Robert DuSold

My Equity card was my ticket. My brass ring. My way out. In 1982, I had left college. My parents had already retired, and moved to Green Bay. I was 22, living in Cincinnati, feeling left behind and trying to carve out not only a career but enough money to put gas into my Ford Pinto.

My used Ford Pinto SL thank you very much.

I was working odd jobs, and auditioned for Starlight Musicals…which was an outdoor stock tour that hired singers, and dancers. Singers! I knew that they paid for your Equity card, which you got at the end of the tour. I also knew I couldn’t move to New York without my card.

I booked the job, yay, got my card, joined the union, and drove my Pinto on the tour while blasting “Dreamgirls” and Donna Summer’s “Love is in Control” at full volume on my cassette player. I had arrived.

I went back to Cincinnati after the tour and joining the union. I started working at a revue in a hotel… not a book show, but pop songs, Broadway tunes and dance numbers and stuff. They served dinner, oh God we did, and then the show. It was a great experience…I was whipped into shape as a performer and even put on a few moves.

Then I got a cease and desist letter from Actors Equity.

The ink was still wet on my card. I was stunned, and devastated. A very naive, poor 22 year old that thought my life was over. So began my weird, exhilarating, exhausting relationship with AEA.

To this day, I have no idea who called the union, why they cared about a revue at a hotel with a waterfall in Cincinnati, why whoever in the union thought it was worth pursuing, or what the point of not trying to organize it first was. There was one Equity theater in Cincinnati. One. It was far from a book show. Sigh…..

Anyway, I left and spent the next several months pretty lost and the next summer booked another Starlight tour, this one with a Production Contract attached. The big time baby. I packed my suitcase containing my prized Girbaud pants and moved to New York! I had about a thousand bucks.

I then started, after a few odd jobs and smaller contract years, working a bunch as an actor. I was making a decent living as a stage actor. I worked for about the next 15 years solid on a Production Contract…Broadway and national tours. Big shows. Big hit shows. Then principal roles. Yada yada.

Then a bad breakup. A shift in identity and starting a new life. A big downturn …I thought my career was over. I did a few contracts. I had no money, worked odd jobs after 3 shows on Broadway and couldn’t afford to pay my union dues. At my lowest points, I didn’t care. I went on strike. Please don’t do that.

After a couple of years of that shiz, I got offered a great job out of the blue. And I had to rejoin the union and pay the initiation fees over again. I had no choice. A couple grand. Like I could afford that.

Read on people… it’s ok…then another 10 years of great jobs and the love of my life and buying a house and good stuff. Hit shows, long runs. Leading roles…all of that.

I will say, in the decades I’ve spent on the road, my expectation was that the union that I was contributing handsomely to understood me. I was busy working, I was a deputy a few times but didn’t go to meetings. I just figured there was this tacit thing going on that if I was doing a national tour of a hit show, I would continue making a living. They would take care of it.

I was wrong.

I guess around 10 years ago now, I auditioned for a national tour of a hit show with a big star. I just assumed it was the same Production Contract that I had worked under for decades. The show had just won Best Musical. I booked it. The salary was half of what I made a year before. Once again, I was shocked. What the fuck happened? I had to turn it down, I couldn’t afford to go on the road for that salary. Then I had to turn another tour down. There will always be an actor who will take a job. Those jobs were no longer my jobs.

My Waterloo was a year later when 2 hit shows were going out at the same time on a reduced contract. I took to Facebook ..which was sorta new…to vent my frustration, and offer my ideas to try and fix this situation. I couldn’t take it anymore. What I didn’t expect was the reaction from the union itself. I was made an example of by the president of the union. On Facebook with my name attached. I was warned to keep my mouth shut by legal counsel. A few of us union members got together separately and were threatened with expulsion. There was major pushback from the union in the press.. against their own members. All because we wanted to make a difference.

That very raggedy, underground group with a few members came to be called Actors Coming Together. ACT. Get it? It morphed into something called Fair Wage Onstage.

You’re welcome Fair Wage Onstage. You’re welcome.

I was Persona non Grata, but I just kept trying. I kept trying to fix things. There were a few people on council who started to listen.. some are running in this current union election. That started to turn things around as several of the ideas that I and a few others had were being implemented by the union.

I then became, and still am, on the inside and the outside. I’m like on a lovely heated Equity porch. I have always thought I can make more of a difference not being on Council. And I have. I spoke out about harassment in the theater, totally risking what’s left of my career at 60, and wound up in an article in the Times. I hope that’s made a difference so no actor will ever again take their life because of systemic abuse in commercial theater. I’ve created and produced a show that has made a difference in people’s lives. I produce benefits for charity. And I’m still performing.

Fair Wage Onstage became something I never wanted it to be, and I sympathize and understand the motivation behind being a rabble rouser. I’m still one. Now, from what I’ve seen, it’s morphed into a rather ego driven group within a union that votes as a group, not as individuals. I’ve seen the slate…that word makes me cringe when talking about a union…devolve into being pretty ageist and identity driven. And that makes me sad. They are adept at social media…so adept that they hijack the same colors and fonts and branding as AEA and generate stuff from their slate that’s like a Canal Street Coach bag. I went to a union meeting a couple years ago to introduce a resolution, at the onset of what, to me, was the beginning of this round of union crazy. I honestly want to chew my way out of most of those meetings, but I went because I felt very strongly about the proliferation of non union tours. Unfortunately, I still do because it’s worse than ever. I introduced a resolution to inform the membership that Equity members can’t work on a non union tour. Like in a union meeting. That seemed like a no brainer to me…sorta like not drinking bleach. One person, who is now the de facto Cinque of the Fair Wage peeps was the only one out of dozens of councilors who voted against it. Then later he took credit for the resolution that I proposed. Weird I thought. He thought I was being mean to his friend he later said on social media. I’ve never met him. I would prefer him not to be representing actors. I wish I could say he has good intentions, but I can’t. I don’t know. I’m sure most do. I’m grateful to be on my Equity porch.

So this brings me to why I’m typing this naked. Ok, figuratively. I’m wearing pants. Well, we’re in a pandemic. I continue to bare my soul. Ive always thought that performing is standing naked in front of people. I feel that way when I write too. When I stick my neck out… and I have. I’ve been on all sides of AEA… and I like where I am now. I want every actor to have what I have, and what I’ve had. I’ve had a pretty thrilling ride. I’ve learned to listen. I value experience now more than ever. I’ve worked under almost every contract and agreement. I have a pension. Cuz, here’s the deal…. I don’t think we’re getting back to work in theater for a very long time. The existence of the union hangs in the balance in my opinion. There is no doubt that all these contracts will have to be revisited when we can reopen, and this crucial election will happen before then. We will have to make major, smart compromises with producers. The people I want in the room representing actors have to be experienced and willing to listen and compromise. They have to think as individuals. That’s the only way we will survive as a union. By the way, I’ve been on both sides of that table.

I’m still a union guy. I’ll be supporting individuals in the most important Equity election in our lifetimes. Check back soon…