Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 18.djvu/569

* STAGE. 487 STAGE. A prosperous theatre in the city of New York may in a favorable season do a business of about $400,000 and keep in empluynient 1.50 persons. Only a few theatres, and those in large cities, now maintain stock companies of their own; local managers accept the performance given by an American .or English company which comes for a shorter or longer period, taking as its paj' a cer- tain share of the receipts. As a rule the dramatic author receives from five to ten per cent, of the gross receipts in return for the use of his play. There is also an arrangement called the 'sliding scale,' by which the author's royalties are in a changing ratio to the gross re- ceipts. The employees of the theatre consist of actors, stage hands, or men who move the scenery, manage the lights, etc., musicians, door-keepers, ticket-sellers, and ushers. Where stock compa- nies are maintained there are also a number of scene-painters and costumers employed. Cos- tumes are sometimes provided by the manager and sometimes by the actor. In costume plays — those in which scenery and elaborate costumes of another age are used — the manager provides them ; where modern plays are the rule, the male members of the company generally provide their own clothes. The salaries paid vary according to the standing of the company. In a first-class New York theatre the leading four or five people in the company may receive from $100 to $250 a week. From these figures, which are five times what actors w^ere paid half a century ago, there is a gradiial drop to $20 or $25 a week for the people who have but a line or two to say. In companies playing burlesque or light opera, the chorus girls receive from $12 to $20 a week, while the male chorus singers average $20. The star, as the leading actor of the com- pany, male or female, is called, usually makes a special arrangement to take a share of the re- ceipts in lieu of salary. All companies include a stage manager, who often plays one of the parts; for elaborate productions a special stage manager at a salary of from $75 to $100 a week is engaged to arrange the stage pictures. The cost of mounting a new play may vary from $2000 to $20,000, according to the number of people employed vipon the stage, their costumes, the scenery, and properties. It is not unusual for the three or four costumes used by a chorus singer in one play to cost $100; the costumes for the dozen or more important char- acters may cost $500 for each player. The ex- pense of putting on a big London Christmas pan- tomime, which sometimes employs 250 people on the stage, seldom falls short of $40,000. If a play proves to be a great success a second, third, and even fourth company may be organized to give it on 'the road,' one company going south, another north, thus covering the country before the fame of the original performance has died out. The arrangement between the owner of the the- atre and the manager of the company is a sharing plan. The latter furnishes the play, the actors, such special scenery and properties as have to be carried, the costumes, the street bills, and win- dow advertisements ; he also employs a man known as the advance agent to go ahead of the company to awaken interest in the performance by the insertion of newspaper articles and by any other devices that may serve. The manager of the theatre furnishes everything else, includ- ing as many extra stage hands as maj' be neces- sary to handle especially heavy scenery. The average division of receipts is 00 per cent, to the manager of the company and 40 per cent, to the theatre. A very popular actor may insist upon better terms. The business of carrying a company through the country is so complicated that it has now largely fallen into the hands of a few large firms, who undertake to lay out the route, to make the engagements with local managers, and the contracts with the railroads for trans])or- tation. To lay out a route for a traveling com- pany it is necessary to know (1) the seating capacity of every theatre in order that the com- pany may not be sent to a house which it might pack and still lose money; (2) the number, character, and taste of the population, in order that a play wholly unsuiteil to it may not be offered; (3) the cost of railroad transportation. The company has to be kept going. In some places it can play a week, in others three nights, in others only one. Tlie manager of the company has to pay all railroad fares, so that the nearer the towns in which he plays the better. Furtlier- more, he must as far as possible know what other attractions will be olTered against him ; a circus in a country town will 'kill' any play. The dra- matic agencies do all this work for the companies, receiving a certain share of the profits in return and also payment from the managers of theatres to whom they furnish attractions. The most im- portant agencies some years ago organized them- selves into a syndicate, which made it almost impossible for any outside manager to engage 'time' in any of the best houses of the larger cities. The syndicate refused to send companies to any theatre which received an outsider. It not only controlled theatres, but it produced plays, recognizing only such playwrights and actors as consented to its terms. As the members of this ])owerful syndicate are business men rather than artists, art has suffered. A few prominent actors and managers, tired of the syndicate rule, have within the last year or two cut loose from it and have encouraged the building of independent hou.ses in the largest cities of the country. There are now such independent theatres in New York, Philadelpjiia, Boston, and a few other cities. The ordinary dramatic company is divided somewhat as follows: (1) leading man and woman, to whom are allotted the most important .parts of the play; (2) juvenile man and woman, who play the two parts next in importance; (3) character actors, men or women, who play parts requiring eccentric acting or appearance; (4) old man and woman; (5) heavy man, who is mostly the villain of the piece; (0) utility peo- ple, minor actors who can be trusted with small parts; (7) walking gentlemen and ladies, people who simply appear but have nothing to say be- yond a few unimportant words; (8) supernumer- aries, commonly known as 'supes,' people who fill up stage pictures, but have no lines to speak and are usually under the direction of a 'captain;' (9) the stage manager. Other necessary employ- ees in every theatre are the wardrobe woman, who cares for all the costumes, the property man, who looks out for the furniture and any articles needed upon the stage, the stage car- penters, the electricians, who attend to the lights,