I agree with Hans’ initial point so, so much. See, New York WAS the next logical step for me - but NOT the ending point, or even the capstone to my theatre career. We’re all striving for something different. And while no one would argue with a starring role, most of us willingly accept it’s a dream and not a reality. I, too, plan to move back to NC and kick my drive back into gear. Because I know a LOT more now than I did when I left, and I plan to use that experience and knowledge for a whole lot of good.

And THAT is why I moved to New York. Not for the professional experience. But for the life experience. Now, instead of being “24 going on 40,” I am 26 going on 27, a little less restless and a lot more ready to just enjoy the hell out of my talent.

And, yes … I might decide to take our company elsewhere based on a lot of different factors (I’m past the age of 25 but still have a bit of wanderlust in me), but I’m glad to say that I gave Chicago a go of it, instead of always wondering what it would be like.

I moved to New York before I knew why I should, and I lived in Chicago for a while too. In both of those cities, I had a few theatre connections, but I never pushed them. I had exactly one theatre experience in each location, each completely unremarkable, even unnotable. But I looked around and learned a lot about what it takes to get anywhere in theatre (no matter where you are), and one thing is irreplaceable in that quest: drive. I didn’t have it in either city, but I figured out what it looked like, and then I moved to Asheville NC and kicked it into gear.

My point is that your friend might have a romanticized view of moving to Chicago to “make it”, especially as evidenced by his declaration of willingness to live in his car (yeah sure, but where you gonna park it?), and he may be in for a rude awakening, but perhaps such an awakening is exactly what he needs. To figure out where to go next and how to get there. To develop a plan that’s a lot more substantial and implementable than the simple plan “to get discovered”. Flailing around a bit can be a huge waste of time, but only if one abandons what one was flailing towards in the first place. And maybe not even then…

As for Scott’s comment: I’ve lived in the Prof’s own town for a couple of years now and am once again considering the very step he questions. The reason is that I’ve now been hired to direct at the professional regional theatre level, but I’m still working at a bar, often full-time. I’m on a new level now, professionally-speaking, and to really take advantage of that perhaps I need to locate myself in one of the major theatre centers of America. Because won’t most professional theatres across the country be more likely to hire someone out of New York than out of a small city in the mountains of Western North Carolina? It’s unfair and more that a little stupid, but the fact remains.

Don’t get me wrong, Asheville gets great press these days, and the very mission of my own theatre company is to try to reverse the artistic exchange in America, taking artists to New York or Chicago instead of toeing the line that all real talent in this country emanates from those places. But a livable salary from my company is years away yet, and in the meantime the driven artist in me needs to be getting out of restaurants and into theatres as much as he possibly can. Is a place like Asheville the ideal homebase from which to do that? I have my doubts.

It’s not where I want to spend my entire career, though.

To go back to the horrible gambling analogy, Las Vegas is a gambler’s nirvana. He’d be stupid to live there, because he’d lose all his money at some point, but at the same time, it’s a great place to go for a short period of time, even if just to say “I’ve been there”.