Sadly, it very possibly is, but it really shouldn't be! It is one of the hardest jobs to do in acting, both physically and mentally - it certainly builds stamina! And it is performed to an audience without any preconceptions of what theatre is/should be - which makes it extremely exciting if done properly.
My only experience is taking Shakespeare into primary schools, and it was extremely rewarding. Using Shakespeare's own words, rather than a modern interpretation, means that as an actor, you really do need to understand what you are saying and communicate that meaning in every way possible. You can't get away with just speaking the language beautifully - the kids soon get bored if you do that! But the rewards when the children are cheering and whooping at the end, and come crowding around you asking for your autograph and wanting to know "were they real knives?" (yes!) "what was in the poison bottle?" (real poison ;-)) is amazing. The most exciting moment (and the one when we knew we'd got it right) was when the kids shouted "no, don't take it, she's still alive!" as Romeo is about to swallow the poison. Ahhhhh, bless them - some of them really buy into live performance, and haven't quite become so sophisticated enough to know that it's all make believe.
And there is also the challenge of every performance being in a different space, with different entrances and exits and run arounds, different size of space, accoustics, numbers of children etc. And the hardest thing to get to grips with is timing! At each school, you turn up with a 90 minute performance, but they then tell you (with less than 30 minutes to 'curtain up') that you can only have 75 minutes because the dinner ladies need to set up, then it takes the kids 10 minutes to arrive and settle down, so the cast have to really communicate quickly and concisely about how they are going to achieve the finale without the dinner ladies setting out chairs and tables in the middle of Romeo & Juliet killing themselves (kinda takes the edge off the death when you can hear "is the pie done yet?").
So, even if 'the industry' have a tendancy to be a little scathing of TIE, as an actor, I have the utmost respect for anyone who can manage a tour (but pick your TIE company carefully - there are quite a few cowboys out there) and still be sane at the end of it!