CMU School of Drama


Friday, July 14, 2017

Participation Fees vs. Mandatory Selling- Which is the Lesser of Two Evils?

OnStage Blog: I get it. Theaters need to make money. And ticket sales don’t always cover the bills. So what else do you do, what else can you do, except ask your actors to pay. Some theaters charge a participation fee, others ask their actors to sell a minimum number of tickets, sell ads or collect items to be raffled off to raise money. Each way has pluses and minuses. Let’s discuss.

1 comment:

Sophie Nakai said...

I think neither situation is ideal but mandatory selling is generally better in this situation. It is easier to have someone find more money than ask actors to pay. Most actors are struggling themselves and cannot pay to be part of a show. Also it seems somewhat redundant, as the theater then also has to pay the actor. I agree with the very end of this article that in a perfect world, this wouldn't have to happen. However, there simply aren't enough introverted actors to make mandatory selling a problem. And actors don't have to always ask family members and friends, they can ask the public and other strangers. I am shocked that there are even theaters that ask for a participation fee. It seems stupid because actors are donating time and being in the show, something that isn't required of them, they are doing it because they want to. Asking them to pay is a deterrent.