MT additional costs while in college- what should I expect?

College Majors Musical Theater Major
1

<p>I know its early in the process of picking jobs and looking 4 years down the road, but I need to let my D understand the reality of jobs in the MT field. I have read a lot of waiting tables and side jobs just to make it through, but with college loans, I wanted to give our D a "real" picture of how things may be when she graduates.</p>

<p>Does anyone have ideas of the reality of job with MT majors especially as entry level? My concerns are for steady work because the monthly loans will just keep coming.</p>

<p>thanks,</p>

<p>Dad in Training</p>

2

<p>From your post, I think you have 2 questions–</p>

<p>Your subtitle asked about additional musical theatre costs while in college, so I’ll address that first.</p>

<p>The biggest surprise we had is that the cost of the accompianist was an additional cost at each voice lesson. So that was an additional expense of about $20 per week. Also, her voice teacher would suggest that students have additional coaching with just the accompianist, so that would be even more of an expense.</p>

<p>In terms of your question regarding jobs after graduation, there are no full-time “musical theatre” jobs with growth potential that will allow for the flexibility of continuing to audition on a regular basis. So yes, someone can use their experience in musical theatre to get a real full time job, but they will not be able to audition for shows–certainly not enough to make an agent happy or to expect to have a real shot of being cast.</p>

<p>Auditions are held during the day, which is why actors look for postions that start at 4 pm or so. So people wait tables, are hostesses, bar tenders or work in retail stores that stay open late enough to work enough hours. My daughter’s friends (all recent graduates) also babysit, are personal trainers or work in real estate. They do that until they are cast in a show. </p>

<p>In terms of the class of 2012, my D has one friend on a Disney cruise ship as Cinderella, one friend on a tour for a children’s theatre production (the kids drive the bus and pay for their hotel rooms), and one friend who is acting on a Christmas production in the mid west. She has a good friend who is working as a coreographer for children’s theatre while living at home near NYC.</p>

<p>They are all hoping every day to get the call to audition and hope for a national tour or a Broadway production someday. Until then, they either take regional theatre parts (or children’s theatre on the road) or they just continue to work and audition hoping for their break.</p>

<p>My D knew that she did not want this kind of lifestyle and while she loved theatre, she knew she would try to incorporate theatre and singing into her life in a different way.</p>

<p>She is currently interning for a casting agency (still no $ yet, but hopefully soon.) As a casting agent, she cannot audition. However, if she does end up as a full time casting agent, her plan would be to someday become a jazz singer–on the side, in the evenings, on occassion.</p>

<p>In terms of paying off loans and surviving in nyc, I really have no idea how other kids are pulling it off. We are paying D’s rent and helping wiht expenses. I think there are many other parents doing the same for now. Kids who do not have this kind of support or who do not have a lot of money saved up, are in a bad way. I think many of them will eventually head home and pursue other things.</p>

<p>Of course there are the success stories, kids who’ve made it to B’dway or on National tours soon after graduation. Or kids who are multi talented as musicians who can string together lots of freelance part-time jobs to make a living for real while still doing theatre. But those are the kids who can play piano professionally as well as sing, and who are accomplished as directors, composers or song-writers, as well.</p>

<p>Good luck to your D.</p>

3

<p>On another thread you asked about teaching. That is, of course, an alternative career for someone who is musical or good at acting. But again, if you pursue teaching, you cannot be out there auditioning for professional shows. Of course you can teach and act in local productions. The question is about what your daughter wants to pursue.</p>

<p>With a theatre degree, your D can get a degree as a theatre teacher on a graduate level. With a music degree (as a undergraduate vocal performance major) your D can pursue a career as a music teacher with a graduate degree. You may want to research job availability. I would imagine that districts hire many more music teachers than theatre teachers.</p>

4

<p>Isn’t this the exact same question you posted a couple of weeks ago, which received several replies? </p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/1400680-jobs-mt-musical-theater-need-help-direction.html#post14922906[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/1400680-jobs-mt-musical-theater-need-help-direction.html#post14922906&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>A mod may want to merge them.</p>

5

<p>Here are some threads related to this topic:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1344788-venting-anyone-else-tired-justifying-mt.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1344788-venting-anyone-else-tired-justifying-mt.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1065495-i-get-so-tired-explaining.html?highlight=i+get+so+tired[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1065495-i-get-so-tired-explaining.html?highlight=i+get+so+tired&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1325719-back-up-plans-cant-take-drama.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1325719-back-up-plans-cant-take-drama.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1326263-whats-ahead-after-college-graduation-mt-students.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1326263-whats-ahead-after-college-graduation-mt-students.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1318265-what-future-our-mts-training.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1318265-what-future-our-mts-training.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1372764-how-convince-parents-degree-musical-theatre-will-worth.html?highlight=degree[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1372764-how-convince-parents-degree-musical-theatre-will-worth.html?highlight=degree&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>You may also find this enlightening - the Actors’ Equity Annual Report (lots of figures and charts make it a little dense, but if you stare at it a while you can learn a lot). It is a sobering view of the industry:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.actorsequity.org/docs/about/AEA_Annual_2010-11.pdf[/url]”>http://www.actorsequity.org/docs/about/AEA_Annual_2010-11.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>The vast majority of Equity members (79%) do not earn a living wage (approximately $25,000 per year for NYC, a little less for other major metro areas) in theatre income - refer to Chart 21. To me, the most sobering part is you have to do some professional work to get into Equity, so its not like the union is full of hacks that skew the stats away from a reality that is more rosy for “serious actors.”</p>

6

<p>Dadintraining,
I already answered this same question when you posted it recently in the Parent Cafe and gave one MT grad’s experience (my daughter). In post #4 above, alwaysamom provides the link to that thread. </p>

