Problems in the American Theater: Wages and Brain Drain
Entry level salaries for experienced positions are destroying the industry
We all understand that the not-for-profit sector pays less than the for-profit sector, and that jobs in the arts and the theater tend to pay even less so, sometimes even when they’re for-profit (take a look at journalism, for instance). But I think it’s underappreciated. Not only the extent to which theater workers are underpaid, but also the damage this does to the industry. Much has been made of how the low pay is a bais for people who come from means and privilege, which is absolutely true. We all know this is a heavily gendered field, and the low pay contributes to the gender pay gap. I want to talk about something else. It contributes to why the theater sucks: the talent leaves the sector.
Recently, I came across two openings at The Wilma. One is for Associate Producer, a new position at the theater which appears to replace Mariah Grant, who is departing the role of Artistic Associate and Literary Manager to become Artistic Director at Delaware Shakespeare. Already we can observe that this position had combined two related departments with different functions together into one job, collapsing Artistic and Literary together (here the Wilma’s leadership structure with three co-artistic directors is notable, as presumably the artistic work is also distributed at the top). The new position also rolls in a significant number of company management tasks, which are an entirely different wheelhouse. Notably, the new job title also leaves The Wilma without a literary department.
That is not what I find most remarkable about the job, as it reflects wider and unfortunate trends in the American theater. What is remarkable is that it asks for a minimum of 5 years experience, preferably in another union house and “ideally” in another LORT theater. This would be unremarkable, except that the salary is listed at “40k” or “low 40s.”
Minimum of 5 years demonstrated experience in arts administration or other relevant administrative experience.
Experience in contracting work for a unionized regional theater preferred. LORT Equity and Stage Directors and Choreographers contracting experience ideal.
Must have experience negotiating and writing licensing contracts, preferably with playwrights.
Experience producing events required.
In most fields, this is an entry level salary, or at least a salary you can get with a year or two experience out of college. Even in the non-profit sector, it’s a full third less than someone can earn working in another industry.
Let’s break it down further:
40k at 40 hours a week is $19.23 an hour. I don’t know what work/life balance is at the Wilma, but I know theater. This job explicitly necessitates frequent nights and weekends, and is likely to frequently exceed 40 hours a week. So the compensation is significantly less. If you guess that it’ll be 50 hours on average, that’s an hourly rate of $15.38 (near minimum wage in sane states and municipalities).
In fact, it’s now below minimum wage in New York. 40k is enough to live on in Philly if you’re childless, but for a job requiring this much experience—and this much specific experience—it should be no less than $55k, and in reality should be in the 60-70k range to be competitive. In fact, I saw another job listing for a position at a non-profit that asked for only three years of experience, was clear about what skills are transferable into it, and was offering 55-65k with better benefits.
Ads for positions like this are not difficult to find. We’re still in a very tight labor market. Unemployment remains at historic lows (although the workforce participation rate has recovered from 2020, it still has yet to fully recover from the 2008 crash), and is hovering around 2% for the college educated. 40k is not only not competitive, it’s barely more than a lot of retail jobs pay. It’s barely more than graduate students earn at Rutgers. It’s so low as to be an insult, especially considering that The Wilma is seeking a candidate to make a move from a similar institution to itself. Who are they expecting to apply?
The Wilma’s leadership is, when it comes to the job market, out of touch. This is ironic, given that the position they’re hiring for needs to be well versed in it, as they’ll be handling contracts. A block up at the Philadelphia Theater Company, they recently posted two jobs, which ask for experience but don’t require a number of years, in development and marketing at 42.5k and 45k respectively. A college education and a couple years experience, at most, would qualify someone for those positions.
The Wilma is a LORT C with an annual budget around $4m. In an organization that size and with so much wiggle room each year—the costs of most productions are not fixed—the money can be found to pay people more. Maybe that means making sacrifices on the production side. Bring in fewer outside directors. Do a show with 9 roles instead of 10. Put more constraints on design. Because the health of the institution itself includes the development of staff, especially artistic staff, and is equally as important as supporting contracting artists and paying them fairly. (I don’t want to pick on The Wilma here, as their compensation at the top end is very much not excessive, especially compared to other organizations. FringeArts, an org with a significantly smaller staff but with a budget in the same ballpark, has been paying Nick Stuccio well into the 6 figures for years, while recently retired Wilma founding AD Blanka Zizka was topping out under 100k. Why was Stuccio getting paid 1/3rd more? Good question! What is going on at FringeArts?). Things are bleak in the industry now, Baltimore Center Stage just laid off 8% of their staff and imposed 3% pay cuts across the board, with higher cuts among senior staff. This is death by a thousand cuts for the American theater.
If you can’t attract the best candidates to our most prestigious institutions (their prestige being perhaps the one thing that can attract people), the general quality of the industry is going to decline and it’s going to become increasingly hard to make the case for its existence to both funders and the public.
The industry simply cannot rely on the naivety of youth nor exploiting workers forever, and especially not in a tight job market. Low pay compounds and costs workers hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of a career—even over just a few years when you consider retirement and servicing debt. I expect that we earn less in the theater than in other fields, 5%, 10%, 15%, whatever. But a full third? Why take such a job? You’d have to be mad.
The other curious position at The Wilma is a for a Community Engagement Coordinator for their upcoming production of The Good Person of Setzuan:
This unique role focuses on engaging with the AAPI community and fostering meaningful connections in the greater Philadelphia area, culminating in audience engagement event(s) at the theater. The Community Engagement Coordinator will play a pivotal role in ensuring that our theater production resonates with and includes the voices and perspectives of the AAPI community by connecting with community groups about the project, addressing questions and concerns, and extending invitations to guests.
Seems like it could be a decent part time gig at 10 hours a week.
But look, if you have to hire someone to make sure people think your show isn’t racist but can’t pay your full time staff a decent wage, it’s time to rethink your approach. If you have $9k in the budget to pay someone to do this, maybe just put that money into the Associate Producer line.