How To Become A Drama Director: What It Is and Career Path

What is a drama director and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted expert

Jennifer Chandler

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a drama director. For example, did you know that they make an average of $26.0 an hour? That's $54,078 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 8% and produce 12,800 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a drama director?

Jennifer Chandler

Assistant Professor of Musical Theatre and Acting, Website

Ask for money. And don’t work for free. Too many in the fine arts work for free because they love doing it. Know your worth. Ask for money. Always negotiate that first offer (ask for more). And don’t work for free. I would also highly recommend creating parallel career. This is a career that you do in tandem with your fine arts career. It generally needs to be somewhat flexible, but also somewhat steady. This will insure that you always have money to survive and pay your bills when you don’t have work in the fine arts. Some of my friends’ parallel careers include real estate agents, acting coaches, tour guides, administrative assistants, online work, restaurant work (serving), etc.

ScoreDrama DirectorUS Average

Salary

4.2

Avg. Salary $54,078

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.3

Growth rate 8%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.17%

Asian 6.36%

Black or African American 7.88%

Hispanic or Latino 14.48%

Unknown 5.58%

White 65.53%

Gender

female 66.74%

male 33.26%

Age - 39

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39

Stress level

8.3

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

9.9

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.8

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a drama director

Explore drama director education requirements

Most common drama director degrees

Bachelor's

66.7 %

Master's

21.5 %

Associate

4.7 %

Start to develop specific drama director skills

Skills	Percentages
Musical Theatre	22.82%
Technical Theatre	17.85%
Literature	16.05%
Costumes	7.36%
Easter	6.84%

Complete relevant drama director training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New drama directors learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a drama director based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real drama director resumes.

Research drama director duties and responsibilities

Achieve staff competence with 4 staff members, encouraging the growth and development of one staff member into a leadership position.
Direct high school musicals and chorus.
Make props, sets and costumes, audition and choose children for speaking/singing/dancing roles.
Develop scripts, direct cast, organize set design, choreograph dance numbers and create costumes.

Get drama director experience

Generally, it takes 2-4 years to become a drama director. The most common roles before becoming a drama director include teacher, director team lead and instructor.

Prepare your drama director resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your drama director resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a drama director resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable drama director resume templates

Build a professional drama director resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your drama director resume.