How important is summer stock, really?

My question is, is summer stock a “must do” or a “nice to have?”
I understand that of course working in summer stock has its benefits: experience in professional productions, meeting new connections, exploring new places, maybe some pay… is it required for future success? Because to me, it seems like getting to come home for the summer, reconnect with friends in town, and work for (potentially more) pay has some benefits too. Sleep in your own bed, rest, take some dance classes…
Looking for perspective from people who have, and who have not, done summer stock. Life’s biggest regret, or “meh”?

I think it depends on the theater. My son was lucky to book great theaters; got very good pay and even his equity card freshman year.

I think also, that some programs have 2 or 3 shows. Your kid may not be cast (or even audition) for every show, so they can possibly do both… but to be honest, I don’t know that for sure.

I’m interested to see the responses you get here! My D seems to have no interest in doing summer stock this year. She’s a freshman and wants to wait until next year…she feels she’ll be more prepared then and able to put a better foot forward. She’ll still plan to do a show over this summer, but with a theatre she’s worked with before…unpaid. She’s not in a rush…

The way I see it, summer stock is good for three things: building your network, building your resume, and building your work ethic. I went to school in small-town Wisconsin–though we were a few hours’ drive away from multiple major theatre markets, we were by no means in the thick of the industry. Summer stock was a good opportunity for me to work with people from outside the bubble of my alma mater, and make connections with people I never would have encountered otherwise. Those connections have helped me get further full-time work, and I’ve definitely recommended friends of mine that I’ve met through summer stock for jobs myself.

As for building your resume, it’s great to do summer stock and get the names of professional theatres on your resume early–it allows you to take educational credits off your resume more quickly (and you’re likely to have a resume that more fully reflects your brand sooner). Keep in mind that not everyone will have the same experience in the summer stock casting pool. I’m not a strong enough dancer to be a good ensemble member–my current castable type is characters like Laura in The Glass Menagerie or Fruma-Sarah in Fiddler. I know when I go into a summer stock audition that I’m most likely competing against Equity members for those sorts of featured roles, and that my peers who are dancers (who can fill an ensemble track in every show and understudy principals in a multi-show summer season) are more likely to get hired than I would be to job in for a single show (unless it’s a non-union summer stock theatre). I mention this because I know I’ve seen a lot of my friends beat themselves up over not getting as many callbacks as someone else we know, or not getting hired when everyone else seems to be–but not getting hired for summer stock (whether you’re in college or out of it!) doesn’t mean you’re not talented, and doesn’t mean you won’t ever work. It just means that those theatres are looking for a certain kind of performer. But it can be hard when you’re a specific type.

The biggest thing that summer stock taught me is how to work HARD. At many of these theatres, the hours are long. Depending on the theatre, you may have crew responsibilities in addition to a performance track. Summer stock was my first taste of what it was like to work a 60-hour week in theatre, and it’s a very different pace than even a conservatory-style BFA program.

Do you need to do summer stock? I think everyone should, at least once. That said, you don’t necessarily need to do it in college. There will be plenty of opportunities to auditiion for and work at summer stock theatres as you age. The lessons you learn in summer stock can easily be learned on your first few contracts out of school–it’s not as if not doing summer stock as an undergrad will put you behind your peers. Let me be the first to say that there are so many BFA graduates every year moving to major regional markets post-graduation without EVER having worked a professional contract, and many of them do just fine for themselves.

I did summer stock for half of the summers that I was in undergrad, and the summers that I returned home to work (in retail, the summer before my sophomore year, and in arts administration, the summer before my senior year), I made more money than I did working summer stock. I wish we could all be as lucky as @lojosmo’s S, but honestly, there are a LOT of summer theatres out there (even highly regarded ones) that still pay a pittance to college students. Sometimes the low pay can be worth it–if you’re playing a role you’ve always wanted to play or is right in your type, if you’re working with an amazing creative team, or if you’re being offered EMC points, for instance–but you’ll have to make a decision on what you’re willing to work for (and the “what” isn’t always just financial).

SUPER helpful reply, @CanadianMTgirl, thank you!

agree with the comments above. It is a great way to work with professionals outside your college program and students from other programs and, in some cases, earn equity points or your card if that is your goal. S made a stipend his sophomore summer but did make quite a bit more money the summer between junior and senior year at a professional theater, and he took his card. D1 has NOT done summer stock - she’s done some non-paid gigs and worked at my office the past two summers. She is interviewing/auditioning now for a select few theaters (she did not do any unified-style auditions). D2 got a slot at NETC but she’s a freshman so we will wait and see how that goes.

Our D didn’t come home but also didn’t do summer stock every summer. I think working and earning $ and reconnecting with friends and family is valuable also. And the value of summer stock really depends on the theater and people you will be working with. Not all summer stock is created equal. So if you don’t do summer stock, there are still all sorts of things you might want to do. D had friends at Michigan who stayed there and got some Academic classes out of the way during summer. D herself served as a counselor for
The MT camps at her school one summer. Another summer she did BDCs professional semester in NYC. That summer gave her intensive dance training and experience living in the city and working temp jobs to help pay for it! All valuable experiences that were not summer stock. She also did do summer stock two different summers. And had some nice roles and theatres to add to her resume. I agree with @CanadianMTgirl - at summer stock D worked long, hard hours and made some great industry contacts so those experiences were also good. But I don’t think a summer stock job is imperative. Sometimes some downtime for your mental health can be what’s best! As with everything else in this industry, don’t worry about what others are doing. Do what’s best for you.

