Stan Graner as Henry Higgins, with Christine Atwell as Eliza, at Artisan Center Theatre. (Photos by Al Smith)

Stan Graner as Henry Higgins in "My Fair Lady."

  

An oft-asked question of actors working in local and regional theater is “Do you get paid for that?” Well, yes. And no. How much actors get paid, or how little, is not as easily answered as you might think.

For starters there are between 50 and 60 theater companies in North Texas and they range in size and resources. Some companies produce shows only at festivals; some are strictly, and proudly, classified as “community theater.” Some are professional enterprises that perform year-round and often employ talent from Actors’ Equity Association (AEA), the national union representing some 48,000 professional actors and stage managers.

With operating budgets ranging from a shoestring to a silk purse, the amount of compensation for actors is as diverse as the product seen on the myriad of local stages.

But one thing isn’t a mystery: None of us are getting rich. During any given week, fewer than 15 percent of Equity members are employed nationwide. According to Equity statistics, in a typical year, 42 percent of union actors earned less than $5,000 from acting; only 5 percent earned more than $75,000.

So why do non-union actors regularly toil for no or low pay? Probably as many answers as there are actors.

For some it’s the affirmation supplied only by the immediate gratification provided by a live audience. For some it’s a means of self-expression, or it may simply be breathing space away from family or day jobs. I once did a show with a guy who was fulfilling community service in lieu of a jail sentence. I don’t recall now what legal wrangling led him to our show, but he was the nicest guy in the cast.

For many actors, it’s a matter of communicating and creating. That’s true for me, but mostly, it’s a matter of connecting. I had been away from theater for a number of years when, in 1998, I was cast by Steven-Shayle Rhodes in Vampire Lesbians of Sodom at Pegasus Theater. It’s not melodramatic hyperbole to say that the experience changed my life. The people I met and friends I made during that time improved the quality of my world. I shared the stage with Dallas actors LisaAnne Haram, Andi Allen and Nye Cooper, and we remain close friends still. Back then I hadn’t even realized how much I had missed that feeling of community, of belonging, of connecting. I had forgotten about the bond that connects show folk as surely as mortar seals brick. I was home. 

So I was kinda surprised the first night Pegasus producer Kurt Kleinmann passed out paychecks. Huh? We get paid for this? Like I said, I’d been away from the biz for a while, had long since given up my Equity card and hadn’t even thought about money. Now mind you, my Vampire pay didn’t exactly send me on a shopping spree, but it was something.

And something is what most theaters pay. Actors may not be banking on Wall Street, but theaters aren’t exactly rolling in cash these days either. Most producers claim to pay actors what their budgets allow and would gladly pay more if they could. I’m not quite the Pollyanna that I was back in those early days at Pegasus, and an overly arched brow has been raised from time to time over egregiously low pay for the work provided, but I’ve been lucky and haven’t often been shafted. Other actors would beg my pardon with a backhoe, and sure, there are horror stories aplenty.

We’re not a greedy lot; we just have dreams that our paychecks be more Hollywood than Hooterville. Actually, most of us would be thrilled just to be able to quit our other jobs. Almost all of us have them. Maybe a few lucky souls have some secret scratch from a trust fund or an indulgent spouse, but most of us earn our daily bread like other mortals.

Can you make a living in North Texas as a stage actor? Not likely. Being in Equity doesn’t even guarantee it. Most union members barely get their “insurance weeks” in during a year. Actress Pam Peadon (star of WaterTower Theatre’s Glass Menagerie) works in the mortgage industry. Natalie King, the singer-actress known as one of the “Dallas Divas,” is a school teacher. Veteran Theatre Three actress Sally Soldo is a nurse.

So how much dough can a local actor snag? The fact that it’s often called a stipend and not a salary is a tip-off. The curve is pretty wide, but non-Equity performers in this area typically earn somewhere between gas money and a grand. Actually, that’s not necessarily true. Some groups, such as Artisan Center Theater, Onstage in Bedford and Grapevine’s Runway Theater are truly community organizations and don’t usually offer any compensation. Others including ICT MainStage in Irving and Richardson Theatre Centre offer somewhere between $50 and $100 total for a two- or three-week run (plus rehearsals) to offset gas and other expenses.

Pocket Sandwich Theatre is the only for-profit theater in Dallas currently. I have no clue what their profit margin is, but the talent is non-union and usually makes around $50-$75 a week. Stage West in Fort Worth pays for both rehearsal and performances, and typically averages somewhere between $80 and $100 a week for non-union actors.

Amounts at other theaters vary wildly due to factors such as the size of the space and cast, number of performances, play v. musical, percentage of ticket sales against lump sum pay, etc. Payment also fluctuates from show to show and from role to role. In very broad terms, non-union totals, often paid in installments or at the end of the run, range anywhere from $250-$500 at theaters like Garland Summer Musicals, Theatre Three or Uptown Players. Rates at Contemporary Theatre of Dallas and Kitchen Dog Theater run between $500 and $750 per actor. Likewise, performers can score in the ballpark of $500-$1,000 at Dallas Theater Center or WaterTower Theatre. Pockets are a bit deeper at the well-funded Dallas Children’s Theater, where players can sometimes garner a gross past a grand for the run of a show.

Bonuses are not unusual for successful shows, especially in the case of extended runs. Also, regular performers at any given theater may see bumps, and specialized casting can receive elevated consideration. Some non-union performers even negotiate for increases, so the chance to nab more than what’s listed above does exist. But in this bad economy being offered less is also a real possibility.

There’s other compensation beyond the monetary. Frequent fringe bennies are comp tickets, dance classes, singing instruction, parties, even tanning. And free cake! Some actors have said they’d do a show at Uptown Players just for the extravagant opening night buffets.

People are funky when it comes to talking about money, so all of these figures are generalized. Don’t get your knickers in a knot if they’re off a nickel or two.

AEA pay is easier to determine since it is public knowledge and most theaters don’t negotiate. Actually, not so fast. There are so many loopholes, umbrellas and different types of union contracts that the details can be downright Draconian to disseminate. Union actor Dennis Yslas stays busy with stage and broadcast work as well as teaching, and has now taken a job as assistant box office manager with Fort Worth Opera. He is also an AEA DFW Liaison Committee member so I sought his expert advice to sort out some specifics.

The examples quoted below are in a range because each theater negotiates with Equity and the agreements are "tiered" according to house size, rehearsal hours, weekly performances, etc. Salaries can run from the low end of the pay scale to the top. The union breakdowns:

• Casa Playhouse-Theatre for Young Audience contract - TYA - per performance pay - $68 - $87, rehearsal paid by the hour (6 weeks of work).
• Casa Bass Hall/Dome Show- Council of Stock Theatres - COST - weekly pay - $557 - $797 (3 weeks of work).
• Dallas Theater Center – member of League of Regional Theatres - LORT - weekly pay - $544 - $1217 (4 weeks rehearsal, 5- week run).
• Lyric Stage, Uptown Players, Stage West, FMPAT - Small Professional Theatre - SPT - weekly pay - $187 - $554 (salary depends on rehearsal hours and performance schedule - i.e. 22 hours rehearsal per week, 4 performances per week).
• Garland Summer Musicals, Lifesong, Theatre Arlington - Guest Artist Agreement - GAA - weekly pay - $300 - $510 (depends on rehearsal hours and performance schedule).
• Dallas Children's Theater, PFamily Arts - Letter of Agreement - LOA - weekly pay - The LOA bases its pay off an existing agreement with "concessions." This means that the theater is bound to the salary of the existing Agreement but some of the rules may not apply.