All I’ve been able to do is grab my popcorn lately while theater is shuttered and watch the show happening behind the scenes. Much like I do with this current administration in what resembles the White House, I read between the li(n)es, to predict what the future will hold in real time. I watch with frustration and horror for the most part, and root for the unsung heroes. I suit up and get involved. I hope for a better day.
After spending the better part of my life in professional theater as an actor from Broadway to stock and a union member of Actors Equity and others, producing and creating a show that landed at the Public, and directing …. I have a pretty unique perspective. That dawns on me more every day.
Back to the show.
We’re at the part where it all falls apart.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/09/theater/broadway-reopening.html?referringSource=articleShare
Click one, but each of them is like “Edwin Drood” with a shitty ending.
Broadway theater, and most regional theaters will be closed in all likelihood through next summer… perhaps with the exception of Milwaukee Rep. Please refer to my previous blog post for the deets on that. https://dusold.me/2020/09/29/cheese-beer-a-%f0%9f%a6%a0-and-actors-equity/
None of that comes as a surprise. It surprises me that it’s not a surprise. But, what may come as as a surprise is the palpable disdain that many have for the arts, the ineptitude and outright bungling from AEA in dealing with this historic shutdown, and the shitshow yet to come when theater opens up again. And it will.
In general, if Equity has a strategy for this pandemic , I think it’s a combo of crisis thinking, identity politics, stonewalling, misguided resources, lack of preparation, lack of knowledge, self importance, a circular firing squad and petulance … all of them embodied in the public faces of the current President of Actors Equity, Kate Shindle, and the Executive Director Mary McColl.
I guess we have to start the show with a reality check. Stage actors have nothing to bargain with. We have no work… hence very little value. I think what dawned on me in the last few months is, well, most people don’t miss us that much. That may be hard to accept.
I don’t think Congress misses us that much, I don’t think the government misses us that much… certainly not this one. I think people like stage actors and live shows, but the unsettling reality is … not that much. We’re really not that important. Maybe we weren’t as important as we thought. I think we need to ask again to be important.
I get petitions and emails from the union and stuff on social media constantly to write my Congressman, sign a petition and demand, demand I tell you, for relief and assistance.
Has any of that worked? Seriously, has anything changed by admonishing people how important we are who don’t miss us all that much? It’s like kidnapping Kim Kardashian. Nobody wants her back.
I get the frustration and disappointment, and maybe that’s what informs the actions and inactions of the union. It’s an incredibly crappy position to be in… and not anyone’s fault but a virus’s.
That brings us to what WE miss. Making money. Being employed. Purpose. Performing. Supporting ourselves with theater. Which is perhaps more about us than the audience.
At any given time, there’s about a 90% unemployment rate among union actors. I can think of about 10 people who haven’t had to support themselves at any given time in their careers with non theater work. We hustle, we’re creative, smart and industrious.
I think there’s a narrative being pushed out there that all union actors do is work in theater, when in reality only a fraction do… of every variety. The privileged few. Sure, it sucks to do something else for a while. But that really is life. No actor should wait for theater to open up. No actor should have waited this long. Do the hustle.
With that in mind, there’s been no talk of inevitable compromise for future negotiations or keeping the membership up to date on the dire situation theater finds itself in. No preparation. Radio silence on that.
What there has been, however, are 2 types of missives flooding my inbox from the union … well, besides the write your Congressperson stuff. There’s “Celebrate Bisexuality Day!” , AEA’s historic endorsement of Joe Biden, social justice(obviously valid), diversity questionnaires with drop downs that want to know if I’m gay, and advertisements for shows. Not for nothing, but who the fuck in Equity isn’t gonna vote for Joe Biden? Do I need that? It costs money to blast those emails. Precious money.
The other thing I got in my inbox from the union before I unsubscribed for my mental health, was an angry letter from Kate Shindle attacking the Equity trustees of the Health Plan. Fellow members who had to alter the plan. She basically stated some of the membership had a higher priority for health insurance within the union. Health insurance. She brought up three points … all of them misinformation, smoke and mirrors or outright lies… because of changes to the health plan that apparently she didn’t like. The Health Fund actually had to write a rebuttal and correct her. There hasn’t been any money coming into the health fund since March.. nor will there be for probably another year. The fund had to be drastically altered… again, who could possibly be surprised? I can only assume she thinks it’s an effective strategy to blame the Trustees. I blame the 🦠.
I could fill up a blog.. actually if you look at some of my other blogs I have.. with not so smartly shrouded attacks via tweets and social media posts and letters and interviews on fellow members and theaters and Disney and ….. God only knows, from her and the executive director. If they were aiming for hardball they didn’t get there. It’s been ineffective.
Which brings us to the next “ Edwin Drood” ending. SAG. Now we’re in a battle with SAG…”that other union” as she called it…Disney, theaters that have gone non Equity, other members, fellow officers in the union, the Health Fund… I’ve lost count. It’s complicated, but my takeaway is this SAG fight will further hobble Equity. And the performing arts in general.
But, take a pee or get some more popcorn because the big part of the story is yet to come. Reopening Broadway. With the kind of vitriol and misinformation and tactics emanating from this union …. that is gonna be the ultimate show.
And not a happy ending.
Unless maybe Norma Rae shows up.
Robert DuSold 
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