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  • 1.  Musical Stipend

    Posted 04-17-2019 14:58
    we are in discussions on stipends for musical productions.  four questions - do you receive a stipend? how much is the stipend? who on the production team receives the stipend? does this come from campus funds or district funds?

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    Mark Stonebarger
    Theatre Director
    Clear Springs High School
    League City TX
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  • 2.  RE: Musical Stipend

    Posted 04-18-2019 05:40
    Myself, my assistant director/producer and my music director are all paid positions in our contract. We are all paid the way coaches would be paid. As director I receive 6% and the other two positions receive 3%. We have a salary schedule for our supplemental positions (also based on our contract) that tops out at 10 years. So, per show I make around $3000 (I’m at year 15 so unless the contract changes I will never make any more) and the other two positions are at $1000 and $1300 respectively as my asst. is on step 2 and my music director is on step 6.

    I also have a second person who helps with music that I pay out of our theatre account (which is not funded at all by the district).



    Toni Thomas
    English & Theatre Teacher & Director
    Ogemaw Heights High School

    Sent from my iPhone


    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Musical Stipend

    Posted 04-18-2019 08:01
    When I was teaching, I was paid a $3000 stipend for the entire year with the expectation that I only did one show and supervised the actual Drama Club. However, I always did three shows including a musical. For the musical, our choir director generously volunteered her time to play auditions and as a rehearsal accompanist as her schedule allowed. Our band director worked with student musicians to play the show but I did pay for a show accompanist because the band director did not play piano (and, of course, needed to conduct!) out of the Drama Club funds. I also paid for a choreographer out of those same funds. We paid the accompanist $100/show and the choreographer was paid according to the amount of dance in the show. I can't remember for sure, but I think the most I ever paid a choreographer for a big dance show was $1500. That was awhile ago, though, so I'm not sure what the going rate would be these days!

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    Daniel Doerger
    Membership Outreach Manager
    Cincinnati OH
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Musical Stipend

    Posted 07-08-2019 08:38
    I get $2000 for directing the Musical in a Catholic Middle School. When they allowed a Forensic Team, I got $700 for that. I throw in 5-6 Acting Classes & a Team Trivia fundraiser, a Talent Contest & a Cabaret. I also sell ads/Sponsorships & am responsible for all things: picking Show, auditions, rehearsals, licensing, schedules, Choreography, Props, Costumes, t-shirts, publicity pics, Scenery, Painting, Set building, Programs, Pot Luck Awards Dinner, Music Director, pit, piano player, microphones, spotlight, setting up chairs, Candy grams, thank you’s, photo albums, you know, there’s me & whoever I can scrounge up to volunteer. As long as I raise enough money to cover expenses including my salary, there will be another year. The year I fail to meet expenses will be the last year of our show. We give all the $$ to the school on Show Night & start at $0 in September. Out of our funds comes $1100 for piano player & $75 gift card x 5 for pit & $300 for Set Designer, spotlight, Props, costumes, royalties. The school does charge an Activity Fee which helps pay for my salary but it is usually about $500 short. My favorite part is that the flowers that the school gives me on closing night come from the $$ I had raise. It about $10/hr. If you count the time we spend at home working it’s $2.50/ hr. We do it because we love it!

    Maria Stadtmueller
    New Jersey

    Sent from my iPhone
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  • 5.  RE: Musical Stipend

    Posted 07-09-2019 09:54
    The head director is paid a stipend of $5,400.00 per show (fall play or spring musical).
    The assistant director, music director (vocal and instrumental), and head tech director are paid stipends of $3,800.00 each. The choreographer and assistant tech directors are paid stipends of $2,900.00 each. From the proceeds we pay a costumer $1,500.00 and each hired musician $100.00 per service (usually $700.00 for 3 dress rehearsals and 4 shows).

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    Valerie Gargus
    NJ Thespians Festival Director
    Retired Theatre Arts Teacher
    Play & Thespian Troupe 4762 Director
    Northern Burlington County Reg HS
    Columbus, NJ
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    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: Musical Stipend

    Posted 04-18-2019 08:44
    My public school district pays teachers a flat annual salary supplement of $1,155 for extracurricular theatre, with no specific requirement about the number of shows or other activities the teacher supervises.  However, the district only pays one supplement per school, regardless of the number of theatre teachers at the school, and will not split the supplement between teachers.  We have two teachers at my school (and have sometimes had three), and when we asked about a split, we were told that we would have to work that out privately among ourselves - which ignores the fact that even if one teacher receives the supplement and shares it with the other(s), the teacher receiving the supplement has the full amount reported to the IRS for tax purposes, where the other teacher isn't officially reported at all.  In the end, that would be enough of a tangle that we have never split the supplement.  We're all friends here, we know who needs the money the most, so we just let that person have the full supplement - and it hasn't always been the same person from year to year.  Everybody else just stays involved on a volunteer basis because we love what we do and we want our students to have these opportunities.

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    Jeff Grove
    Theatre Teacher, Aesthetics Department Chair
    Stanton College Preparatory School
    Jacksonville FL
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    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: Musical Stipend

    Posted 04-19-2019 09:14
    There is a set supplement for "Drama Club Sponsor" in my District (it's a LOT lower than band, choir, or coaching a sport and more in line with supplements for most other clubs) and other supplements for just being a general club sponsor; however, each school only gets a set amount of supplement funding and the principal can choose to fund supplements for whatever positions they see fit. So some years a certain club or sport at my school might get a supplement for their sponsor/coach and another year they do not because there simply isn't enough funding for every club and sport to have a supplemented sponsor/coach. The amounts range from about 3%-18% of the person's annual salary. 

    That being said, I have received a supplement most years and it has differed from year to year being for one club, or in some cases as if I sponsored several clubs (basically seeing each show as if it were a club of it's own or ITS, auditorium management, and drama club as if they were separate clubs). There have been two theatre teachers at my school for many years now and we have each received different amounts from year to year. 

    We do not pay for a choreographer, music director, or other positions for our musicals, shows, or any other reason, though if we wanted to we'd have to raise the funds ourselves and get that specially approved. Sometimes we have had guest artists assist in these areas as volunteers, and our band directors in recent years have been great support and have let a pit orchestra.

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    Kathleen McNulty Mann
    mcnulkl@bay.k12.fl.us

    Program Director
    Arnold High School Theatre
    Thespian Troupe 6371
    Panama City Beach, FL

    District 10 Chair & State Logistics
    Florida State Junior Thespians

    Board Member
    Membership Committee Chair
    Florida Association for Theatre Education
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    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: Musical Stipend

    Posted 04-20-2019 08:14
    Our district funds the Directors stipend only, but it is consistently funded. We pay for a Musical Director, Choreographer, Pianist, Set Designer/Builder, and any expenses out of our ticket and concession sales.


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    Rob Juergens
    High School Musical and One Act Director
    Windham ME
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    Original Message


  • 9.  RE: Musical Stipend

    Posted 04-20-2019 15:59
    Our program is able to pay its staff much in the same way.  We have contract-established extra-duty pay amounts for a director and assistants.  The two numbers can be added together and then redistributed into many smaller pieces, for example, to pay pit musicians, set builders, choreographers, etc. It's never enough, though, so we also are able to supplement that out of our ticket sales / sponsorships. 

    The rub is that we are facing the likely removal of a pretty big chunk of our revenue, that of our student preview show.  I'm not sure how or if we will be able to make up the difference.  In a school year season of three productions, that revenue adds up to almost enough to pay for one production's worth of staff stipends!

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    Kenneth Smith
    Drama Teacher / Theater Producer
    Lake Odessa MI
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    Original Message


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