Drama Career

Comparison

By Ian Lafrenz

Trigger warning: Brief mentions of depression and school shootings

 Careers Compared

Just for clarity, I want to state here before moving on that I will be comparing
two careers in the theatre field, my ideal career field. The two careers being
compared are the careers of a theatre actor and a high school teacher,
specifically for theatre. Going into this, I want to make it clear I do have a bit of
bias. I think I would be fulfilled in both careers, but here, at the beginning of this
slideshow, the teacher is my backup plan, with the freelance theatre actor as my
primary career of choice. That may change, but that is my preferred order.
 Educational Requirements
Stage Actor High School Drama Teacher

● No education is required ● High-school diploma

● However, a Bachelor's Degree in ● At least a bachelor's degree in

General Theatre Arts or Acting is Drama Education
somewhat common, and very useful

● Master's degree is highly

recommended
 Salary
Stage Actor
The average yearly theatre actor salary, for
those actors who do find work, is
approximately $7,500, according to NPR. The
sad fact of the matter is, for the few actors
who can beat out the competition and land a
role, the pay isn't much. Therefore, many
actors also take on additional jobs on the
side to help pay for bills and rent.
High School Drama Teacher
For a high school drama teacher, salaries vary
a little bit. One can be as paid as low as
$18,000 a year, or as high as $106,000 a
year. Most teachers earn between $36,000
to $51,000 yearly. The pay largely depends
on where you live. As with all theatre related
jobs, you will find many more job
opportunities with high pay and better
benefits in an urban environment.
 Job Environment/Workplace Expectations
Stage Actor
● Highly competitive, with many competitors
● Long hours in rehearsal
● Might not have much time for performance
● Actor's Equity is utter garbage that requires
you to work a certain amount of union roles
for a certain amount of weeks for basic
healthcare
● Touring theatre companies are very good for
employment
● Overall high rate of depression and anxiety
from lack of work and exhaustion
High School Drama Teacher
● Work conditions vary between schools
● In most states, teachers can get tenure and
retire with job security after a certain number
of years
● It can be very rewarding to teach kids
● However, constantly preparing for classes
and dealing with kids can be stressful
● I can't find much proof of this, but I imagine it
would also be stressful to think about the
idea of a school shooting, given their
commonality, especially in high schools.
 Duties and Responsibilities
Stage Actor
The responsibility of an actor is to assume a
character and communicate that character to their
audience through their words and actions within
their production, thereby transporting the viewer
to another place and/or time. They want to almost
trick the audience into believing that they are
playing a real person, by communicating and
emotion or idea in a very believable way. They are
responsible for showing up to rehearsal and
performance, getting themselves ready to perform
and working well on stage with their fellow actors.
High School Drama Teacher
The first responsibility of a teacher of any kind
is to convey information to their student or
students and show them what they need to
know about something. More specifically for a
drama teacher, this consists of communicating,
demonstrating, and helping to internalize
techniques around character building, improv,
teamwork, stage confidence, and more. They
also often direct and help put on school
productions for the public to see, which are
ideally a fun and exciting thing to watch and
take part in.
 Hard Skills
Stage Actor
● Knowledge of character
building
● Ability to interpret a script and
character
● General acting proficiency
● General singing and/or dancing
proficiency (may not be needed)
High School Drama Teacher
● Knowledge of acting, scripts
and character techniques.
● Technical acting, singing,
and/or dancing ability (only
acting may be needed)
● Ability to recognize and
understand flaws and strengths
in another's acting
● Knowledge of lighting, sound,
costume, and set design.
 Soft Skills
Stage Actor High School Drama Teacher

● Ability to communicate an ● Ability to communicate a

emotion or idea technique or piece of information

● Stage confidence ● Memorization ability

● Memorization ability ● Patience

● Patience ● Ability to engage someone

● Tenacity ● Empathy

● Charisma and ability to engage ● Ability to give notes and critique

kindly
someone
 Benefits
Stage Actor
● It is a fascinating and unique field full of
fascinating and unique people. And
while you can kind of just say, that, it's
true here. People from states over will
converge on a role, and you can meet
friends while competing for a job. That's
just the nature of the job.
● You can become famous. People can
recognize you. People can want to be
you.
● Nothing is impossible in theatre. As an
actor, you can be anyone.
● You can show people new experiences,
and push the national conversation
forward.
High School Drama Teacher
● Teaching is a very rewarding job,
because passing on information and
helping people come into their own
actively makes the world a better and
more diverse place.
● Teachers have a good amount of job
security, including various health
benefits, and usually make enough
leftover money to have a healthy,
middle-class lifestyle.
● Teachers get a nice lul in activity over
the summer if they want it. If not, there
are always openings to teach summer
school, and help your community in
other ways.
 Job Outlook
Stage Actor
The amount of actors in the workforce is
projected to grow by 3% from 2019 to 2029.
Given the still rising prevalence and use of
the internet, jobs for actors will likely expand
into digital spaces. The groundroots of this
have already been laid with actors starting
successful YouTube channels and the success
of live streamed Broadway shows during the
pandemic. However it is likely that traditional
theatres will lose funding because of this.
High School Drama Teacher
Okay, I couldn't really find a general statistic
about specifically high school drama teachers,
but the general high school teacher job is set
to grow by about 4% nationwide from 2019
to 2029. As for more specific areas, it really
depends on the urbanization and population
of the area, as well as the demographics and
amount of people going to school, especially
in the high school age range.
 Advancement Opportunities
Stage Actor
The way that advancement works for most
actors is simple. As you become more well
known, better at your craft, and continue to
grow your portfolio, you will be offered
more and better auditions and roles. This
may lead to you joining a union, and gaining
more benefits, but this can cost you some
degree of freedom, especially in finances.
You may also expand into teaching, either in
High School Drama Teacher
Advancement in teaching largely revolves
around going between schools over time,
when you get a better offer for pay and
time. You can get a masters degree if you
don't already have it, and continue to
take professional classes related to
multiple topics, specifically drama and
acting with drama teaching, as well as
classes related to learning how to help
students socially and emotionally.
 Best Fit
After going through every source to check my information, and thoroughly
considering what I've found so far, I've decided that… my opinion is pretty much
unchanged. There was very little new information I found today, at least about the
actor profession. And while I'm sure that I would be fulfilled as an acting teacher, I
really want to act professionally. I'll still go to college of course. But I'll definitely be
getting an acting degree while I'm there. And then, I'm going to give acting a shot!
Because I think if I never try, I'll never know, and I'll always be a little mad that I
didn't go for it. So I will. And if it doesn't work out, or something else in my life
changes, I'll go back to school, get my teaching degree, and get a drama education
job. Therefore my best fit for now remains acting, although I know that I would be
fulfilled as a teacher as well.
 Bibliography
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sports/actors.htm#tab-6.

Doyle, Alison. “Teaching Skills for Resumes, Cover Letters, and More.” The Balance Careers, Dotdash, 8 May 2020, www.thebalancecareers.com/teaching-skills-
list-2062488.

“High School Teachers : Occupational Outlook Handbook.” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1 Sept. 2020,
www.bls.gov/ooh/education-training-and-library/high-school-teachers.htm#tab-6.

“Job Search.” ZipRecruiter, ZipRecruiter, www.ziprecruiter.com/.

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advancement.html.

Lafrenz, Christina. Interview. By Ian Lafrenz. 24 January 2021.