Wary about his fellow Founders' pride in America's new constitution, Benjamin Franklin wrote: "In this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." As far as theater in Washington State is concerned, taxes may mean death.

The dustup between the state and small theaters began last spring when Taproot Theatre got an audit notice. Rumor has it that some hapless actor who had received a stipend from Taproot listed the theater as a former employer on an official document. The state noticed that Taproot hadn't paid taxes on the stipend and began its most prominent audit to date of Seattle-area theaters.

The audit found Taproot owed back taxes to the state and probably the IRS (the various bureaucracies involved, including the IRS, Employment Security, and Labor and Industries, have different penalty systems and standards for what constitutes an employee, an independent contractor, and a volunteer), sending a tremor of fear through all theater companies that use actors but can't afford to pay them the minimum wage. According to current interpretation of the law, they could either label actors volunteers and stop paying stipends—fundamentally altering the already-fragile theater economy and screwing artists—or pay all actors minimum wage. We all want actors to make more money, but paying minimum wage would force local companies to produce nothing but solo shows or go out of business. And theater nerds cannot subsist on solo shows alone.

In light of the audit's findings, Taproot pulled the plug on a 13-member show called The Matchmaker for the two-person Last Train to Nibroc, whose actors, in accordance with current Washington State law, will receive minimum wage for all rehearsal and performance time. "Yeah, it means more money for me," said Nibroc cast member Timothy Horner. "But if it means less work for actors in general, it's no good. Minimum wage for a three-month contract isn't a living wage."

Theater Puget Sound and Washington State Arts Alliance have started negotiating with Employment Security and Labor and Industries. Two WSSA lobbyists are preparing to lobby the legislature in case the negotiations fail.

"We'd like to find a new interpretation of existing law," said WSAA executive director Gretchen Johnston. "An administrative fix would be more efficient and easier than a legislative fix."

Persuading the legislature to change existing labor law would be, of course, extraordinarily difficult, not least because any potential amendments allowing employers to pay less would open the door to abusive labor practices in other industries. Some apple-orchard boss with a stable of migrant workers would love the chance to legally pay a "stipend" instead of a wage.

The state isn't out to wheedle money out of theater—that would be the last place any rational person would scrounge for cash. But it has a responsibility to anticipate the impact its taxes have on theater, and it has failed in that duty.