<p>uskoolfish wrote:</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>We have not supported our daughter since her college graduation day. However, we are not having our kids pay any college loans (we are paying college loans and never intended our kids to pay these). I do think a kid can support themselves once they graduate. Our kids know they have to as we can’t, nor truly believe in doing so. We still pay health insurance for now (and our kid graduated her BFA program at 20 and lives in NYC). </p>

<p>My daughter does teach as one job, but not full time.</p>

7

<p>soozievt,</p>

<p>My D and her friends just graduated this June from NYU. Most who are staying in the city to audition are getting help from their parents–either towards rent or towards loan payments right now. They are all trying to come up with the right combination to make it work for them independently, but it is not easy. Even those waiting table jobs are finding it hard to get decent paying jobs without much experience. Kids who have landed those jobs are struggling to get enough shifts to make it work. As you know, rents in NYC are back up and the kids are spread out throughout Harlem and the outer boroughs, but it is still takes a lot to live in NYC.</p>

<p>My own D was getting paid very decent money when she graduated, working for a film producer. (She decided against auditioning as a performer for now.) But she resigned from that to take a position as a musical theatre intern at a major casting company. She has to work for free for 3 months and then will be paid a stipend as an apprentice. Without parents footing the bill, this would not be a possibility for many people. (This is after having many internships throughout school–both paid and unpaid for major companies.) The problem is that the people she was reporting to in many of these positions were being laid off as companies downsize. And to top it off, many of the entry level positions in entertainment are being filled by unpaid interns.</p>

<p>The more skills one brings to the table, the more options one has for making money. But not all recent graduates are able to compose, direct, play instruments, write musicals, etc. Your D is extremely talented and is in a position of being compensated for her many talents and experience.</p>

<p>My D and many others can take the skills they have learned in musical theatre and use them in other fields. I am not saying they can’t be financially independent. But if a person wants the flexibility to auditiion and perform, or if they want to stay in fields very connected to theatre, but work full-time and not perform, it is not an easy market right now.</p>

8

<p>I don’t believe you have to live in NYC in order to ‘make it.’ You certainly don’t have to have a situation of ‘make it in NYC at 22 or bust’. Of course, there are kids like Soozie’s D who are able to mostly support themselves; but she is very talented with composing as well, which is wonderful; I’d say (hope you don’t disagree Soozie) that her D’s many talents including the extremely talented composing as well as her acting/singing gifts really helps her survive. My own kids do not have that broad a range of talents. My D is simply a very serious actress, and that’s it. Of course it’s better if you’re multi-talented, but many people aren’t and/or don’t have the right looks (eg I know of a kid who is super talented and who graduated from a top 5 BFA program, but at 6’5" and 300 lbs and still in his early 20s, he has not been able to land very many roles). </p>

<p>However, there are MANY paths toward success, which I would define as being able to support yourself doing what you love. </p>

<p>You honestly don’t have to start in NYC. Our nation is blessed to have unbelievably fabulous regional theatres and repertoire theatres in Chicago, Philly, Boston, San Francisco, etc etc etc. You can concentrate on one city with great regional theatre and focus on breaking in there, choosing a city that is less expensive to live in to save money.</p>

<p>That said however, acting is EXTREMELY tough business. You really almost have to view it like a religious calling. You will almost certainly have to make major sacrifices for many years in order to possibly break in. Every successful equity actor I know with the exception of one, worked for 5-10 years before they had steady equity work with almost no breaks. Even then you will have times when you are unemployed. I know a successful B’way actor (lead roles) who is unemployed a lot between shows. I know another who is a substitute teacher between shows. Another who drives a UPS truck between shows. You have to be super super confident that you are doing what is right–there will be a zillion people who will tell you that you are not being practical and the acting thing was fun while it lasted but you need to buckle down now and get a ‘real job.’ A ton of people will say this. And you will also doubt yourself too, particularly as you’re subbing for middle schoolers right after you landed a dream role in a B’way show…that lasted 2 weeks until it folded. </p>

<p>I also know several equity actors who successfully do their run and then stop in their 30s or so, when they start to have families. But it can be argued that 'to every thing there is a season" and that they still did what they loved. </p>

<p>A very typical actor is one I met through my son when he was doing a professional show some time ago. The actor was mostly an ensemble dancer and lived in Chicago. He was wonderfully kind to my son and very positive; he’d show my son to do splits and other dance moves. THe guy was about 40. He lived in Chicago but took any regional job that came up, which meant he traveled all the time. He loved what he did. He said it took him 10 years to get to the point that he was able to live entirely on his dancing, and he was well aware that he had only another 10 years MAX. But again, he loved what he did and he was rightfully proud that he had steady work. And he’s not ‘famous’ nor does he earn all that much (regional equity theatres are about $500-$700/week; they can be less or more of course). This man’s kind of attitude and devotion takes a huge amount of self discipline and devotion and drive and an inner confidence and love of the art. He was very inspiring.</p>

<p>Anyway, I dont’ know if this answers your question. But honestly the biggest thing is that you don’t have to start in NYC; I mean of course, you can. But if money is a big problem, it would make more sense to start regional in our many superb regional/repertoire theatres.</p>

9

<p>Thank you so much for all the feed back. Yes I did post in another area and was advised to post it here for more relative feedback in this area. sorry for the duplicate posting.</p>

<p>So much to learn and all I really want to do is make sure my D knows the “reality” of what is ahead of her as she works hard at her dreams and give as much input on tips to making things happen.</p>

<p>Dad in Training</p>

10

<p>It’s interesting how this thread started with a simple question about additional expenses such as meals-on-the-go, bus passes, dance clothes, and printer ink and ended with rent for a NYC apartment after graduation. Yikes!</p>