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Hi everyone! First post here from a new ITS troupe leader. :)

Two money-related questions for theatre arts educators. First, how are you compensated for your after-school hours that go toward rehearsals for a play or musical? Do you have a set stipend? Do you get paid per hour? Do you get no compensation at all because you do it out of the love of your heart? :)

Secondly, when you need to make a purchase such as fabric for a costume, a wig, a prop, etc., what is the method your school uses to pay for it? Do you have a school-issued credit card? Are you reimbursed after paying out of your own pocket? 

Thanks!

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Maralie Medlin
Theatre Arts Educator
Gastonia, NC
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Great Questions! I think it is going to differ for each program, but for ours my contract is a yearly stipend paid out monthly. I wish we were paid by the hour, every high school theatre director would be a millionaire!  

When purchasing supplies we use school purchase orders and a credit card that gets reimbursed. I found out quickly that the system for processing checks through our district is rather long and murky, so anything needed at the last minute or with a complicated purchasing process became difficult. I have a personal credit card that I have deemed the "theatre credit card" and use it only for the school. I prefer using it over cash as it provides a second backup for proof of purchase after the receipt. Rights and royalties are always paid out through the school with a PO, but I found it helpful that during tech week if we were somehow out of batteries I had the means to purchase more right away with the credit card.

I would check in with your school or district treasure and see what their purchasing policy is for clubs and activities. You are more than likely the adult overseeing your budget so you should have the authority to make those purchasing decisions on the fly with it comes to budgeting for productions.

Hope that helps, best of luck!

nate

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Nate Sayatovich
Director of Theatre
Parma Senior High School

Original Message:
Sent: 01-02-2017 16:21
From: Maralie Medlin
Subject: Getting Paid and Paying Out

Hi everyone! First post here from a new ITS troupe leader. :)

Two money-related questions for theatre arts educators. First, how are you compensated for your after-school hours that go toward rehearsals for a play or musical? Do you have a set stipend? Do you get paid per hour? Do you get no compensation at all because you do it out of the love of your heart? :)

Secondly, when you need to make a purchase such as fabric for a costume, a wig, a prop, etc., what is the method your school uses to pay for it? Do you have a school-issued credit card? Are you reimbursed after paying out of your own pocket? 

Thanks!

------------------------------
Maralie Medlin
Theatre Arts Educator
Gastonia, NC
------------------------------

As the "Drama Sponsor" I am paid an additional supplement to produce and direct our shows.  Whether I do one or several; be they musicals, plays, improv shows, talent shows. etc ... the overall number and variety of the shows is up to me and what I think will best serve the students and our potential audience.  If we rehearse one hour after school for a week, or for three hours everyday for two months, the money does not change.  That's where the love comes in.

For purchasing, the old rule applies "THOU SHALT GET A P.O. NUMBER!"  I don't use a booster club because I have heard too many horror stories (all verified, by the way) of theft, incompetence, or "parent drama" making the process too hard.  With a Purchase Order, all I have to do is get my principal (whom I love!) to sign off on whatever I want to buy and our school bookkeeper (whom I love!) handles it from there.  There are dozens of "approved vendors" that I use for various items.  But on the rare occasion that a particular piece of equipment or unusual costume is only available from an unused source, all I have to do is get that company/individual to sign a W-9 form.

Once approved, I take a copy of the PO to the store and pick up what we need (or I have a parent volunteer do it).  If the stuff is ordered through the mail, it's even easier: since all the ordering information is on the PO form, my bookkeeper contacts the company and completes the ordering and payment process for me.

The speed and general convenience of buying something last-minute and getting reimbursed worked for a while.  However, the additional paperwork, waiting for the repayment, and constant explaining (and re-explaining....) why we needed the muslin, the paint, the 25 toilet plungers for the kick-line in "Urinetown"... it all got to be too much.

For me and my program, doing everything "by the book" regarding purchasing has been wonderful.