The question could be rephrased to: “My son is a sophomore marketing major. Should he take a summer job at a nationally recognized, mid-level marketing firm?” If your answer is yes - it should be for your initial question, too.

Ignoring my bias of running a summer stock…the short answer is no, you don’t need to take ANY contracts. The longer answer is…why wouldn’t you? I can’t think of many situations in which doing a professional contract is a negative, especially between college semesters.

The most important piece of this all is connections. You HAVE TO expand the industry professionals with which you connect. Most summer stock production teams are players in the national scene - many of us are limited - but we bring in players to give our casting a lift. This is a who you know business as much as any, and our spheres are limited. EXPAND THAT SPHERE. Knowing people (or even having them on your resume) can get you in the room sometimes…

It isn’t an exact science. I’ve been doing this for a while, and I have heard more over the past two years “I’m just going to stay home this summer.” after offering a contract than I ever did - and I don’t think it is a BAD thing. I just think it can be short-sighted.

The other piece that often gets left out…work begets work. Taking a low paying, connection based gig may not be feasible after graduation. Get credits while you can “afford” them.

My D came home for a couple summers and worked for a youth theater program that had been a big part of her younger years, and I loved having her home. Then she did a year of summer stock in Boston - and was lucky enough to earn some EMC points. Her last summer she turned down summer stock offers to work professionally in NYC on her OTHER theater passion - stage combat. That led to a gig she still has, she is a teaching assistant for one of her NYU profs as he does actor recertifications. Makes enough doing that to cover her rent in NYC, and has made a number of excellent contacts too. There are so many paths!

I would say summer stock is great … IF you are lucky enough to get offered a contract and IF it actually pays something that is decent. Plus if you are a female and not a strong dancer as someone above addressed , the chances of securing a contract are nill it seems.
I mean students need money bottom line unless your parents are literally footing your entire summer and you are not in need of money. Then I guess yes you can go work for $100 stipend

I think this forum tends to skew heavily in the direction of summer stock as the thing to do during college summers, when that is not truly the only option of work in the field, though certainly one good option.

The first post on this thread brings up summer stock vs. going home for the summer and doing things near home. Nothing wrong with the latter option! But surely there are options besides these two!

Both of my daughters (one in MT, one in architecture) spent their college summers working in their respective fields, away from home. We did not financially support their summers away from home and so their jobs had to pay enough to cover the expenses of living away from home (which in some cases, might mean providing housing, or else enough money to cover it). So, they did build their resumes over those summers.

My MT daughter only opted to do summer stock her first summer after freshman year. She auditioned at Strawhats (just that one time only) and eventually was hired to work for the summer at a theater that isn’t entirely just summer stock. Actually, while seen by the theater at StrawHats, the artistic director also visited her BFA in MT class and observed her there and called her in to audition at the theater (she attended NYU/Tisch, and the theater was in CT). The theater had professional Equity actors and then in the summer also had some college “interns” as they were called. Housing was provided. It was a good experience for that point in her life (actually she was just 17). At the end of that summer, she did come home for two weeks to run and direct/teach a summer MT program in our town that she had created the summer before college, and she earned a lot of money doing that. She even had the kids create an original musical that they staged.

After that summer, she no longer wanted to audition for summer stock and wanted to stay in NYC over the summers, which many of her classmates in her BFA program tended to do. But she worked in her field every summer, and I think the experiences she had in the summers in NYC were more beneficial in the long run than the summer stock job ever was. In sophomore year, she auditioned for what NYU has that is called The Reality Show (which is not a reality show in the sense of what that means today). Those who were cast were paid and spent their summer in free housing at NYU and wrote original musical songs and monologue/sketches to create a show on themes about college life that they performed for every entering freshmen (required of them) at orientation at the end of the summer. The show is really great and original each year and thinking back on the cast, many of those in it have gone onto pretty big things in the MT field. My daughter did this for 3 summers and was also hired to be the musical director of the show and so besides being paid as a writer/actor, she also got an additional salary for as musical director, plus housing and food. She loved it. She learned a lot. She was mentored by a Tony-nominated director/playwright who had a huge impact on her. Actually, the student who was another actor/writer, but assistant director of the shows, is now her husband. The final summer, she musically directed The Reality Show to be performed in Abu Dhabi and went there with the cast.

Besides doing that for three summers in NYC, she did other things in NYC those summers too. The summer after sophomore year, her NYU/Tisch peers produced and directed a musical at a professional venue in NYC and she was cast in it. This was not for pay but she already had a paying job with the Reality Show, and when I look at who was in that cast and what they are all doing now, it was some cast. Also, one of the summers, she was in a new musical workshop staged by and written by graduate students in NYU/Tisch’s Graduate Program for Musical Theater Writing, and so it was an extra show she got to do.

