bills, bills, bills #34
A week in the life and wallet of a stage manager in the Midwest
Bills, Bills, Bills is a monthly series of anonymous money diaries from theatre workers curated and edited by Jenna Clark Embrey.
The full archive is available here. We accept diarist submissions on a rolling basis.
editor’s note
This past month, two great articles about personal finances were published. The first, a New York Magazine feature of anonymous New Yorkers who live with the help of their parents’ money (no theater artists featured, interestingly), and a New York Times article on the unlivable wages of being a top-tier New York playwright (which, conversely, did not include as much financial detail as one would hope).
But as we all know, there are theater workers outside of the Big Apple, and this month, we are fortunate to feature the diary of a freelance stage manager living in the Midwest, who is also working a restaurant job to make ends meet. This contributor’s log made me slightly nostalgic for my days in the food service industry, where an incorrectly entered order could result in a free meal. Sit back, read, enjoy, and don’t forget to tip your waitstaff.
Job/Position: I work freelance as a stage manager (SM) and assistant stage manager (ASM) at two different theaters. I also typically work four or five days a week as a server and barista at a brunch restaurant. It’s flexible enough that I can take off time for daytime rehearsal hours or when a show is in tech.
Age: 23
Location: A landlocked state
Annual Income: This is hard to track because of the nature of my jobs. I make lots of cash at the restaurant that sometimes gets deposited and sometimes goes straight to my landlord for rent. My freelance gigs pay weekly and I’m not always on contract.
When I work as an ASM at one theater, I make $650 ($514.72 after tax) per week. At the other theater I make $360 ($306.09 after tax) per week. Both theaters hire me for five or six weeks at a time. I did eight shows last year at various places, one out of state.
At my restaurant job, I make $2.13/hour as a server and $6/hour as a barista, plus tips, which vary widely. My twice-monthly paycheck usually ends up in the neighborhood of $500, and I make cash on top of that—maybe $1,000 a month? I’m very bad at keeping track of my cash.
Last year, my total income was $33,705. I’m hoping to do about the same amount of work this year.
Debt: I’m a very lucky person who has no debt. My parents took on the cost of my college education. In combination with good scholarship money, they participated in a special program in my home state: they paid for credit hours in the early 2000s and we cashed them in when I went to school. I own my car outright (again, thanks to my parents) and don’t have a credit card.
Savings
Savings Account: $15,869.18
6-Month COD: $10,150.33 (I opened it last May and have let it renew once—planning to keep it open as long as interest rates stay good)
Roth IRA: $1,678. I contribute $84 a month. I have an arrangement with my dad: he pays half my car insurance, I put $84/month in my retirement fund and give him another $84 for my half of the insurance.
Since my parents supported me through college, I was able to save most of the money I made from working during school. I’ve been working since I was 16, and lots of that money is in savings as well. My grandparents also gifted me $10,000 when I graduated college. I’m so, so lucky to have that safety net; my life would look very different if I didn’t have that to fall back on. This is not to say that I’m not busting my ass to make things work. I’m lucky to live in a place with a low cost of living, but the trade-off is that theater work is few and far between and doesn’t pay anything near what I’d need to make ends meet on its own.
Checking: $3,295.43 as of Tuesday, before logging spending this week.
Monthly Expenses:
Rent: $600 is my half of $1,200, split with my roommate
Wren donation: $14.96 (This is a company that uses donations to offset carbon emissions)
New York Times subscription: $4
Spotify Premium and Hulu: $10.99
My Roku has HBO Max, Amazon Prime, and Disney+ logins leftover from various roommates over the years
Utilities: I split the internet and electric bills evenly with my roommate. Electric bill fluctuates each month, and the internet is $80.33 total. In March, my half was $107 for both. All other utilities are included in our rent.
Cell Phone: $23 (paid by my parents)
Car Insurance: $84 (My parents pay the other half—see the note above re: my IRA)
Annual New Play Exchange membership: $12 (I don’t use this as much as I should)
Health Insurance: I paid $300 in January for three months of health insurance through Actor’s Equity. I’m not in the union (yet), but I worked enough in 2022 to earn me six months of coverage, which came in handy at the end of last year when my dad lost his job and I was booted off the family insurance.
Tuesday
Got out of bed around 9:25am for a 10am shift at the brunch restaurant. Had a cup of coffee at work ($0). Normally I buy food to take home, but today I forgot to put my order in before the kitchen closed so I didn’t eat until I got home around 3:45pm
While I was at work, my roommate made veggie tacos from a grocery trip we did together on Monday. Normally we’ll do a big meal prep and split the grocery bill; this week he paid for the groceries ($87) and I paid him back by picking up our tab when we had drinks with a friend on Monday night ($59). After I got home and ate, I watched a few episodes of New Girl before changing and heading to the theater at 5:30pm for a 7pm show. Once we set for the top of the show, I made a pot of coffee (free from the kitchen in the building), hung out in the green room and caught up with the crew after our day off. While the cast did fight call, I poured another cup of coffee and got on headset to wait for the house to open.
