Finding a job in theater is all about networking, but what kind?

ABSTRACT: Countless new actors eagerly enter the New York City casting pool every year, and the vast majority of them learn just as quickly the exasperating truth about just how impenetrable the theater scene can be. After a few months of cattle calls and headshot submissions yield numerous disappointments but few tangible results, even the most resolute young hopeful can become discouraged by the maddening road to making connections in show business. Time and again theater professionals assert that acting is a business of networking, and young actors, weaned on text messages and online profiles, all too often forget that professional relationships are not built sitting in front of a computer and clicking the Direct Submit button. If you want to succeed, you will eventually have to meet people — the right people — face to face, the old-fashioned way.

Originally published in Show Business, January 2012. View PDF.