Search This Blog

Monday, January 5, 2009

Gettin' PAID

Hello, my rosy-faced little cherubs. The Big Bad Wolf stumbled upon one little piggy sitting nice and cozy in his brick theatre lobby during this cold, cold, blow-your-house down time for theatres around the country.
Whoah, I think I strained myself a little on that metaphor. Hang on, let me walk it off for a second.
Okay, back to business. So, we know that theatres are having a bit of a rough time pulling in dollars this year. The 42-year-0ld Magic Theatre in San Francisco is running a $350,000 deficit, a dinner theatre in Ohio just closed, and a number of theatres around the country (including here in the Front Range) have been feeling a bit of a pinch.
This is why eyebrows were raised a bit recently when it was disclosed that Joe Dowling, director of the Guthrie Theater in the Twin Cities was paid a salary of $682, 229 this last year.
The story is here in the Star Tribune.
Now, believe it or not, folks, I'm not really sure what to think about this. Some folks in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area are up in arms about this because of the disparity between Dowling's salary and those in his position in other cities.
On the other hand, that's just a fraction of what some high-powered executives, movie stars, and professional athletes make.
What do you think, gang?
Here's a recent video podcast tour of the Guthrie from the Mile High City's own John Moore of the Denver Post.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The Guthrie is the nicest, most comfortable theatre I have ever been in. And that was before the new one. They also put on the best show I've ever seen. And they get actors like Ian McKellan to come in and play with them.

I think it's a pretty high salary, but given the quality of theatre he's producing I don't think it's all that unreasonable. They are 20x what the Denver Center is, IMO.