Chicago Reader: Tip kitten. Bucket boy. Puppy. The job of collecting tips and clothing items between numbers at a drag or burlesque show goes by many names. Some shows won’t have them; others hire people or rely on volunteers or friends in the audience to get the job done. Regardless of who does it, I truly believe it’s one of the hardest jobs in the scene.
6 comments:
I was very confused at first when reading the title of this article, and so reading it helped to clear up the term "tip kitten". Before reading, I wouldn't have thought that they were important or would just be considered a stagehand for the show. After reading, I realize that though they do stagehand work, that is not their full job description, and that they seem like an essential part of drag and burlesque shows. They are important to the fact that they not only collect the tips and clean the stage, but they also contribute to continuing a show by creating a bit or personality while doing the tasks. I think this is pretty important because it helps the audience to stay connected to the show rather than losing them between acts. The article does bring up the fact that is job position is underappreciated and can not have the best work environment due to the owner or budget. But if the position of a tip kitten were to become official for burlesque and drag shows, it could potentially help the company and possibly the industry.
Well this was not what I was expecting. The title totally got me because I was thinking of a literal kitten. Like you know when they use cute animals that need to be adopted to raise money. Which like why would that make sense in a theatrical context I do not know. But in terms of what this is actually talking about I do not know if that title makes sense. I am curious about the context of the title but the job seems interesting. I have never been to a show where this is relevant. I would imagine staying out of the way is hard. I worked on a show where I was in costumes and had to go on stage to move things and pick things up and it was hard to stay out of the way and not pull attention. I would imagine this would be more difficult in this context and it seems like the pay might not be great.
Despite having not heard of this job before, I feel that it seems obvious that someone you are expecting to complete a job should be compensated. Even if it seems like a small job, it seems that drag shows or burlesque performances would lose a lot of their flow without tip kittens, making them very important. If a show would be worse off without a person, then an establishment should pay them to reflect the importance of their work. Now that the serious information is out of the way, having never heard of these job titles, my first thought was that an animal politely going up to customers to ask for tips would raise profits by so much for any show. Not only are animals adorable and people would obviously want to give them money, they also remove the awkward situation that happens when a person walks up to you for a tip. There is often this tension between workers and customers when transferring money, and dogs or cats would be the cutest solution.
Good to know if I ever work a burlesque show! Or not, still interesting. I don’t really see shows like this or work them so it’s not something that’s ever occurred to me before. I found the variation in wages very interesting since it seems to align with so many other positions in our industry; completely different everywhere you go. Especially a role as vital as this one seems like something that should be paid well but I also see a side of things where perhaps this is too expensive to pay for someone to do, which is very interesting to explore. Every single company does things differently, different venues, even individual performances, it all varies. I’ve worked shows without a calling stage manager at all! It’s so crazy how our industry is all so similar yet different. Props to all the volunteer tip kittens out there we see you.
I have been to a few drag shows, none of which had tip kittens. They were not super formal and there was no elevated stage for the performers so it was easy for them to come into the audience either to interact with the audience or to collect tips. I think that it is important to value all the positions required to make an effective and enjoyable show and in a lot of cases it seems that one of those positions is a tip kitten and they should be paid for their time and labor. Certainly in some cases, like the shows I have seen the role was maybe not necessary but in times that it is it should be valued monetarily. I find it interesting that there is a hierarchy behind the scenes in a show form that I often see as trying to dismantle hierarchy where it be gender hierarchy or something else.
To be honest, before reading this, I’d never thought about this aspect of performances where tips or costume pieces left on the stage were concerned. Goodie Sesso said, “I’m very much about labor rights, and I hate when labor is disregarded.” I absolutely agree with them, and am glad they brought this underappreciated aspect of shows like drag to my attention. Especially because I’d love to be a part of a show like that at some point in my career, I realize that I’d have a lot to learn. I was really interested by the idea that the tip kittens have to be in a performance mindset, not taking away from the performance, but intending to positively add to it as they collect the tips, costumes, and other items on the stage. There are so many hidden aspects to being in front of an audience that always remind me how complicated it can be to be a performer sometimes.
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