This is just one example of being in theater in NYC over the summers during the college years, in addition to summer stock just one year. As well, the work my D did on NYU Reality Show with the director of it, led to professional gigs after she graduated with that same director (who also was on the faculty and had had shows on Broadway). She also was hired during the sophomore year for pay when she was 18 by the same faculty person to musical direct a world premier of hers in NYC. So, a lot of networking also happened right there in the city, not through summer stock.

My D has done summer stock the last 2 summers (between sophomore and junior, and junior and senior years). The summer between her freshman and sophomore year of college she did a show at a well regarded community theater and then a 6 week residency program with a Shakespeare training program that did 2 shows in rep. She got something important from each experience and is auditioning for summer stock again this year, but with plans for other opportunities if it doesn’t work out. There is no “right” answer about how you should spend your summers, but my D has built her contacts, developed a strong resume, and has made lifelong friends. No single decision or experience is going to make or break a career in MT so not doing stock for a summer is not going to hurt long term.

I forgot to mention in my last post that one thing many (if not most) BFA students will have to consider when evaluating their summer work options is “do I need to make money in the summer to pay for college/pay down my student loans?” If you’re thinking about which path to take (and like so many in this thread have mentioned, there are many ways to spend a summer!) and you can see that you might have an opportunity to make a good bit of money, something to consider is whether taking that job to make that amount of money and putting it towards your education expenses will make your post-grad life any easier. If you work a job with a good paycheck one summer instead of putting yourself in the casting pool, does that put you in a position to pursue the same kind of low-paying contracts post-graduation, because you’re not (as) worried about paying off your loans?

Thank you ALL for your comments. D currently staring at two offers for summer stock, and she still has a few auditions to go. We didn’t expect this as a freshman. I’ve little background here to guide her. You’ve provided great vocabulary and insight to help me help her.

I totally agree with your response on whether, if it’s an option, a student should strongly consider summer stock. Sorry if this came across as questioning the value of summer stock.

Honestly, my question was less, “my daughter secured auditions at all the major summer cattle calls and already has multiple summer stock offers - should she turn them down?” (Major props to anyone who is facing that dilemma, also, please tell me your secrets!)

It was more along the lines of, “Summer stock may not be an option - will that hurt her?” She’s auditioning wherever she can, and she will certainly consider offers to work in the theatre during the summer. We’re not uber-wealthy, private school is expensive and apartments in NYC do not come cheap, either, so there would also be a financial element to the decision.

My daughter is a rising MT senior, she has done both summer stock and home for a summer. Freshman year she auditioned for a few things but nothing materialized so she came home, worked and did community theatre. Last year she went to the same set of auditions and booked summer stock with a great theatre. She absolutely loved the experience and has great roles on her resume in addition to the contacts and experience of doing professional work. I think if you cast a wide net and nothing turns up, it is okay. That’s what happened her first year and she kept trying. She is returning to the same theatre this summer.

Hi @stmama :

At what theatre will your D be working again this Summer?

My S is almost one year post-graduation MT BFA. I agree with the takes of all the previous posters. My S took both routes. He did summer stock after freshman and junior years. Both theaters have excellent reputations, hire highly-skilled actors/musicians, treat their cast members well, and are in beautiful locations. Both summers were good experiences in that he found out he’s not keen on doing ensemble work and he really dislikes living in small towns. Also over his four years of college, he discovered he preferred writing/composing and being on the creative side of things rather than being an actor/singer/dancer (well trained in all three). He wrote book/songs for a full-length musical which was concert staged on campus his senior year.

Summer after sophomore year he came home to work as a waiter in a chain restaurant - hated it, but earned decent money. Summer after senior year he again came home to work in a very high-end restaurant making very good money. He was fortunate to graduate BFA with no student loan debt and the money he earned from summer stock (not much, but there was nowhere to really spend it) and the restaurant gigs he was able to relocate to NYC the September after graduation. He had zero financial help from the parental units in all this. His restaurant experience - and let’s be honest, contacts (just like in the theater world) - got him a job at a well-run high-end restaurant in NYC. He is able to afford rent in a decent Manhattan apartment with three other alums, eats where he works, and has full health benefits working fewer than 40 hours/week. He has plenty of time to write/compose and is submitting his work to contests/workshops. His theatrical world network is not as far-reaching as perhaps it could have been if he’d done summer stock all four summers, but through alums and other connections, he is building a network that is supporting/mentoring him through this next phase of his path. Just like going to college/not going to college, there are many paths leading to a variety of experiences.

I believe it is totally up to the individual and your unique circumstances. There is no “right” way to do things in this field, and summer stock is no different.
However, I will say that one of my roommates (who has also done summer stock) created some opportunities for himself two summers ago that did not involve him performing… and he made upwards of 10k. I may just be a broke college kid, but there are very few roles you could offer me to put on my resume that I would take over $10,000 right now! This education isn’t cheap!
There are just so many opportunities and different avenues for success - and success means something different to everyone. Make the decisions that are best for you!