[SML] Tenure might not be all that it is cracked up to be

[Steven Mclean]

Warning!  Long Post!

I Hope everyone who is there is enjoying USITT.  I thought that I would
fill the emptiness of the listserve with some news of my own and a couple
of questions.

I got news recently from my employer Simpson College that due to the
declaration of financial exigency and following a college-wide
prioritization process that favored departments with large numbers of
students and large classes and faculty with teaching loads that do NOT
include released time for special projects such as designing and technical
directing for co-curricular activities such as plays, that the college can
release themselves from their obligations derived from my successfully
navigating the torturous process of tenure. Through a process known as
"Retrenchment" they can and have eliminated the tenure-track faculty
position that I hold and can, therefore terminate my contract after 32
years of teaching (27 of them at Simpson).  As of the conclusion of the
2018-19 school year, my department will no longer have a tenure-track
faculty line in Design and Technical Theatre.

They have retained the two non-tenure special contract faculty members who
serve as ATD/sometime lighting and infrequent set designer and Costume Shop
Supervisor/costume designer.  I have no clue who they will get to fill the
6 or more annual TD and set design positions that I fill, to supervise the
lighting and sound students and areas, to teach the design courses or to
supervise the 10 or so student designers annually and to share the
supervision of the 55+ theatre company members who comprise our department
(but comparatively few of whom are declared Theatre majors).

I have yet to go through the faculty handbook guaranteed appeals process,
but I don't hold out too much hope.  What I AM wondering about is, what
would be a reasonable fee for a freelance set or lighting design or
freelance TD at an undergraduate college?

There seems to be an opinion that owing to the released time that I am
currently granted for my production load that a reasonable adjunct fee
would be around $1500.  I know for a fact that the Opera program has been
paying between $2000 and $3000 for designers.  When I have designed for
that program, the fee has been at the lower level and I have always
considered that to be a deal for them.  One of my releases each year has
been for TDing the Opera production.  So when I design such productions I
consider that I "cook"  some of the TD work into the design.  On one
occasion when I TDd a show with an outside designer I documented 260 hours
of "billable" hours in TDing that particular production (including
providing venue drawings, inventorying stock at designer request,
communicating with the designer, budgeting, working through the redesign
when the cost of the proposed setting proved excessive and impractical
given that it did not fit the space, drawing and redrawing all of the
elements, procuring materials, supervising construction, attending
technical rehearsals and being the supervising adult at performances,
organizing and implementing work calls and strikes...etc)

The other issue with the design fees is that the Opera program only tends
to get the designer in residence for 1 to 1 3/4 weeks (including tech
week), whereas my residency is anywhere from 4 to 7 weeks depending on the
production schedule.  I hope to establish and offer a ballpark fee for my
services as freelance set or lighting designer as part of my appeal
process.

I wonder if something on the order of $3000 for the design plus $1000 per
week of residency before tech week, plus lodging, travel and $50 per-diem
would be reasonable in the eyes of the members of the list who know of such
things?

Thanks for reading this far.  Thoughts?
-- 
Steven J McLean
stevenjmclean at gmail.com
designandtechtheatre.wordpress.com
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