American Guild of Musical Artists: OPERA America published an article on July 28 regarding the “hiring crisis” in the opera industry. While opera is indeed experiencing a hiring crisis, context and relevant perspectives are unfortunately missing from the original piece, which is told from a hiring manager’s point of view. For instance, the article completely omits the experiences of Stage Managers.
4 comments:
It is unsurprising to learn that stage managers are treated poorly in the Opera Industry. It’s also alarming to know that they are paid less than $23/hour for some of their jobs. This article concerns me about my job prospects for the future. Knowing that most theatres are trying to make a work/life balance available to all workers and helping to create a job that isn’t so demanding, is admirable but slow in process to create. Theatre itself demands a lot from its people in order to make a show that society expects. Maybe in the next couple of years it will be more livable, but with this article in mind it seems as though many companies, mostly opera’s are struggling to see this even after the pandemic. In a lot of ways the pandemic has helped to shine a light on the theatre industry’s ways and the fact that after the pandemic not a lot of Stage managers came back should show us how unlivable, and stressful working conditions can be. This article was enlightening and it exposed Opera America’s article on the hiring crisis that Opera’s are facing. I am optimistic that change will come, but am worried if it’ll be the change we all need.
Everyone is experiencing the lasting effects of COVID, both through our personal and professional lives. In a career that is so reliant on community and working off of each other something that was disruptive at best has turned into a crisis; at least as told by these stage managers. And there’s really no reason to not believe them. They certainly have proof and enough testimonies to make a case, and even then it doesn’t take much to establish that this career is hard as is and has only been made harder because of the pandemic. It’s the pay, the conditions, the environment, the deep feeling of responsibility; it all accounts to the conclusion of many for leaving. People should be compensated for their labor. The job is hard as is but not being paid overtime is just cruel, regardless if this is the theater or opera house “being nice and gracious to them”
As someone who wants to become a stage manager, this was really disheartening to read. I think that so many of the points in this article are contentions that I've had with the theater industry as a whole for a very long time, especially when it comes to jobs such as stage management. However, it is hard to read as a prospective stage manager, to know that your industry doesn't really give you the support that you need or deserve. That's something I've been working on fighting for for a while, and that is something that I am very passionate about doing, but it's disheartening to know that I will have to continue this work for much longer than I should have. I think it's really frustrating how so many jobs in the entertainment industry, especially theater, are so undervalued. I think that this article was written really brilliantly and it highlighted so many of the issues that I am personally struggling to comprehend at the moment, as someone who's looking at the professional industry for the first time. I'm really grateful that I got to think about what they were saying, and I think that this article made so many very important points.
This was a well put statement, and I applaud those who put it together. It’s to the point and impactful. Coming from someone who has done some work in the opera world, this really isn’t surprising. Many of the opera stage managers I know can’t fully survive working just on operas. Heck most of the technicians I know can’t either. There’s a reason that opera stage managers are so prone to bounce between opera, ballet, theatre, and film. Because the think they are passionate about (opera) isn’t sustainable for them to survive off of. I know one who uses her pay from PSMing A Christmas Carol yearly at a prominent regional theatre to help her survive the rest of the year. I’d definitely want to see what she has to say about the difference between opera and theatre post-Covid lockdowns. Especially in regards to pay and the work-life balance, and whether or not one is actually achievable.
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