How to Live on a Tour Bus

How to Live on a Tour Bus

For my last job, I had to live on a tour bus, and almost everything I Googled to try to figure out what this life would be like was pretty useless. The only thing the internet told me, on every single site about living on a tour bus, was don’t poop on the bus. (It’s…

Apps To Make Tour Life Easier

So you’re heading out on a tour? Here are some apps I can’t live without on the road: Google Maps I love me some Waze too, but Google Maps walking function is unbeatable when you’re constantly trying to find your way around new cities. Venmo I probably use this at least a dozen times a…

#Tourlife: Money Fails

#Tourlife: Money Fails

A few years ago, I wrote about the financial dangers of touring. It’s really easy to turn into a spend thrift without paying attention when your life is just wandering from place to place. Lately, I’ve come to face to face with another money peril on tour. Getting sick. When you get sick at home,…

Free Theater in NYC

It’s not uncommon to hear about the cost of Hamilton tickets in the news these days. Leading up to Lin–Manuel Miranda’s last performance, tickets were showing up on StubHub for $20,000 a piece and the cheapest tickets available on that site was $1,350. Now that the original cast has departed, ticket prices should drop to…

What Skills Do You Need to Be a Stage Manager?

What Skills Do You Need to Be a Stage Manager?

So you think you might want to be a stage manager? Let me warn you now, almost everyone who works in the arts thinks they can be a stage manager and the vast majority can’t. Just because you are an organized human being doesn’t mean you have the skillset to be an excellent stage manager.…

How to Stay Under Your Per Diem

How to Stay Under Your Per Diem

One of the best ways to save money out on tour is to live on your per diem and the trick to that is keeping your necessary spending under that amount. The companies I’ve worked for have given me per diems in the $30-35 range, which seems to be pretty average for touring shows. Here’s…

How to Save Money on Black Pants

How to Save Money on Black Pants

So – I can’t exactly write a post on how to save on the best pair of black pants since this is a pretty endless debate in the theater world. Especially among the ladies of the theater world. See this extensive thread at the SMNetwork or this post at Headset Chatter. Personally, I’ve been on…

How Much Do Stage Managers Make? Part II

How Much Do Stage Managers Make? Part II

A few months ago I tossed out the idea “how much do stage managers make?” Because as one, I’m generally pretty curious. There’s a wide variety of pay scales among us (and the job itself varies widely), but I’ve always been a little puzzled about why we keep what we make such a secret. If…

10 Best FREE Apps for Stage Managers

10 Best FREE Apps for Stage Managers

Stage Managers are people with the answers to all the questions. How do we get that way? With a heck of a small army of tools and tricks. If you’ve already checked out how to stock your kit on a budget, here’s a list of several apps to beef up your smartphone for free* too.…

A Diatribe Against the Starving Artist

There are very few things I get really excited about, but good theater is one of them. Actually, it’s why I picked my entire career path. I was entranced by the magic of theater, the audience’s suspension of disbelief and the feeling that you can make anything happen onstage. I think a lot of people…

That Was Easy! Saving $$$ at Stapler Confessions

That Was Easy! Saving Money with Stapler Confessions

I think pretty much everyone who works in theater knows that stage managers could single handedly fund Staples. Turns out there’s actually a fantastic blog run by Rebecca called Stapler Confessions that focuses on personal finance AND getting the best deals at Staples. She is seriously into this store, and if there’s one person out there…

How to Stock a Stage Management Kit on a Budget

How to Stock a Stage Management Kit on a Budget

Every job has its tools and one of the biggest money suckers for a stage manager is their kit. What’s a stage manager kit? Well, it harkens back to the idea that a stage manager is the person who is “absolutely responsible for absolutely everything” for a production… which is an over or under simplification…