world, and so do theater artists who choose to do it. A few arguments for small-town theater artists:

1.) Steady Work. You will have pretty steady work as a theater artist working within a small area. The pay may vary, but you can work several gigs within driving distance from your home because among a series of smaller cities, committed, available, and gifted actors are fewer. (This is especially true if you're male, but you'll find roles for women as well.) There are also plenty of opportunities to MAKE opportunities.

2.) Community. You can have a home and a community of people who do things besides theater. Your local Rally's that you always pay cash at on Sunday nights will recognize you at the drive-through. You'll have a car mechanic you always go to. You'll bump into people you know when you go shopping. You will be able to develop working relationships with a number of theaters, directors, and other actors in the area, not to mention audience members. Instead of hopping nationwide and doing long-distance auditions, you can center your life in one area.

3.) Competition and Opportunity. Competition will always exist, but something is lost in the joy of art if a competitive spirit takes a front seat. Why does the "best" art have to be done somewhere big? Must we be seen by thousands to know we're doing something worth doing? In a large city, you are one actor among thousands. The same is true of writers and directors. "Big-breaks" are awesome but rare, and if they are your main goal, you'll always be disappointed. In a small town, you share your gifts with the people and the community that made you and are making you. You're giving back in the ways you're most able. That's an old-fashioned idea. And it's pretty cool. So the suggestion that a larger city has more opportunity may be sort of right, but it's also sort of wrong. Just make great art wherever you are. Find your audience and do it for them.

4.) Great Art is Everywhere. If they find great art in a small community, people are surprised. What if you and your art in your small town became part of the reason people became less surprised? What if you leaned into their expectations with the goal of subverting them? What if we could build such lovely things in small places that people come to expect it? "Look at this small-town theater! Let's check it out!" Like a fairy ring of mushrooms on a woodsy path or oceanic flowers growing in darkness until discovered by a submarine pilot, make lovely things where you are--and teach people to look for them. Teach them that their communities are just as capable of making excellent art as any larger one.

Do theater in small towns. Make art.