the timboucher experience

Have been trying lately to suss out the correct career path for someone with now one year of professional experience in technical theatre: scene shop, run crew and a small part played onstage. Backstagejobs.com has been an invaluable asset, as it’s one of the few websites (I’m told by others in the biz) which has daily traffic and new listings all the time. I’m only still learning about how the world of professional theatre works, but it seems like I have a few different options at this time.

One would be the stage management path. Stage managers are responsible, essentially, for executing shows on a day-to-day basis. They work with the artistic director to implement that individual’s vision through rehearsals, etc and once the show opens, the stage manager is more or less the person running the show. Stage managers will have an ASM (assistant stage manager) and/or production assistants who help them in their duties. SM’s and ASM’s will also, in my experience, typically also be the people immediately in charge of running crews: theatrical technicians who do things like move set pieces, curtains, etc.

Speaking of run crew, it seems like run crew is usually made up of hybrid theatrical technicians - usually drawn from the carpentry pool, people in the scene shop building set pieces. Theatre techs basically make more money depending on the specialized skills they have. Carpentry skills seem to be at the bottom, and electrics & lighting seem to be the “next step”, though it may be another fork in the theatre tech career path. Electricians, I’ve heard, make more money than carpenters. You also have lead or master positions within carpentry and electrics, followed by assistant, apprentice and overhire positions. Overhire basically means you get called in on an as-needed basis when production needs are above and beyond regular staff. The thing about theatre techs is that they are essentially “hands” - which is a term you’ll see in other labor fields. Basically just a warm body to help lift things or to perform basic non-specialized tasks. A stagehand does tend to have a lot of specialized theatrical knowledge and experience, but there’s also an element of you just do whatever anybody asks you to do, and whatever the situation demands. Your job description is basically just being really flexible, taking direction and following instructions as well as being a strong problem-solver with the ability to think on your feet.

And that seems to be the thing about working in theatre: you’re always asked to do everything. It’s just the nature of the work, that you have to be able to handle any situation that comes up. That and you have to work ridiculously long hours and weird schedules that are counter the rest of the world’s schedule. But it’s really fun and - in my opinion - totally worthwhile. A friend of mine and fellow carpenter said of the summer stock program he’s been attending: that it made him able to get into “theatre mode”, wherein you’re able to focus all your thoughts, energies and efforts towards the successful completion of a massive collaborative project. As a creative person, this is just about the best reward you can have: above and beyond the money, the knowledge and experience of completely and utterly committing yourself to something.

I’ve read that historically, within the master-apprentice system in Europe from the Renaissance onward that the intermediate stage is that of journeyman. A journeyman is an apprentice who worked under a master in a particular trade long enough that they have graduated from their obligations to the master. They have gained the basic skills and paid off, through work, the debt incurred to the master for teaching them precious trade skills. A journeyman can then become a day worker (French, “journee”), getting paid for a days work by other masters. There is even a classical tradition wherein a journeyman may appear unannounced at the home/workshop of masters farther afield and the master is supposed to offer them hospitality and a chance to work in their shop. In this way, the journeyman is able to work with other masters, learning from people in the field who do the same work they were trained in, but rounding out their experience and skills with other techniques of the craft.

Whether or not that tradition formally continues, informally it seems to still hold true. I’ve managed to get into a couple of other people’s shops for a first-hand look at the specialized work they do: I visited the metal shop of a sword-maker and stage combat director, and visited the electrics shop of a guy here in town who fixes old-school tube amps. Both were very amenable to answering questions, talking about “the biz” and showing me some really basic things. And both offered me the opportunity to come back again for further instruction. This is something I very much encourage other people to do who are trying to learn skills in specialized fields, especially in theatre. Theatre, it seems to me, operates very much still according to the sort of guild-system of late Medieval Europe. And this, of course, is where modern unions come from.

Let me talk about unions for a second: the two big unions I’ve heard about so far are Actors Equity Association (AEA) and IATSE, International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employes. Within the business, people will refer to it as simply “Equity” and IATSE is usually referred to by the local chapter number. In Baltimore, it’s just “19″. IATSE is a union (AFL-CIO) that covers back of the house and front of the house employees. That is, if you’re working in a “union house.” Not all theatres employ union crews. And not all theatres employ Equity actors - but the ones that do are typically bound by Equity rules. If you’re working in a house (theatre) that uses mixed union and non-union people, you’re likely to all be bound by union rules - simply because it’s more convenient, from an organizational perspective, to have everybody on the same schedule and following basically the same procedures. We could go on and on about how unions work, and how they work in theatre, but that’s a tale for another time - plus I’m non-union so only have a scant awareness of how it all fits together. But I do know that stage-managers, unlike crew below them, are actually in the actor’s union, Equity.

So anyway, going back to the notion of apprentices and journeymen, it seems that theatre and non-profit arts orgs in general rely heavily on internships, apprenticeships and fellowships. Just where the borders lie between each of those positions is still beyond me. But they seem to offer yet another possible fork in the career path of theatrical professionals. I’ve been exploring and applying for internships - in addition to contract and touring crew jobs - all across the country. And the general rule of thumb seems to be that an internship will pay you a low stipend (anywhere from $150 to $300 a week), and will often offer housing. But you’re basically a slave: you have to do ALL the grunt-work at the bottom rung of the totem pole. But the thing about totem poles, I’ve realized is that even if you’re on the bottom rung, you’re still on the totem pole. The only direction to go from there is up.

I’m really curious to find out more about that path, the intern/apprentice/fellow path, because it seems to parallel some of the more classical arts patronage traditions. Lets say you were an artist in the Renaissance. Who paid your bills? Nobles, princes, the church. And you, in exchange, did work to glorify them and to favorably remember them to history. You’ll still see this tradition in arts commissions and things like grants nowadays. But working for a theatre and living in their facilities - well, that’s almost got this old-school feudalist element to my eyes because you’re totally under the aegis of the theatre. Which can be weird - and almost cult-like at times - but in general is a positive and rewarding experience.

Speaking of, there’s also summer stock. I’m still not sure where it comes from or why the theatre business is broken up this way, but theatre seasons seem to work in a roughly September to May schedule. That is a regular house runs a set number of shows at their space during a given season. And then, during the summer, the house “goes dark” while technicians and actors may go off to summer-stock theatres in far-flung locales to put on a usually really rigorous schedule of shows. It’s a great way to gain experience and make contacts in the field - though like many jobs, its usually for low pay if you’re looking at it from a per-hour wage perspective. But most good summer stock theatres also pay for at least room, if not room and board, on top of your wages/stipend. Summer stock is also a really excellent doorway for people trying to break into theatre as a profession. There tends to be so much employment demand in summer stock theatres that they may not fill all of their positions. Backstagejobs.com lists many short term summer positions that its really worth digging into if you’re curious to get into the business. I myself will be heading back to Cape Cod for the summer to work at the summer stock theatre I did last year.

In any case, that’s a brief and whirlwind overview of several aspects of working in the theatre. I know it’s kind of haphazardly put together, but I just wanted to put some of these thoughts down on “paper” for reference purposes. Will continue to flesh out this subject as time goes by and as I learn more.

• Small Town Theatre Restoration Project
• The religion of art
• Spiritus - Psychic Theatre
• Actor-Proofing
• Consumerist Theatre