The last show -- Grease --.closed and the next one hasn't even been identified. That's the dread limbo all showfolk fear and despise, but can't avoid.

Acting and production work, be it stage or film, is essentially casual labor, only with intellectual and creative aspects to it.

A thespian's life is strikingly like that of a merchant seaman. The showperson scouts out auditions, tests for the part (or the craft work) and, if lucky, is called back and signed for the show.

A seaman scans the shipping board at the union hall for an open berth, throws in his book when one is called, and, if he has the rating and beats the competing seniorities, he heads for the ship, signs articles and has a job for the length of the voyage..

Sooner or later the ship returns and he lands back "on the beach"" again/ Then it's back to watching the shipping board for "the next thing smokin'," as mariners like to say.

It's a chancy life,. You never know what ship you might go, or where it will end up, or how lng it will last.

I remember a time in Charleston, S.C. when the Port Patrolman was claling out jobs at the morning shape-up.

"I have one for an oiler. It's a tanker headed for the gulf. It's a pierhead jomp (that is, the sailing board has been posted and youd better get there fast) . Do I have any books (most senior union rating cards)?"

Suddenly from the back of the hall, a suspicious-sounding voice piped up: "What gulf?"

Some savvy sailor was wondering whether taking the job meant committing to a ship bound for the Gulf of Mexico, a two week voyage, down and back, or for the Persian Gulf, which could mean anywhere from four to six months under a broiling sun..

"What do you care, what gulf," the patrolman shot back,?

He was right, of course, In the end, what does it matter to someone in the sea-going life where you are heading or how long it takes you to get there back, so long as you have a snug berth, a fair watch and mates who can tell a good sea story, or two?.

Similarly, for actors and creative technicians, it doesn't matter what show you're workign, so long as your involved.

Pierrette Jensen -- Grease co-director, actor, choreographer and costumier -- recently remarked along these same lines. She sounded very much like that long ago oiler vaguely worried about what gulf he might be find himself in, but not really caring when push came to shove.

"I'm always pulled in two directions when it comes to show biz. A part of me is full of ideas and anxious to start another production, and the other part of me thinks they end up being more trouble than they're worth. I always spend much more time than I should putting it all together - but I usually love the end product," Jensen said in an email.

It's a life, all right.