This is a pretty prop- and shift-heavy show—and it’s just me and one run crew member backstage—so it’s a marathon. We’re hitting our stride now at the halfway point of our short run, so we’re finding more spots for downtime. I tried and failed to play the NYT Connections during the run, and mostly scrolled on the internet while waiting for the next scene change. After the show I said hi to some friends in the lobby and checked in with the SM. Once we closed down for the night, the stage manager and I headed out of the theater at about 9:45pm. I drove home, fed my cat, and made some eggs and toast for dinner before watching New Girl and getting to bed around 11:00pm.
Daily Total: $0, technically
Wednesday
Up bright and early at 6am for a 7am server shift. The drive is nicer with less traffic this early and it’s a foggy spring morning: the tops of the high-rise buildings downtown are in the clouds. This early shift also means prime street parking right in front of the restaurant, which I nab shamelessly. Downtown street spots are technically paid parking, but the city doesn’t have parking enforcement and I haven’t gotten a ticket yet in the eight months I’ve been working here, so I continue to pay $0.
It was a medium-slow day, but I still made okay money with the help of some good tippers. One thing I think most people don’t know about working in the restaurant industry: I tip out hosts and support staff based on a percentage of my sales, not based on how much I make in tips. If, for example, I have a $100 tab that stiffs me, I still lose $3 to tip share and end up losing money. This is why lots of restaurants auto-grat (automatically add gratuity to the checks of) large parties. My restaurant doesn’t have this policy, so sometimes I get screwed over. Usually, though, everything comes out in the wash, and I make about 20% of my sales in tips.
There was a crew from the local Fox station interviewing our general manager and filming around today. I’m not sure why—I think maybe related to a local restaurant promotion thing that’s going on this week, but that’s none of my business. Before clocking out I ordered my food and my boss comped it on accident when he meant to comp my coworker’s meal. He didn’t feel like undoing it, so I got surprise free food! A major perk of working in a restaurant is free food, but it’s never predictable. Today, for instance, a to-go order was rung in twice so there was a free omelet floating around. Beggars can’t be choosers.
I got off work at about 2pm with free lunch and free Diet Coke in hand. I ate at home and tried to take a nap while watching Abbott Elementary with no success; the new episodes are too good. I finally succeeded in falling asleep when I should have started getting ready to leave and ended up 15 minutes late to my crew call. Luckily, we have plenty of time preshow to get everything done, and I’m working with a very understanding stage manager.
After we set for top of show, I made a pot of coffee ($0) and sat in the green room during fight call. A mutual friend of mine and a few cast members are in town to see the show tonight, which is exciting! I’ve also got a few local theater friends in the house who are working on another show that I’ll hopefully catch later this weekend.
The cast had a talkback after the performance, after which we went for drinks at a local dive with our friend who was visiting, where I spent $20.10 on three drinks and tip. Drove home and was in bed watching New Girl by around 1 am, dreading my 8am shift tomorrow.
Daily Total: $20.10
Thursday
A gently hungover 7:15am wake up this morning for the 8am barista shift I’ve been dragging my feet towards all week. (I don’t like slinging coffee as much as I like waiting tables. I get lonely!) Showing up with a bad attitude did not help my customer service skills and I spent almost all my energy barely managing not to be outright rude to anyone. We got busy for a Thursday, but not busy enough to make time fly by.
Finally, the clock struck 2:30pm and we started closing the restaurant. I spent $12.49 on a Caesar salad with chicken and some fries and $0 on a Diet Coke before clocking out at 2:50pm and heading home. I understand even less about how my pay is broken down when I barista; I asked my manager today and even he couldn’t give me a straight answer. Sometimes I get a makeshift printer paper envelope filled with cash a week or so after I work a shift, with no real rhyme or reason.
When I got home, I ate my lunch and watched Abbott Elementary for a while before joining my roommate in watching the tail end of Erin Brockovich. After that I complained about work for maybe a little too long. I checked my bank account to see that my ASM paycheck came in—$514.73.
My roommate left for work and I got dressed to head to the theater for our 8pm show and set for top of show with record speed. Then I made a pot of coffee and hung out for a bit. A solid run with a quiet audience! Got home a little before 11 pm and watched TV with my roommate before bed.
Daily Total: $12.49
Friday
Slept in a little bit before showering and making some egg tacos with blackberries for breakfast on my first morning off in a long time. The last couple of weeks have finally caught up with me and I just crashed all morning. I watched part of a video essay by a YouTuber I like, but mostly napped.
