Odd Jobs

I just completed a week of ushering for two wonderful shows.... Ooooo! by Sidemart Theatrical Grocery and Dangerous Liasons by the Segal Theatre. As I have no doubt stated already, a large part of my life in the theatre has been dealing with issues of unemployment.

Upon moving to Montreal, I discovered that this issue was doubly complicated due to a few reasons. Although I studied french in school for about 8 years and I live with a francophone in a primarily francophone neighbourhood, my french is trés mauvais. In the past, in tough times I would try to pick up odd jobs here and there to pay the bills when I wasn`t lucky enough to be plying my craft. Here in Montreal, to even serve coffee you need to be bilingual...way more bilingual than I am now. I know I am making progress with the french but it still seems a huge mountain to climb.

Some would say, well why don`t you apply for unemployment insurance? I am eligible for this and the truthful answer is yes, I should. And have in the past. That`s part of my issue I think. In the years when I would collect UI (which is now called EI, I believe) it was always a humiliating experience...I felt like I was automatically assumed to be cheating the system rather than using a protection plan that I have been paying into my whole working life. As well, with recent changes to the EI system, I have to log all of my hours on a sheet that Equity sends me with each contract. Now, I will deal with my paperwork issues in future blogs, but I can simply say that I have never done this....I hate paperwork and so far the thought of filling these shitty things out when I`m rocking and rolling with a show just makes my head want to explode. Still... I think I need to get on this horse and ride it.... my partner is, and rightly so, getting frustrated that I`ve been so stubborn in not persuing this option.

As well, Montreal has a very small english theatre scene...there are only so many companies and so many stage management contracts available. Doing summer stock has not been an option for me at this time mainly because...well, frankly, I`m old and don`t want to spend the summer in some small town, away from my guy and my pets, boarding with a lonely widow or sleeping in someone`s 12 year old daughter`s pretty and pink bedroom (that`s just creepy). I have weathered these situations countless times in my career and I just can`t do it anymore! Being afraid to have a good fart after a 13 hour work day makes me stressed out just thinking of it.

Luckily, here in Montreal other options have been opened to me, largely due to some wonderful friends. Now, when unemployed, I do crew calls and some ushering. Prior to moving here, I had never really touched a lighting instrument or was lucky to find the business end of a screw gun. We have really wonderful technicians here and through getting to know them, I was brought on to a few crews for set ups, tear downs and lighting hangs and have slowly begun to build up some skill in this area. I am nowhere near having the knowledge and talent of most guys and gals on a crew but I can hold my own these days and I actually really love the work. This, along with the ushering have been godsends to me....I`m not really pulling in living wages with it, but it certainly helps out in lean times and the best thing of all for me is that I am still working in the world of theatre. My comfort zone.

As I start my final weekend of unemployment for the next 5 months or so, I look forward to getting back into the chair I`m very used to sitting in... and pulling in some better cash so I can contribute more meaningfully to the cost of my life with S again. But I do miss these odd jobs... this last week of ushering has been quite wonderful. A little melancholy, as one of my good friends who took pity on me and hired me to work during lean times, has left her position, but a great week none-the-less. Just being in the theatre and breathing in that nurishing atmosphere in which we bravely attempt to transport people from their daily lives into other worlds, other times, other lives has rejeuvenated my resolve.... has charged my battery once again and I feel ready to begin.

Bring on the no-neck monsters!!!
(if this reference confuses you...read Cat On a Hot Tin Roof, or better yet...come see it!)