Our Musicians: Theater
AFM brings together musicians performing in theaters and on tour throughout the United States and Canada. By joining together, our members are able to work full-time—and earn a decent living as theater musicians.
Theater musicians performing on stage and in theater pits have negotiated improved working conditions, healthcare, pensions, and better wages including doubling fees, vacation, sound check and rehearsal pay. They have contracts providing transparency in wages, health and safety provisions, and housing allowances when they are on the road.
Although nothing can replace the joy in seeing and hearing a live orchestra at the theater, some producers have attempted replacing musicians with virtual orchestras, prerecorded tracks, and production loops. But AFM’s theater musicians are fighting this trend with contracts guaranteeing orchestra minimums.