A Letter to Those Who Aren’t Artists,

I will start this letter by acknowledging that your lives have too been affected by the pandemic we are currently living in. 

It’s possible you’ve lost your job, tragically lost a loved one or feel unsure about what’s next. All of those things are valid and carry a huge burden.

But I felt it necessary to share a side of the Covid story that I feel is getting overlooked. 

What about the artists? Where are they? Where have they gone? What’s next for them? 

For the first time since theatre as we know it shut down, I’m being honest with myself. I’m worried.

The temperature is dropping, the leaves are about to fall and still, there is no sign of theater returning. 

Being a performer has always made up the majority of how I define myself. 

Preparing for an audition, spending days waiting to be seen at auditions, seeing friends, meeting strangers - it’s what I’ve trained for the last 20 years of my life. 

And now I’m bombarded with the same question everyday: what’s next?

I see artists everyday leaving their homes in New York City, making career changes and having to redefine themselves and their happiness. 

We need to give those who have been forced to give up their dreams of living in their own New York City apartments a hug. 

We need to give those making career changes a nod for the bravery it is taking to start anew. 

And finally, we must give those who are being forced to redefine what happiness means to them some support. 

My goal in writing this isn’t to disregard what those who aren’t artists are going through. It’s to shed insight on the silent struggle we as artists are facing. 

In the meantime, artists will pull their masks up so the curtain can be drawn once again. 

They will use their voices to advocate for those who cannot. 

And will continue to fill their days with things that serve as reminders that they are, in fact, still artists. 

Let this letter serve as a reminder to be kind to one another, as you really don’t know what inner battles your neighbor is enduring. 

The arts aren’t just a hobby, they aren’t a phase that you grow out of, they are careers and they are lifestyles.

Instead of asking what’s next, let’s do the right thing by wearing our masks and following guidelines to ensure, #itsonlyintermission.

Xo,

Morg