…and then there is the MUNY or PCLO… great pay and per diem (MUNY)!
@lojosmo Will keep MUNY and PCLO on radar for next year – when not in the middle of college auditions. Thanks!
Try and take advantage of regional equity houses for summer work. My daughter spent 19 weeks in a show last summer into fall right where she goes to school so no extra housing costs.
MUNY and PCLO prioritize hiring cast members who are connected in some way to their local communities (St. Louis and Pittsburgh). Their main casts are often found in NYC/Chicago. At least last year, the only open call MUNY held was at Webster University for dancers. PCLO held open call in Pittsburgh for singers and dancers.
Two years ago, Shenandoah summer theater paid $200/week for ensemble, with $50/week for housing (equal to cost of staying in university double dorm room with no cooking facilities). Leads and supporting roles paid more. I believe most casting was done locally and at SETC. Ensemble rehearsed/performed 6 days/week. The hours are long.
MUNY is holding dancer and singer open calls in St. Louis (Webster) this year as they have in past years (except for last). My son and his school mates made caravan trips to both St. Louis and Pittsburgh and MANY were hired having NO connection to the local community; a few as freshman.
Pay varies wildly. My S got a number of offers last year from Midwests. The non-equity theaters (his offers - can’t speak in general) were offering anywhere from $250-$350 per week; some included room and board some just room. Meals can really add up - especially if the theater is not located near cheap eats or a decent grocery store - it pays to have the full lay of the land ahead of time. He has an offer from an equity theater this summer - the pay is slightly higher and he will earn points.
My S has gotten really abysmal pay from all of his summer theater jobs, but he has good luck with flexible jobs outside acting (like catering, counterwork at the infamous Do-Rite Donuts and a server job) where he can pick up shifts when he’s not rehearsing. It’s much harder to do this when you’re out of town for a month or two, though we were looking into TaskRabbit when it looked like he might be in NYC for a couple of months. (Sadly, didn’t get that one.) We all feel it’s worth it for the experience (which has been amazing), the contacts and, in two cases, the EMC points, though he’ll get to a place eventually where it’s not.
@Jkellynh17 what do you consider abysmal? Are these MT or Acting?
Does MT pay more than Acting? Is it possible to combine both at some theaters?
Stipends of $100 for the whole run. These are all for acting.
I agree with @Jkellynh17 that some of these experiences are worth it but at some point, it no longer is possible or worthwhile. There are differences in the summer stock experience at different theatres and not all of them are worth it, even for the experience. Word of mouth is a good way to get information about the ones in which you’re interested. Students you know who may have been there in previous seasons, this type of conversation should be possible with upper year students at your school. There have been threads here in previous years discussing some of these summer opportunities. A search might be helpful, although the more recent the opinions, the better.
You can look on Audition Update. They have a place on their site where actors leave comments about theaters where they’ve worked. Of course those are just individual opinions. But might give you some insight.
And some of them are very entertaining (in a dark way).
Stay away from pay-to-plays if it isn’t a known, reputable production house… Some use your $ to bankroll their other actors.
At some point you stay away from pay-to-plays anyway. Doesn’t matter how reputable. A professional actor needs to eventually know that is indeed what they are and have expectations (and hopefully by then the talent and skills) that go along with that assumption.
D is still waiting to hear from Straw Hats (application accepted Jan 1). She will be going to MWTA, SETC, and some individual open calls. She is an MT junior and has done summer stock for 2 summers. First summer she was an apprentice actor and received $150 per week, housing (tiny private room, community bath/showers) + meals (kitchen/restaurant on premises). She was cast in 4 shows (2 leads) and worked tech on one. Last summer she was paid $250/week included housing (shared apartment with 2 girls per bedroom), no meals. She was cast in 3 of 4 shows, good roles in strong ensemble casts (worked tech on one show). Best of luck to all this audition season!
@daughtersdream Regarding summer stock pay – my D’s experience – summer after freshman year, $150/week + housing + meals; last summer, after sophomore year, $250/week + housing.
My MT frosh daughter told me today that she just
received her Id to log into Strawhat website.(assuming an ID does NOT guarantee an audition slot) but at least she got the id! Lol! First time going thru this process so definitely amateurs at the whole summer stock thing.
@duxellen It will be interesting to see when our daughters find out if they have a slot!
Definitely! My daughter did her application( which was involved, to say the least) over Xmas break from school. Mailed it off just in the nick of time… One of her classmates from high school did straw hat last year and had a great experience. I ran into him over Xmas break and he said he already had an appointment time -he had gotten his appt. months ago… so that made me a little nervous thinking that there were not going to be many appointments left. Also since she’s a freshman in college she doesn’t have any performance experience yet… She did list high school things but we weren’t sure they’d even want those! Should be interesting!
My D just got her invitation to audition at NETC today. They haven’t finished the schedule yet so not sure what day. She hasn’t heard from StrawHat yet, but got her application in very late, like Jan. 10th. I hear that it is mostly the same theaters at NETC and StawHat so no big deal if she doesn’t get StawHat. She didn’t audition last year, she was in rehearsals in March (didn’t even have much of a spring break) and she couldn’t miss. But, she did wait tables and made a fortune!