Ate a croissant leftover from work for lunch, then a frozen rice and veggie bowl and ice cream for dinner. Picked up a coffee on the way to the theater for $5.92. A refund for nail polish I ordered online that got lost in the mail hit my bank account for a whopping $3.56.
After the show, I took a few company members to the local cowboy country dancing bar and we had a blast. Taught some of them how to two-step and we watched bull riding (actual, real-life, live-animal bull riding INSIDE THE BAR), before heading home way, way too late. I spent $29.36 total at the bar: $10 cover charge plus three drinks. (I love the Midwest!)
Daily Total: $35.52
Saturday
Woke up early for my 7am shift and dove into a busy day of restaurant work. Weekends at the brunch place are, as you can imagine, packed. I left around 3:30 pm, $12.49 lunch in tow. At home I watched some YouTube, ate my lunch, and then changed to head to the theater for our closing night performance.
We had an enthusiastic sold-out house for the final show which made for great energy and a top-tier experience for all of us. It was very special. We had a short champagne toast after and the usual we’ll-work-together-again hugs and card exchanging. Had a small hang out with the cast at their housing afterwards (on the way I stopped for beer, $17.91, and gas, $32.73). We played a card game, ordered some pizza and Korean food (generously paid for by two of the actors), and played Mario Kart. Since everyone was leaving town the next day, I scored some frozen food and other groceries folks had left over. I headed home around 2 am when my brain started to shut down. When I got home, I realized with dismay that the time change had occurred and I was getting into bed at 3:30, not 2:30. Curses!
Daily Total: $63.13
Sunday
Woke up around 11am to lend a hand at strike. A stage manager’s job at strike is a very easy one and I wandered around pulling up tape and packing up green room things for a couple of hours. Had a nice chat with the production manager, who I love, and called my mom for a catch-up on the drive home. The exhaustion of the past week had set in, so I took a nap after talking with my mom. When I woke up, I started reading Edward II by Christopher Marlowe, for a casual theater history class my friends and I are taking, and then fell asleep again.
After nap #2, I picked up some ramen for dinner ($21.47) on the way to my best friend’s house to read The Tempest for class tomorrow. We divided the parts between the two of us and another friend on Facetime and had a good deal of fun—sometimes we do silly voices and it’s a top-tier Shakespeare reading experience, in my opinion.
I had a slightly sore throat all day and was generally feeling under the weather, so I took a COVID test (negative) and my temperature (fine) when I got home, so I'm off to work tomorrow!
Daily Total: $21.47
Monday
Feeling very tired and a little sick this morning! Headed to work at 9 am and it was a busier-than-usual day. It was busy like a holiday, but we were staffed like a Monday, so we got our asses handed to us. Nothing like a three-hour lunch rush to make one forget how tired one is, but when I got home, I was hurting.
Luckily, while I was at work, we got a text from our professor that he was also sick, so class was canceled for the day! Not complaining about having another week to finish Edward II. Spent my obligatory $12.49 on a Caesar salad with chicken and fries that I ate at home. Took another nap before a friend came over to the apartment to hang out for a couple of hours.
Around 7pm my roommate, the friend and I headed to my best friend’s house for the second meeting of our devising group. My college friends started a theater collective about three years ag, and last year they started this devising group! We’ve just started this year’s process, but we spent this meeting pitching/brain dumping things that have been on our minds in the hopes of running into something worth writing a play about.
During the meeting I texted my boss to call out of work tomorrow. When I got home, I had a low-grade fever and felt justified in my feeling crappy the last few days!
Daily Total: $12.49
Tuesday
Woke up around 6 am to text my boss that I was, in fact, still sick and not coming into work today. Went back to sleep for a few more glorious hours, then got up and went to Walgreens for cold medicine and Gatorade ($19.53).
Watched Jury Duty with my roommate for a while before he went to work, then had a very lazy sick day in front of the TV. Trader Joe’s mini chicken tacos (shoutout to my out-of-town SM for the hand-me-down groceries!) and an apple with peanut butter for a true girl dinner. Didn’t do too much on this day, but I needed the rest.
Was able to spend some time reflecting on the closed show—it was one to be grateful for. This is the first time over a year that I’m closing a show without the next thing lined up, and I’m trying to see that as an opportunity for some flexibility and peace, rather than as a source of anxiety. Freelance life in a smaller town is not easy, but I’m grateful I get to do the thing I like while being surrounded by a community I love and trust. It’s a good life and I’m happy to be living it. Shout out to all my friends and the artists trying to make this city (and this state) a better place, y’all are the greatest.
Daily Total: $19.53
Weekly Total: $184.73
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