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Josh Ruben
Fine Arts Head, Northwest Whitfield
Chattanooga TN

Original Message:
Sent: 01-02-2017 16:21
From: Maralie Medlin
Subject: Getting Paid and Paying Out

Hi everyone! First post here from a new ITS troupe leader. :)

Two money-related questions for theatre arts educators. First, how are you compensated for your after-school hours that go toward rehearsals for a play or musical? Do you have a set stipend? Do you get paid per hour? Do you get no compensation at all because you do it out of the love of your heart? :)

Secondly, when you need to make a purchase such as fabric for a costume, a wig, a prop, etc., what is the method your school uses to pay for it? Do you have a school-issued credit card? Are you reimbursed after paying out of your own pocket? 

Thanks!

------------------------------
Maralie Medlin
Theatre Arts Educator
Gastonia, NC
------------------------------

First, how are you compensated for your after-school hours that go toward rehearsals for a play or musical? 

There is a set stipend in our contract.  It is a percentage of the first year teacher's salary that is negotiated by the union.  For a musical, it's 7%, for a straight play it's 5% and I can get the stipend for 1 musical and 2 straight plays per year.  That said, I've never sat down to figure out what my hourly wage is because, well, I don't think I want to know!  ;-)

Secondly, when you need to make a purchase such as fabric for a costume, a wig, a prop, etc., what is the method your school uses to pay for it? 

We have a few options; however, no one in our district is allowed a school credit card any longer.

1. District PO - If it's a company that is in our system, the district will cut a PO for me and I use that to pay.  This can take several weeks, so I use them sparingly.
2. ASB PO - we have an ASB account that is maintained by our school bookkeeper.  These POs are much faster to get.
3. Invoice - Some companies will send us an invoice, which I turn in to our bookkeeper and she then sends them payment.
4. Reimbursement - most often, I pay for things and then turn in receipts to get reimbursed.  The reason I do this the most often is that the thrift stores and fabric stores around us will not accept POs and they don't do invoices.

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Laura Steenson
Theatre Director
Reynolds High School
Troutdale OR

Original Message:
Sent: 01-02-2017 16:21
From: Maralie Medlin
Subject: Getting Paid and Paying Out

Hi everyone! First post here from a new ITS troupe leader. :)

Two money-related questions for theatre arts educators. First, how are you compensated for your after-school hours that go toward rehearsals for a play or musical? Do you have a set stipend? Do you get paid per hour? Do you get no compensation at all because you do it out of the love of your heart? :)

Secondly, when you need to make a purchase such as fabric for a costume, a wig, a prop, etc., what is the method your school uses to pay for it? Do you have a school-issued credit card? Are you reimbursed after paying out of your own pocket? 

Thanks!

------------------------------
Maralie Medlin
Theatre Arts Educator
Gastonia, NC
------------------------------

Sounds like I have a pretty unique situation.

Instead of a stipend, my plays are considered my "7th period" class (after school). As a result, I do not have a 1st period, and my prep is 2nd period. Therefore, I do not have students until our tutorial period at 9:30 Tuesday-Friday, and 3rd period on Monday, which is something like 10:34. This would all be well and good except that I'm THAT teacher, the one who gets there at 5 a.m. Because it's the only time I can actually get anything done or photocopied or organized. Then I'm done by 6:30 and I'm bored. I actually ended up with a seriously impacted 3rd period this year (40 kids in a split drama one/advanced drama in the same room). I offered to add a 2nd period, basically going without a prep. Because it was my first year, they wouldn't go for it. They may in the future though.

As for paying out, I actually do use the services of a parent booster club. There have been rocky moments. One parent producer is very fond of the "the way we've always done it" way of thinking, so our agreement is she may only use the word "historically," and she only gets 5 a day. I did run into what I thought would be an issue when her daughter did not get a featured part in our musical (her senior musical), but mom was really great about it. They pay for everything...and I mean everything. INCLUDING (and this astounded me) the curriculum for my classroom. Our school has never had a full-time drama teacher before, so there were no PLAYS for me to teach when I got there (we later found a bunch of old stuff I didn't want to teach, being Captain Contemporary). They spent 3 grand on plays that will last me at least my first 2 years in the "Intro to Theatre" class I am currently using and will one day officially have on the books.

The only thing the school pays for is the rights to the shows and the scripts/music for them. This is where we've gotten iffy because the parent boosters keep all of the ticket sales to recoup their costs for the costumes and the sets and the posters and the programs, etc, etc, etc. My total school budget for my classroom is about 300 dollars. I'm not sure where the school has come up with the 3 grand worth of rights I've had to pay so far this year, but I'm not questioning it.

