Making it

Almost every Friday night for the the past 4 months, Melanie and I have been going to watch Manic Thunder, a local improv group perform off the cuff comedy based on audience suggestions. It all started because my friend Rachel wanted to get together with me when she was in Yakima the first weekend of June. Her friend Tim is in the improv group that does a show every Friday and we decided to go see it. I liked what I saw well enough to tell my friend Melanie about it and the rest is history.
Sometimes I see Aarron , one of the players in the improv show working when I do product demonstrations at Fred Myers. Seeing him onstage performing on Fridays and offstage working on Saturdays reminded me of an episode of The Simpsons. In the episode, Lisa goes to a performing arts camp for a week, falls in love with everything and decides she wants to be an artist. So she escapes to the city where she finds out that her instructors share an apartment and work at a sandwich shop to pay the bills.
It made me wonder what it takes to make it an artist. I have worked backstage, danced, acted and sang on stage. But like Aarron, I am also at Fred Myers working so I have money in my pocket.
According to an article on wetfeet.com, "very few succeed financially (the notion of the 'starving artist' is well founded)."
So what does it take to "make it" as an artist? The wetfeet article says "only those with determination, talent, discipline, and luck manage to find careers in the performing arts in which they can support themselves ."
But money aside, I think as long as you get to do what you're passionate about, then you have "made it." After watchng Manic Thunder perform ,I can honestly say passion for what they do is one thing they bring to every performance.