What is the average salary of a stage actor

The first most important piece of advice for anyone aspiring to be a Broadway actor seems to be, if there is anything else you'd rather do, you should do it instead. Being an actor on Broadway can be rewarding, personally, though not necessarily financially. And everyone usually has to start at the bottom and work their way up. What is the bottom for a Broadway actor? Actually, it is to be an audience member - to see as much theater as possible, to audition and be cast in everything from school plays to community theater productions, and to invest in the career before trying to make it your career.

The job of an actor, whether on Broadway or a high school stage, or even in someone's basement or garage, is to express ideas and portray characters, most often from someone else's script, to entertain and inform an audience. You aren't likely to be cast as the "lead" in a Broadway show right away.

If ever. And you aren't likely to even be cast from the first audition you give - trying to convince a casting director your interpretation of the script, any part of it, is the best, and expresses the writer's vision of the character accurately and engagingly. If you do get a "call-back" from your audition the producer, casting director, director and scriptwriter want to see you essentially audition again , and succeed in getting cast, your roles can range between the lead, which requires hours of stage time and the memorization of lots of lines, to parts that require only a line or two or no speaking at all - as a "background" actor.

Broadway musicals have chorus roles that are non-speaking roles but require dancing and singing. As a cast member, you often will spend hours rehearsing - not only before the production opens but also often during a show's "run," to polish and adjust the performance.

Unlike in television or film, in which the audience never sees or hears a full production exactly as it was written, and the writing is often being changed up until or even after a scene is shot, on stage, when someone thinks they know the material, they want to hear it "exactly the way it was written," and know when it has been changed because it is no longer familiar to them, actor and consultant David Patrick Green notes.

Another major difference between acting on a stage and acting for television or movies is the audience location. On stage, according to Green, the audience is feet or more on average from the performers. Massage Therapist. Individualize employee pay based on unique job requirements and personal qualifications. Get the latest market price for benchmark jobs and jobs in your industry. Analyze the market and your qualifications to negotiate your salary with confidence.

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Career Advice By Topic. Career Advice. Salary Research Uncover detailed salary data for specific jobs, employers, schools, and more. Theaters and actors remain free to negotiate wages beyond these specifications.

Because the costs of living differ by location, equity contracts differ according to area and type of production. For example, on Broadway, considered the pinnacle of theater success in the United States, the contract lasts from September to The Hollywood Area Theater agreement applies to productions in Los Angeles from December to and specifies wages according to theater size and weekly gross ticket sales.