The article highlights the financial struggles faced by well-known American playwrights, emphasizing that despite their accolades, many do not earn enough to live on. Even successful works don't guarantee financial stability, with playwrights often juggling other jobs just to make ends meet. The pandemic has worsened the situation for emerging artists, leading to alarming concerns about the future of theater, which relies on playwrights with long-term career potential. This raises questions about the sustainability of midcareer playwrights and the diversity of voices in the theatrical landscape.
Even after the premiere of An Octoroon, Jacobs-Jenkins was living in a horrible sublet on an air shaft, with a possible case of whooping cough and a definite lack of health insurance.
Headland considered herself a success not when her play Bachelorette made a splash Off Broadway in 2010, but when she no longer had to work at Rocket Video to make ends meet.
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