Stage Management as a Career

[Sayame]

Hi. So I'm currently a junior in high school, and I'm going to be attending college full time next year because of a wonderful little program called PSEO. I'm currently acting as the stage manager for my high school theatre department, and I'm beginning to realize that this is something that I might want to do as a career.

Now, it doesn't mesh very well with my dreams of travelling the world someday, but that's another story.

I was wondering if the CB community could answer a couple of questions for me.

1. Is a job like this worth it? I continue to be stage manager at my school because I love the job and I love the people I get the opportunity to work with, but I'm not sure if it'll be worth it in the long run.

2. If I were to pursue this career, what kind of degree should I try to get, and what should I major in?

3. Do you know of any good colleges for this kind of thing? If so, please list them.

4. How much does a stage manager make on average? I'm aware that it varies greatly, depending on what kind of production you're working on, so if you could specify what kind of theatre and/or what kind of production, that would be greatly appreciated.

5. If you know of any additional resources for stage managers, please list them.

Thank you for any and all responses in advance.

 

[chawalang]

It does mesh with your dreams of traveling the world, work as an SM in a Cruise Ship or jump on some tours!

a good friend of mine just finished a two year tour as the SM for the european tour of West Side Story, this industry has A LOT of seeing the world potential.

1. It will be worth it if you make it worth it, if you see yourself dong something else do it!

2. I would look up degree plans in theatre management/ arts management. You can get your SM education out of it but look at the arts admin world as a whole, you may want to move up into being a production manager one day.

3. The concept of a "good college" is relative, go somewhere where you will have a positive supportive environment and a lot of opportunities to get your hands dirty. you don't need to go to the Yales or CMUs to be a success. Not to say those people aren't successful, they are but you could find a run of the mill state school thats a good fit.

4. broad response, community theatre can be zero money, LORT theaters could be ok to a joke for pay, broadway and vegas major money, cruise ships and tours depending on the company and the contract good to awesome, it all varies.

 

[Drmafreek]

Chawalang has some great answers. To answer [HASHTAG]#5[/HASHTAG], check out smnetwork.org and Actors Equity Association, as that's the union tied to stage managers. Good stage managers can command some very good pay.