Professional Vs. Pro-Am?

Isaac Butler of Parabasis has an excellent and thought-provoking post up about the divide between the professional and the amateur in the theatre. I think there's a lot to consider here when it comes to questions about how theatres large and small, professional and (as Butler terms it) "pro-am," are dealing with issues of funding, community support, and programming.

This connects back for me to what Jack Reuler talked about here, what Mike Daisey talks about here, and what corwinchristie (Technology & The Arts blog) and John Fogle (North Shore Art Throb) talk about here.

It seems that there are questions to be addressed about how theatres (large and small) farm out the available jobs, whether those are artistic jobs (actors, directors, designers, script readers, etc), or administrative/operational jobs (telemarketing, ushers, carpenters, etc). There are questions, too, about how value is placed on art and artists -- and how sometimes that "value" is determined by those who have little or no stake in the community in which the artist lives and creates.

Perhaps the issue comes down to price versus cost -- that is, dollar amounts versus the actual costs (things beyond dollar amounts) of the decisions that are made -- and how common it is for concerns about price to eclipse those about cost when in the midst of crisis. (And once again, Michael Kaiser's work comes to mind).

I don't know what I think about all this yet, but it's definitely worth contemplation. I'm going to let Allison jump in here and add some thoughts...