Let me lay a few cards on the table here. I don’t think Actors’ Equity is a good union. I say this from the standpoint of someone who has turned down three different jobs that would’ve allowed her to join – not as someone who hasn’t been able to get in. That being said, a…
This post does contain affiliate links. Opening Night is pretty exciting and it’s generally traditional to spring for a gift for your cast and your ASM. If you’re looking for some great, inexpensive ideas for your cast, check out these five opening night gift ideas for less than $5.00. Sometimes the same is done on…
With the Tony’s coming up, you might want to check out some of the shows on the Great White Way, but the prices might be giving you some pause. My best friend and I waited about three years to see The Book of Mormon and still would up paying nearly $200 a seat for back…
When people think about side hustles or survival jobs, a lot of them seem to revolve around being on the same place all the time or work hours outside of 9-to-5. Any stage manager knows that doesn’t really help us out. Work hours change a lot in the theater. While you might be able to…
I started my blog to try and stay accountable while paying off a bunch of student debt. However, once I finished that, I had to rethink why I wanted to keep blogging and my main goal really has been to show an accurate pictures of life and finances when you work in the arts. I’ve…
Finding work can be difficult for anyone, but breaking into the theater world can seem impossible sometimes – especially if you come from a school with no network (cough, cough, Stockton University, cough). Here are a few resources worth looking into to find a job as a stage manager. Please note that under the paid…
It’s been a while since we’ve done a day in the life of! It occurred to me though that my days on my last tour were wildly different from any other job I’ve done. I was on a bus and truck non-Equity national tour. The means that I lived on a sleeper bus. The fact…
I’ve been working in theater for 12 years and this month is the first time I’ve ever had a job fall through at the last minute. There’s been the occasional job way off in the horizon that didn’t work out for some reason or another, but there was plenty of time to recoup and find…
Stage management can be a pretty rough gig. It’s difficult to find any work at all and even when you do, the vast majority of it is stipend work that is wildly underpaid. As a matter of fact, if you are offered a stipend and then divide it based on a 40 hour work week…
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…
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…
For the better part of two years, I lived in hotels and spent a fully ridiculous amount of time in a 16 passenger van. I’m not gonna lie – it was one of the better touring experiences I’ve had. I was lucky the company I worked for gave us pretty free reign with the van.…
Congrats! You’ve just landed a job that makes you live on a train – and if it’s the circus train, this is probably the post you’re looking for. Packing to move onto a train is a strange task when you’re not sure what’s about to happen to you, but here are some tips on things…
In college, my parents were horrified when I said I wanted to major in theater. I was actually forbidden from doing it, so I just quietly double majored while they didn’t pay any attention to where their money was going. Mentally, I think I was prepared for a Plan B from the get-go. I’ve maintained…
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,…
Fair warning, friends, I’m kind of in a #rant mood today. Entertainment is a really weird gig. I’m in rehearsals right now for a touring musical, something I’ve wanted to do for a while, since college really, since there’s a certain amount of prestige to musicals that you just don’t really find with… Clifford the…
So you just landed a job on a cruise ship and now you need to know what to bring with you, right? If this is your first time away from home for months at a time, trying to figure out how to pack is incredibly daunting. For my first contract, they told me they would…
I love the tradition of opening night gifts for the cast. I think it rewards them for the hard work they’ve put in up to that point. I always try to include a personalized card with something I’ve appreciated about their personality through the rehearsal process, but I really like to include a little something…
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.…
If I could give every aspiring young stage manager one career tip, it would be: do what you say you’re going to do. And honestly, I’d give anyone aspiring to do anything that tip. I really wish I could remember the first person who told me that, because it definitely lodged itself in my mind…
I think it’s really important to make your voice heard and vote. Our lives are so cushy these days, we easily forget that people died for this right. And if you work in the arts, like I do, there’s a good chance you won’t be anywhere near home come election day. There are plenty of…
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…
It’s important to know your worth. I could sound off for the 800th time about why there’s nothing sexy about being a starving artist, but instead I will admit we’ve all been tempted. Whether it’s flat out insulting pay or abominable work conditions, they’re actually so common in the arts that nearly everyone has a…
Otherwise known as… the perils of variable income and how to come to terms with it. I remember one of the toughest things to wrap my brain around as a college stage manager was a professor warning me about how non-linear a career in the arts can be. While the majority of the world climb…
Let’s back up a little and assume that you’re just starting college. You’re trying to balance all your theater classes, along with those pointless other classes to make you well rounded, mandatory hours in the scene shop, and rehearsals. College is tough. Here’s a hint, the real world is worse. Here are a few things…