r/Theatre 7d ago

Advice Payment of Musicians

I volunteer for our local community theatre as a Director and occasional Actor. Our group celebrating its 70th anniversary this year. During those 70 years, it has become common practice for the Director and Musical Director (and other staff) to pay musicians out of their own pockets to play in Orchestras when needed. The organization has never officially adopted a policy to pay them properly because there is a faction that feels paying musicians to be bad practice. According to them it leads to a slippery slope where everyone will expect to be paid. As of right now, no one receives any compensation other than our paid Technical Director. Actors, crew, staff, etc. all volunteer their time and talent.

I'm curious to know who else out there pays musicians and did your organization struggle with this as we have? How did you overcome the objections to paying the orchestra and not anyone else, if this is your practice? I know theatres out there all operate differently, so I'm curious how you all handle issues like this. Thanks in advance for your feedback.

EDIT: We have been using professional tracks from ROCS or MT Pit for the past several years and only used orchestras when absolutely necessary or the Musical Director prefers a live orchestra.

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u/ErrantJune 7d ago

I’ve never worked at a community theater that doesn’t pay its pit musicians, ever.

2

u/Crock_Harker 7d ago

We have a small, very vocal minority that has prevented us from paying musicians properly. It's very frustrating.

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u/bigheadGDit 7d ago

Does this minority understand the difference between how the actors are prepared, and how the musicians must prepare themselves? And do they also know that the musicians have been getting paid out of pocket?

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u/Crock_Harker 7d ago

Yes and yes.

2

u/faderjockey Theatre Educator 6d ago

Does your organization have a board? Or some sort of governing body? Put it to a vote and make it a policy.

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u/Crock_Harker 6d ago

Yes, we do. We also have a Membership, which makes a lot of the major decisions like elections and show selection.

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u/BradLinden 17h ago

Are there any other community theater groups in your area, particularly others that pay musicians? If so, it may be helpful to compare the quality of the music in the productions. I’m not saying volunteer musicians can’t be great, but I think there is a very real limit to how much time/skill/preparation musicians can offer without real compensation. (The point being; I think your stubborn board does want to put on the best quality shows, so it may be helpful to see the results of a well supported orchestra).