It varies from theater to theater. Some larger community theaters will hire a professional director and pay him or her a contractural fee. Some have "resident directors" on salary. Others are all-volunteer organizations where nobody gets paid. At our theater, we give the director an 'honorarium' of $100.00 - and often the director will donate that back to the theater!

Our group has done it both ways. We have gone back to volunteer directors. It just doesn't work out for us. Where do you draw the line on who gets paid? Directors are important, but what about sound/lighting people? Set design and construction? Where we have 4-6 regular directors available, there is a dearth of technical people. My knowledge about lighting equipment, design and techniques is probably the most extensive in our catchment area and shows have often hinged on my helping out throughout the production or at the last minute. I have never asked for money (and probably spend more of my own than the group's) because I love the theater and the challenge of helping create the necessary stage illusions. I have used this argument (about paying technical people) to bring it back to volunteer directorial staff.