It really depends on the
theatre. I am currently working in education because the pay is twice what a lot of my friends are getting, full benefits, that type of thing. My summer home also pays very well, and gives me a 1 bedroom apt. to myself, all utilities minus internet paid. I have worked at places that "housing supplied" means sharing a room with 2 other carps, and the pay was so so.
Now, even in my summer home, after the hours I worked a week I was barely making minimum wage. Add the cost of housing and I was making a little above minimum wage. At the same time though, I went 4.5 weeks without a day off, and worked at least 10 hours a day, sometimes up to 16 hours a day.
Your girlfriend needs to get her card. That should fix that problem. When a
theatre hires a non
AEA ASM in an Equity
house, they are not going to pay them well because they are there to learn the ropes and get points on their card. After she gets her card, she will get paid pretty well, and have benefits (if she gets her 20 weeks).
The hunt for benefits in the
theatre world is a harder one then the hunt for pay. Most places will
cover housing, unless you are under a full year contract. Very few theatres have decent benefits packages that don't eat your pay down to nothing.
My rule with working in this "biz", if your salaried don't divide. It can just wreck your day. There is a reason places salary, they do it so they can get you to work at much as you need to. When you are first starting out, you are lucky if you get paid at all. I have a really good friend who spent all 4 of her summers in/after college at one
theatre. The first summer she got 150 dollars FOR THE SUMMER, and housing. Next summer she was an ASM on a smaller show. and got 100 a week plus housing, next summer she was an SM on a larger show and got 300 a week, and this past summer she was PSM and got 700 a week plus her own apt on lake Michigan. You always start out small and work your way up. Its just how it works.