# Pay Rate



## DaveySimps (Feb 8, 2008)

I am just curious how we weigh in on pay for our staff. If anyone feels comfortable with commenting on pay rate ranges for different positions within their organizations, I would find it helpful. We are in the long process of opening a new theatre over the next two years. I want to get a feeling of how our thougts compare to other places. I realize this can be a sensative issue for some folks. I am not asking for how much exactly an individual makes, just a range (i.e. we pay our electicians between $** and $** per hour, our Sound engineer makes $***** per year, we pay our Scenic Designers $**** per show). I would also be interested in knowing if health and or life insurance is a part compensation packages as well. In case context is helpful, the space will be a roughly 400 seat proscenium house with an annual operating budget of $1.25 million for 7 shows (2 musicals) that will run roughly 4 weeks each. 

~Dave


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## soundman (Feb 8, 2008)

As far as designer rates go check out USA's website http://www.usa829.org/ and find a theatre of your size and budget and look up the rate. To figure out techs you need to think of the cost of living and what benifits you will be offerning $20 get a decent tech in the middle of no where with a full benifit package but take that figure to NYC or Chicago and you won't be able to get anyone with more than a few years experince.


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## DaveySimps (Feb 8, 2008)

Thanks for the link. I looked into getitng the TCG Salary Survey as mentioned in a short previous post, however since we are not members, we are not able to get it. For what it's worth, we will be in a suburb of Detroit, Michigan.


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## sloop (Feb 14, 2008)

If you are looking at university wages. They are online and public. Often buried you can go into the personnel areas on web and generally find all salaries for a university listed.


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## DaveySimps (Feb 14, 2008)

Thanks for the suggestion. I am actually looking for wages related to a regional theatre structure.


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## Van (Feb 22, 2008)

DaveySimps said:


> Thanks for the suggestion. I am actually looking for wages related to a regional theatre structure.


If I can get a copy of the salary survey from TCG this year <Business manager keeps telling me she get one for me as we are a huge participant.> I'll pass along what info I can. In the mean time, I can tell you I generally start straight labor < neck down stuff> at $9.00/hr and go up quickly from there. I will not employ a carp that isn't worth at least 10.50 - 11.00 an hour most of my carps are making in excess of that. I know it doesn't sound like a lot compared to a lot of Union gigs but unfortunately it's what I'm limited to in our budget range. You'll find that Hourly rates very widely according to region as well. Portland has an extremely high cost of living, which is why I refuse to pay folks "minimum wage"


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## DaveySimps (Feb 22, 2008)

Thanks for the info. If you do come across it, the TCG survey would be very useful.

~Dave


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