Please help...My Daughter is planning to attend college to be a professional stage manager...?

Your husband is wrong. I use to work at Disney world and our supervisors where actually Stage Managers. A friend of mine is with a touring company right now as Stage Manager. There are tons of opportunities and yes, people do make a living at it. It may not be the most glamorous life filled with riches, but you are able to pay the bills. If she is well organized and not afraid to be the boss then she can do anything. Once a director is done with the show the Stage Manager runs the whole thing. Stage Managers are every where. Rock Concerts, Theme parks, touring companies,broadway shows. You name it there is a job. Heck, I almost forgot Television shows, and news stations and national news.

While going to college she will have the opportunity to go to SETC, where she can find summer work as a stage manager for all sorts of companies, there is also USITT where they take applications for technical theatre workers to find work/internships over the summer, and there is ACTF. If the college she attends participates in this and she manages a show she will have the opportunity to compete for a spot to go to the Kennedy Center for the National festival. College is the perfect place to gain experience, meet people in the field and study the craft.

She can make a living. And more importantly your husband has to realize that it is your daughter's choice. She needs to follow her passion. The worst thing in the world is to inhibit your own child's dreams.

I work as a professional stage manager. It can take time to get established, but it is possible to exist on the income. I work in the UK and as soon as I graduated, I joined the Stage Management Association. They have what they call a 'Free List'. As a stage manager, you put your last three jobs on it and your contact number. Potential employers get copies of this list, look through and find suitable candidates for the job they want to fill. I get most of my jobs through it. It only costs £60 per year (much cheaper than an actor's agent!). You do have to have someone to nominate you as a member, but if your daughter is going to college, then she will start to build up contacts within the business too. Have just checked the SMA website, they have student membership. There is a version of the SMA in the USA, but I am not certain whether they work in the same way. If your daughter gets sufficient work to join Equity, they also have a jobs page on their website (but like the SMA, you have to be a member). The Stage newspaper also advertises jobs.

You certainly can make a living as a stage manager - even in New Zealand, where we have a lot less theatre than there is in America, I work fulltime as a stage manager and have no problem making my living doing this. There are often SM jobs on the Playbill website (www.playbill.com) and the Stage Managers' Network (www.smnetwork.org) has a board for job postings. It might be a hard graft to start off with, but once your daughter has a few jobs under her belt, she shouldn't have too much trouble finding work.

I went to an average college with a 2nd-rate theater program. A lot of kids wanted to be performers and that's a tough career path... lots of rejection, not a lot of jobs.

But there were a couple of students that wanted to be theater technicians. They studied the art, learned the technical aspects of theater, did a lot of practicum (experience is key, get all you can while you have the chance), and went on to do great things. One of my classmates is now the company manager of Cirque De Soliel in Vegas. Another is teaching at University of Pittsburgh. Many others have made a career of it and are earning a living wage doing what they love.

Best of luck to your daughter. If she wants it bad enough, she can get it.

You could try the Equity website or The Stage.

According to the wesite in my soucres section:

"Starting salaries for assistants and deputies are around £15,000 to £20,000 a year.

With experience, salaries can reach £40,000 a year or more, depending on your track record and the budget available."

Acting isn't the most promising .... but it can be done.

keep looking ... especially in the Chicago L.A. NYC areas.

good luck to your daughter ...i'm sure she will soar in the field.