What are the best cities for theatre?

Is New York City the only place to be if you are a theatre actor, and if not, then what are some other places?

• I am an aspiring theatre actor and I am in the process of relocating. I do not know where to relocate to New York City right now. My reasoning is because I was told that before recieving your equity card (I am a Candidate for Equity membership, but need to acquire more hours/stage time before becoming a full member) finding work in New York is very hard because most people, including agents, will not take you seriously without it. I was thinking of moving somewhere that has lots of opportunities for actors BEFORE making a move to New York City. My first choice is Philadelphia because of how close it is to New York, making it easy for me to keep up with what opportunities are being offered there, while being able to find work in a city that has it's own well developed theatre community. Is this a good idea? Is Philadelphia a good city for an actor looking for work? Are there other cities that I should look at?

• Answer:

  Everywhere there are theatres there are opportunities for actors. Almost every town has at least a small theatre - so when you're starting off, it can be almost anywhere. Most actors are happy to act on stage, on TV, in movies, commercials, corporate stuff - anything they can get. After you've had many years of training and loads of experience, look for an agent and try for any small roles in anything - working your way up from the bottom is the usual way actors get better and better roles - sure, NY has lots of opportunities, but they also have thousands of actors looking for those top roles. Good luck!