Ask any artist, actor, writer, musician. It’s not easy being a creative type in a world where “show me the money” is the ongoing mantra and sunless cubicles become day jobbers’ second homes. But one has to get food on the table and, gosh, electricity would be nice.
But how does one avoid punching the clock? Well, some starving artists have worked the system by finding creative outlets by day that support their creative needs at night.
Would you believe donuts?
Yes, even donuts are creative, according to Angela Ruediger of Lemoyne, who began her business, Donut Dolly, as a way to support her theatrical itch. As her siblings toil in the traditional business world, Ruediger sells cinnamon sugar, plain sugar and “naked” mini-donuts—a treat popular west of the Mississippi.
She created Donut Dolly last year after noticing a “donut hole” at craft fairs and festivals, where out-of-towners searched in vain for the mini-donuts they loved. Ruediger now sets up shop at craft shows and festivals where her machine spits out 155-dozen mini-donuts per hour. Her competition? Funnel cakes.
This venture is a way for Ruediger to make some extra “dough” to supplement her 21 years of teaching at HACC’s York campus as an adjunct professor. At night, after papers are graded and the donut machine is tucked away, audiences have delighted in her beautiful operatic voice at Theatre Harrisburg’s summer concerts and in such shows as “Gypsy” and “A Little Night Music.”She also does some Christmas caroling at various spots in the region.
“The question is: ‘How do you feed your need to be creative and still pay the bills?’” she says. “For me, creativity often trumps the money, or I’d be way wealthier.”
Ruediger has been performing on stage for years, as has Stuart Landon of Harrisburg, who first discovered theater in an acting class when he was 8 years old. But it was in his Texas high school, where the arts were highly valued, that Landon sealed the deal on his future.
“We had four theater teachers at one point, led by a marvelous woman named Marilyn Miller,” Landon recalls. “Marilyn, who was fabulously Texan with her long nails and her big blond hair, looked at me one day and said, ‘Stuart, you can make chicken salad outta chicken shit. You need to do theater for a living.'”
Landon took the poultry reference to heart. He went on to attend the University of Oklahoma for musical theater—a school that boasted a head professor who put equal emphasis both on the art and the business of theater.
Landon never forgot what he learned and has combined art and business in the best possible way. By day, Landon wears two hats in two different places. He is the director of community engagement for the Midtown Cinema, responsible for marketing, outreach and programming. He also serves as the marketing and sales operations manager at Open Stage of Harrisburg, is an instructor for its Studio/School and gets to perform at the theater in various musicals and plays produced there. No matter which hat he wears, Landon says that theater performance has taught him collaboration skills, which he then brings to his day jobs.
“I feel that my experiences working on new theater have really shaped me as an artist and as a person and now as a manager,” he says. “There are other collaborative arts, but few involve as many minds as theater, musical theater especially.”
And Steelton resident Marc A. Faubel’s mind can never be confined inside an office. By day, he’s primarily a dad, but Faubel also owns Echo Reality Photography, a creative outlet that mushroomed from his other artistic talents.
Faubel, as they say, gets it honest. While growing up, his parents were involved in community theater, and, as a teen and beyond, he staged-managed shows.
“Growing up immersed in musicals and productions, it was sort of natural to gravitate towards wanting to be an entertainer in some way,” he says. “I, too, chose to go to college for theater/performing. I sing, I act, I write. I’m a Jack of all entertainment trades.”
Those trades include performing magic, being a DJ/general manager for Mad Hatter Production Company, and being a member of the Don’t Break The Streak improv group. That creative effort led to his photography career when a camera gifted to him proved useless to videotape the group’s shows. Instead of being discouraged, he decided to put the camera to good use. His hobby turned into an obsession, and Echo Reality Photography was born.
While it certainly is his business, for Faubel, photographs are art; they are connections and moments meant to be captured in unique and creative ways.
“Capturing those moments and suspending them forever is a very special thing,” he says. “I never realized the importance of a photograph until I had my son, Calvin. I just love the idea and ability to take one instance and preserve its beauty forever.”
You can reach Angela Ruediger at adruediger@aol.com and Marc Faubel at www.erfotos.com.
