The performing arts community is experiencing collective trauma. Many of us have lost entire seasons of work. Some have been lucky to receive full or partial payouts from the companies who hired them; others have lost thousands of dollars in fees. Even our side hustles are affected; many students have suspended lessons, summer training programs and festivals are canceling left and right.
People are grieving, and are understandably fearful about the future. Yet, eventually, the pandemic will come to an end, and we will, I truly believe, get back to the work we love.
What do we do about our canceled contracts? Should we, can we, still put them on our résumés? A considerable piece of the pain we’re experiencing is that lost opportunity and what it represents: work hard-fought and won, validation, long-desired goals gained. And then there’s the inevitable and dreaded résumé gap —- even though everyone in the world has that gap, and everyone knows what it means.
Not to fear. This is one easy fix in a world where easy fixes have become very hard to come by.
Put those canceled contracts on your résumé. In the future, they will represent survivorship. The Lost Season of 2020. We will tell the stories to our grandchildren and youngest voice students. “Ah yes, I lost $17,000 in contracts overnight … we lived off Ramen noodles and used fig leaves when the toilet paper ran out …”
Gallows humor aside, in the time-honored tradition of survivors everywhere, we salvage what is salvageable. Put the credits on your résumé. Here are two suggestions for how to do that:
If you have several corona cancellations, make a separate corona section on your résumé:
2020 Season (canceled due to COVID-19 Pandemic)
Violetta La traviata Big City Opera Full role prepared
Soprano Soloist Messiah Blue City Symphony Full role prepared
Rosalinda Die Fledermaus Red City Opera
2. Normally, I am not a fan of using asteriks and footnotes on a résumé; they add unnecessary clutter. However, as long as you’re not using them for anything else, now is the time to put them to work.
Violetta La traviata Big City Opera 2020*
Rosalinda Die Fledermaus Red City Opera 2020*
Semele Semele Blue City Opera 2019
*canceled due to the COVID-19 quarantine
If you choose to use asteriks and footnotes, remember that your goal is for these things to be found quickly and easily and read at a glance. Keep the text short and clear.
Also, if you prepared your canceled roles completely, and they are new roles, list them under Roles in Repertoire. This is a category that most established professionals don’t use (it’s useful for young singers, late bloomers, artists making a Fach change, or those who have big gaps between performances). Under the current circumstances, even established pros can and should use it, at least temporarily,
While you’re at it, consider adding a short paragraph about your quarantine artistic activities to your bio, especially if you participated in virtual performances. It shows your creativity and perseverance.
On the flip side, if the thought of doing either of these things fills you with unease, or if you read the above sentence and immediately began to worry about whether you’re doing enough for your career during lockdown —- please, my friend, step away, take a deep breath, and know that it’s okay to do absolutely nothing. No one will think less of you for taking care of yourself, and taking care of yourself and the ones you love is the only truly important thing right now.
We all cope differently. Some of us need to cocoon. Some of us need to stay busy. Some of us have needs that change radically from day to day or even hour to hour.
We are all on pause (except, of course, the medical personnel and delivery people and grocery store workers and all those others who are keeping some semblance of normal life going for the rest of us). Your career is not going to go away if you rest now. The arts are not going to go away, oh, no. The world we come back to will need to be bolstered and tended and brought along, but it will return. This is a great opportunity for us to re-examine, re-build, and strengthen.
So, my friends, please don’t despair. Honor your own needs first, and do what feels right to you. But also, don’t be afraid to claim your work. Whether or not you got to perform that role you earned, you worked to get it, through your training, through attracting management or managing yourself, through auditioning, through the blood, sweat, tears and sacrifice of developing your talent.
Take the credit. You deserve it.
