The Columbia College Chicago Career Center and the Columbia College Chicago Theatre Department host “The Pay’s the Thing,” a panel discussion about pay equity in the theatre profession, on Monday, November 7, from 5:30 to 7:30 PM in Studio 404 of the Getz Theatre Center of Columbia College, located at 72 E. 11th St. in Chicago’s South Loop. The free event is open to all; Columbia College Theatre alumni, students, and faculty and staff are especially encouraged to attend. To register for the free event, click here.

The panel will be moderated by Columbia College alum Cody Estle ’11, a graduate of the Theatre Department’s Theatre Directing program, who is in his final month as artistic director of Chicago’s Raven Theatre. As previously reported in this blog, Estle is joining Milwaukee’s Next Act Theatre as artistic director in December.

The panel of speakers includes:

Elsa Hiltner, associate director of programs at Lawyers for the Creative Arts and co-founder of On Our Team, an organization dedicated to building pay and labor equity in the theatre industry;

Lauren Katz, a teaching artist with Steppenwolf Theatre;

Logan Jones, managing director of About Face Theatre; and

 

attorney Jeffrey M. Marks.

The panel will address such timely topics as the changes and challenges in pay equity (fair pay) for theatre workers, paid internships and how internship programs work, worker misclassification (so you’ll know when to be a W-2 employee or a 1099 one), and the state of Chicago’s overall theatre sector and where it’s headed. To register for the free event, click here.