Finding that Balance

“I Got a Man” - Maimouna Youssef

S/O to Sharisse for putting me on to Maimouna! In this track she shares with us the “love triangle” she finds herself in with the two sides of music. There is the music she loved to make growing up; organic, soulful, and indie. On the other side is the commercial side of music that keeps money in her pockets and her name in thepublic eye.

That conflict, as she so lyrically portrays, is a conflict many young artists find themselves facing. I’m often wondering how I can do the work I want to do (culturally relevant theatre) but also achieve the top level success I want. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to be an in demand director, working on Broadway and the Regionals. I’d also be lying if I said I didn’t want to tell those non-commercial stories like Neighborsor doing shows specifically for ASL communities. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like you can be commercially successfully and do that culturally relevant work at the same time.

I guess it depends on your definition of success is. In my most recent experience as an assistant director, I gained a whole new perspective on success. The director had worked on the biggest stages, but due to health and his strong desire to be a good father, no finds himself taking smaller, more local jobs and only working at the second tier regional houses. He is able to do the smaller projects that he believes in but has also had the opportunity to do the big, more commercial shows. While I can’t say that I want that (I’d hate for health to be a limiting factor in my life!) but I’d love the opportunity to achieve that balance. Ideally, I’d run a culturally relevant theatre but job out once or, at most, twice a year to do a regional show and one on Broadway. Yea, that would be AMAZING.

God willing, I will get there. I feel blessed to have even gotten this far.