Backstage at BackstageJobs.com: "In the 72 hours between 10pm Thursday (when I got home from a show) and 10pm Sunday (when I expect to get home from a show), I will have spent 35 hours traveling to, traveling from, or being in a theatre. And this is an easy 3 day period compared to many. Some days are 14-16 hours in the theatre.
These are hours not spent with my family. These are hours not available to spend with my family. This is what is required to work in theatre."
2 comments:
I completely agree. When going into theater, you need to realize that you aren't going to retire early. You aren't going to live in mansions, or be extremely wealthy. That's not why we do it. We should do theater because we love it, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't get paid at all. Going from job to job already means that you shouldn't risk the possibility of not being paid at all. Doing theater for the love of theater, and being able to eat for the sake of living, are equally important.
This is one of my major pet-peeves. Just because we do art, doesn't mean we're doing it for free. If the food that a chef cooks isn't free, no one tells them to "suffer for their art." I completely agree with the author that what this theater did was just wrong. And despite what Don said, to be "behind the SHOW" you do have to get behind the "dough." You can't put a show on without having (a) money to pay for supplies, (b) people (who will need to get payed) to use those supplies and create sets, costumes, etc., and (c) an audience to pay money that will then (hopefully) cover the expenses of putting the show on. Like Ariel said, we're not in this business to get rich, but that doesn't mean that we should put countless hours of work into a show--that could be spent somewhere else--only to be told that we're not getting paid.
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