To Parents Taking a Deep Breath

A recent LinkedIn post by Andy Truscott got me thinking. He made a strong case that a theatre education prepares people for far more than a narrow job title, and he is absolutely right.

This time of year, that lands a little harder.

Right now, parents all over Kentucky and beyond are taking a deep breath as their children get ready to graduate and head off to college. And in some of those homes, the plan is not business school or nursing or engineering. The plan is theatre. Or music. Or dance. Or some other corner of the performing arts.

For some parents, that is exciting.

For others, if we are being honest, it is a little terrifying.

College is expensive. The world is uncertain. And the arts do not always offer the kind of straight-line career path that makes nervous adults feel better. If your child says they want to major in accounting, people tend to nod. If they say they want to major in acting or musical theatre, the room sometimes grows quiet.

But let me offer a little perspective from someone who has spent a lifetime in this work.

A performing arts education is not just training for one job. It is training in discipline, collaboration, adaptability, communication, empathy, problem-solving, and resilience. It teaches young people how to listen, how to take direction, how to recover when things go wrong, how to keep showing up prepared, and how to make something meaningful with other people.

That is not fluff.

That is serious preparation for life.

Now let me be equally plain about something else: not every student who majors in the performing arts will make a living as a performer. That is true. It has always been true. But I think parents sometimes hear that and assume it means the degree has failed.

Don’t believe that for a second.

If a student studies the performing arts and goes on to a career in the arts, wonderful. If that same student later carries those skills into teaching, business, ministry, nonprofit work, communications, leadership, or something none of us saw coming, that does not mean the training was wasted. It means the training did what good training does. It shaped the whole person.

That matters.

The boy growing up in Rineyville could never have imagined where a life in theatre would take him. I certainly did not see nearly every state in the union coming. I did not foresee getting to create theatre in the heart of Broadway, dipping my toes in both oceans, climbing mountains, or visiting Japan, England, and France. I did not know that this path would let me meet extraordinary people, build lifelong friendships, and spend years making some small difference in the lives of thousands of students and their families.

And no, not every young person heading off to study the performing arts will have my path. Nor should they. Their life will be their own.

But the larger point still stands.

The arts open doors in ways that are not always obvious at eighteen. They develop habits and strengths that travel with them. They help young people become more resourceful, more observant, more courageous, more collaborative, and more fully themselves. Even when the road bends, the training stays with them.

So to the parents who are nervous right now, I would say this:

Ask good questions. Be practical. Be patient. Talk honestly about money and next steps. Your concern is not foolish, and your child needs your wisdom.

And sometimes, the most loving thing a parent can do is take a deep breath and trust that the gifts their child is developing may carry further than any of you can yet see.

Do not make the mistake of assuming that a major in the performing arts is a major in instability or fantasy.

It may be, in fact, a major in hard work.
A major in discipline.
A major in human understanding.
A major in learning how to make something meaningful with other people.

And those things have a way of carrying further than you can see at the beginning.

I say that not as a dreamer with no evidence, but as someone who has lived it.

And as someone who is still, even at this stage of life, reaching, trying, creating, and speaking up for the arts because I have seen what they can do.

They do not simply prepare young people for a role.

They prepare them for a life.

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