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Jodi Disario
Director of Drama
Willow Glen High School
San Jose CA

Original Message:
Sent: 01-02-2017 16:21
From: Maralie Medlin
Subject: Getting Paid and Paying Out

Hi everyone! First post here from a new ITS troupe leader. :)

Two money-related questions for theatre arts educators. First, how are you compensated for your after-school hours that go toward rehearsals for a play or musical? Do you have a set stipend? Do you get paid per hour? Do you get no compensation at all because you do it out of the love of your heart? :)

Secondly, when you need to make a purchase such as fabric for a costume, a wig, a prop, etc., what is the method your school uses to pay for it? Do you have a school-issued credit card? Are you reimbursed after paying out of your own pocket? 

Thanks!

------------------------------
Maralie Medlin
Theatre Arts Educator
Gastonia, NC
------------------------------

It never even occurred to me that I could get paid for time spent outside of the school day for rehearsals. Just figured it was part of the job. I'm relatively certain that I'd get refused if I asked about it - especially since I've taught and directed for two and a half years without any additional compensation - but it would definitely be worth the ask. I'm curious also as to what the 'going rate' is for extracurricular theater-teacher-ing.

------------------------------
Josh Kauffman
Teacher
Winfield AL

Original Message:
Sent: 01-02-2017 16:21
From: Maralie Medlin
Subject: Getting Paid and Paying Out

Hi everyone! First post here from a new ITS troupe leader. :)

Two money-related questions for theatre arts educators. First, how are you compensated for your after-school hours that go toward rehearsals for a play or musical? Do you have a set stipend? Do you get paid per hour? Do you get no compensation at all because you do it out of the love of your heart? :)

Secondly, when you need to make a purchase such as fabric for a costume, a wig, a prop, etc., what is the method your school uses to pay for it? Do you have a school-issued credit card? Are you reimbursed after paying out of your own pocket? 

Thanks!

------------------------------
Maralie Medlin
Theatre Arts Educator
Gastonia, NC
------------------------------

Hey there,

Teachers who work on productions (directors, assistant directors, set builders, choir directors, orchestra, etc.) receive a stipend at our school, which increases each year you participate in the same position. 

Our school has a pretty great setup in terms of funding. Each club in the school is expected to fund itself. Some clubs can't, like some sports, for example. Thus, the clubs that make more money pay a vig to the school, which gets sent out to support the groups that can't really raise funds. For example, our musicals make a substantial profit, so they pay out a few thousand a year to the school, which goes to help pay for other stipends for the advisors of other clubs. 

This is important: Ticket sales here is considered fund raising. Thus, the thespians get to keep ticket sales to add to their account. It's incredible. Thus, each year our budget is based on our own success from past years. No purchases have to be approved by the school (except set pieces or rentals close to $1,000 or more). One teacher at the school is the clubs' accountant, and runs the funds for all clubs. We're talking millions of dollars in total, between all of the clubs. And, if I buy a prop from money out of my own pocket, I can get reimbursed within one to two days. 

It's the best system I've ever seen at a school. It's efficient, fair, and the administration doesn't micromanage your work and thus hold up your progress. 

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David Engel
Theater Department Head
Fayetteville-Manlius School District
Manlius NY
facebook.com/fmthespians

Original Message:
Sent: 01-02-2017 16:21
From: Maralie Medlin
Subject: Getting Paid and Paying Out

Hi everyone! First post here from a new ITS troupe leader. :)

Two money-related questions for theatre arts educators. First, how are you compensated for your after-school hours that go toward rehearsals for a play or musical? Do you have a set stipend? Do you get paid per hour? Do you get no compensation at all because you do it out of the love of your heart? :)

Secondly, when you need to make a purchase such as fabric for a costume, a wig, a prop, etc., what is the method your school uses to pay for it? Do you have a school-issued credit card? Are you reimbursed after paying out of your own pocket? 

Thanks!

------------------------------
Maralie Medlin
Theatre Arts Educator
Gastonia, NC
------------------------------