What do Broadway performers who take long breaks in between shows do to make money in the meantime?

adotburr said: "Workshops maybe? Do they get paid for those?

I would guess between shows their main source of income would be unemployment."



The development of the songs for The Greatest Showman took a number of years and involved a series of workshops. From the finale workshop, you can identify a number of well-known Broadway performers.

As someone who works regionally on 4-5 contracts a year, with around 2-3 months out of work- being really intelligent with how you save money makes all the difference in the world. Understanding that you have 5 weeks until your next gig starts makes it hard to find a side hustle that isn't self-made. A lot of my actor friends who have phased out of working in the service industry now make ends meet during their down time by doing coaching's and teaching whenever the opportunity comes. I think you will find that a lot of B-List broadway actors are regularly teaching workshops either in person or virtually. The money can be good and it's a lot more satisfying helping someone else with their craft than catering.

Updated On: 10/17/21 at 11:48 AM

For NYC-based Broadway veterans, doing commercials, voiceovers, a guest spot on a TV show, etc. can be very lucrative (a lot of money for not a lot of time), and of course doing developmental workshops of new shows is often how people get their next big show, but many/most actors teach their craft privately, in studios, or at schools and colleges, and many simply work "regular" jobs - often in the food industry or doing "temp work" in an office.

There is also going out to work "in the regions," although some don't like to do because they think it is "beneath" them or they don't want to miss out on something happening in NYC (or they now older or have a family and don't want to go out of town unless it's really worth it).

SomeOtherMe said: "More so those who are known and work almost exclusively in the theater and only do a role once every few years(thinkSherie Rene Scott, Alice Ripley, Liz Callaway, etc...)

"

Well Sherie in particular married rich until a few years ago and they both founded Sh-K-Boom & Ghostlight Records. Performing doesn't seem to be what Sherie has been making her money from for a long time. She's mostly as writer and producer.

blaxx said: "There just to be an old joke that implied that an out of work performer simply had to start a theater school to get out of the hole.

You'll find A LOT of performers who are not as high profile will just end up teaching somewhere."


Does teaching really pay that well, though? I mean, I have no idea but aren't teachers usually considered to be grossly underpaid in this country? Or maybe it's different for those in the dramatic arts with Broadway experience.

Updated On: 10/17/21 at 03:20 PM

During the pandemic, enough of them went into coding that one performer (I wish I could remember her name) even started a company or initiative or something specifically devoted to teaching coding to performers and getting them work in that field. I would wager, given the portability of the job as long as one has the skills and a technological device that supports it, that coding is going to be the next big side hustle between (or, to the extent they can multi-task effectively on a performance schedule, during) shows.

Updated On: 10/18/21 at 06:41 PM

I used to work at an ad agency and we had a regular freelancer who was an Equity actor (mostly TV, but some NYC theatre). She came in when we would get super busy. Places like Creative Circle find all sorts of short-term temp gigs for people. My boss at that agency worked full-time for us but was also a jazz singer who would use her vacation time to perform in overseas gigs. All sorts of actors have non-performing skills!

JSquared2 said: "There's also Cameo (and Only Fans). Also quite a few chorus boys (and girls) have sugar daddies."

Ah yes, there was the one Mary Poppins who did porn.