# Technical Director Salary



## SweetBennyFenton (Jan 13, 2010)

I know this is an awkward subject to bring up but I know of no better group to bring this awkward question to. This community is so very supportive.

I have been asked by the college I work for to find out what salaries other schools are paying for positions like mine. This is part of a process that may very well significantly affect my level of pay. 

If anyone would be willing, I will describe my position and if you have a similar position I would be so very grateful if you would private message me with information on your salary. Or, if people are willing to simply let me know the range of salary they would expect for a position like mine.

I am a Technical Director and Professor of Technical Theatre at a small, but well off private liberal arts college. I have only been working as a TD for 3 years now... so I'm still fairly new to the job.

I run our scene shop and oversee the building of 4 to 6 shows in a year. This includes training an all-student crew in carpentry and electrics. My crew consists of payed workers as well as students working for class credit. My crew ranges from 20 to 30 students in a given semester.

I teach three classes a year. Two sections of a 2 credit class that is an introduction to technical theatre as well as one section of either Lighting Design or Advanced Stagecraft. So... I teach 8 credits worth of classes per year as well as another 2 or 3 credits in independent studies.

I am also the resident lighting designer for the college. This means I design 2 to 4 shows per year.

I am also the resident sound designer, meaning I design sound for 4 to 6 shows a year.

Any information you would be willing to share with me would be very helpful. Thank you in advance for helping a very grateful (and probably under payed) TD.


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## Van (Jan 13, 2010)

Tell them I make 1 Million dollars! < doing my best Dr. Evil> 
Hey tell them to grab a copy of the TCG salary Survey. I don't know if ESTA publishes a similar document.


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## SweetBennyFenton (Jan 13, 2010)

Van said:


> Tell them I make 1 Million dollars! < doing my best Dr. Evil>
> Hey tell them to grab a copy of the TCG salary Survey. I don't know if ESTA publishes a similar document.



Ah Van... as always you are a source of both valuable and nonsensical information. 

Also... it seems that as a College Theatre, we are not one of TCG's Member Theatres... so we don't have access to the Salary Survey.


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## Footer (Jan 13, 2010)

Are you a full professor? Asst? Assoc? I assume you have an MFA? 

I was apart of a search committee while I was in college to replace two positions. I know they had about 20k of wiggle room depending on former experience and such and if they had tenured at another school. With no experience and an MFA, the starting salary was pretty low.


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## SweetBennyFenton (Jan 13, 2010)

Footer said:


> Are you a full professor? Asst? Assoc? I assume you have an MFA?
> 
> Technically, I am a teaching staff positions... so I don't get a title like associate or assistant. While the people I work with treat me as a Faculty member, the college officially deals with me as a Staff member. I do have an MFA... I should have mentioned that earlier.


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## Footer (Jan 13, 2010)

SweetBennyFenton said:


> Footer said:
> 
> 
> > Are you a full professor? Asst? Assoc? I assume you have an MFA?
> ...


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## SweetBennyFenton (Jan 15, 2010)

I'm wondering if people would be more confortable sharing salary information if they were able to do so in a completely annonymous way. 

If I were to make a web servay that was completely anonymous and had a range of different salaries you could check a box next to, would that be a good way to collect information?


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## RockMoniker (Jan 18, 2010)

I would think you would likely get more useful responses, but to get the most of the information, you should include a set of fields for experience, education, and what type of company you work for(td at a non-profit small theatre is going to make much less than a td/prof at a large college).


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## SHARYNF (Jan 18, 2010)

To make any sort of money at a college you need to get off the Staff side of things and on to the Assistant to Associate and then to Professor status. Otherwise you are in the lab tech, secretary etc level probably at an hourly rate



Here is a link to a posting that probably is not going to make you very happy

assistant professor of theatre technical director Salaries in Fredonia, NY - Free Salary Search | Indeed.com


AT the University of Waterloo 

TECHNICAL DIRECTOR - THEATRE OF THE ARTS AND MULTIMEDIA MANAGER &ndash; CCAT 
not sure where the USG09 fits

or in community college theater (it is still in Google Cache


Technical Director, Theater - HigherEdJobs.com


Basically a 13-15 dollar per hour job

At Yale a Theater Tech III is a grade D

Compensation & Classification

http://www.yale.edu/hronline/labrelat/Salarystructure.htm

Faculty Compensation Rates | Human Resources | University of Waterloo

Here is a listing of some jobs out that to give you and idea of requirements etc


Online Theatre Job Listings - Southeastern Theatre Conference, Inc.

Hope this Helps

(I would guess probably in the 30-40K range)

Sharyn


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## SweetBennyFenton (Jan 20, 2010)

Wow Sharynf... that's some helpful information.

The way my position is structured is rather strange. Because I manage a student crew, the college wants to consider me staff but because I teach I feel I should be getting more than a standard staff position. 

This is all good information to have.


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## SHARYNF (Jan 20, 2010)

In the academic world status is very important especially in the highly competitive world of college. SO getting your status changed to Assistant professor would be important. Typically you need a degree level above the one you teach. Having the TD sub title as extra duty would be the next way to go. The management of the student crew could be re defined as a "Practicum" and have it as a class even if it is on a Pass Fail basis. This might help to change everything that you do on the TD side a teaching experience. It is sort of a game, but it can make a difference 
Sharyn


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