How Much Do Stage Managers Make?
- melissabondar
- May 16, 2014
- 3 min read
Updated: Oct 15
Salaries are a pretty closely guarded secret for most people – although clearly not me, since I’ve been posting my salary for the better part of a year. I can understand wanting to do so anonymously, but it would really be helpful for people interested in going into the arts to be able to get a better idea of what they’ll actually be making.
When I used to tell people I was majoring in theater, older professionals would respond with “don’t.” What does that even mean? Were they starving to death? Were they working 120 hour weeks to pay their rent? Were they even working? We mostly just see two extremes in the arts – the starving artists a la Rent or the multimillionaire success stories.
The fact is, jobs in the arts exist in such a wide variety of areas and professionalism that there are plenty of ways to turn your theater degrees into a career while still using it to actually stage manage (if you want to branch out from stage management, there are oodles of ways to use your degree).
To give you an idea of how much you’re likely to make, here’s a look at a little stage management salary* information I’ve managed to glean from the web and personal experience:
If you’re a professional stage manager, please consider taking this 100% anonymous survey to help build a better picture of what stage management salaries look like with different companies. All of these hourly breakdowns assume about 40 hours a week except the circus, which assumes 60… which every stage manager knows is a lie.
You will work more than 40 hours a week.
Another thing to take into account is the fact that jobs end. The vast majority of shows have an end date attached to them when you start. Also, stage management isn’t really a linear career. You don’t climb a ladder. You might be making bank working a show one month and collecting unemployment along with your stipend for your next show... and you'll be working just as many hours at both gigs.
Furthermore, where you choose to live is going to impact the quantity of jobs available to you and, unfortunately, a lot of the best areas for work also come with a high cost of living. In my opinion, being willing to relocate, even to other countries, or tour is one of the best first steps out of college.
The point of all this research is to prove that stage management is a viable career option, because I believe it is. It’s also to show you that when you adjust your thinking to look at it as a career, rather than just shooting haphazardly to work on Broadway, you can actually make a decent living from it.
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