Robert DuSold

You know this limerick…. It goes on to rhyme ribald, naughty words like “dick” 😲 and suck and sexy stuff like that.

It’s a joke.

It’s a joke you can’t tell in a theater anymore.

Per an agreement by Actors Equity and the Broadway League, which included pay concessions, this was added to the Production contract:

“Additionally, the agreement includes anti-harassment language, including the prohibition of bullying, race discrimination, sex-based discrimination or sexual harassment, with specific examples of what constitutes each, ranging from jokes to written statements.”

https://broadwaynews.com/2021/08/13/broadway-sets-terms-for-prorated-pay-for-actors-stage-managers/

Now, to be clear, there has been strong anti-harassment language in the Production contract for years… it’s fairly par for the course for AEA to add a little deceptive sprinkle of a “win” as a way to divert attention from these pay cuts, which is a loss. A pretty big loss.

But, look what we got! Protection! Yay!

We already had it, posted on every call board in every theater on Broadway and touring houses, while harassment thrived under it.

Anyway, this new laundry list of don’ts is heavily borrowed from corporate America, which has HR departments and a clear chain of reporting abuse of any kind.

Theater doesn’t have that, at all. Theater has multiple employers, and AEA is notoriously lame in holding anyone accountable…from producers to members. The ultimate example of that is the failure of Equity to hold anyone accountable for the toxic atmosphere that led to the suicide of a union member 3 years ago.

Now, all of this…all of it…is just lip service.

In addition, the business of theater includes humor, nudity, violence, and …jokes. I imagine this edict is to address offstage jokes and behavior, but the truth is, there’s a very blurry line between onstage and off.

“The Producers” is not IBM. By a long shot.

I think the wave of “empowerment” and “protection” that’s laid out here for actors will inevitably spill over onto the stage. I predict a whole lotta micro aggression and outrage complaints from performers who don’t feel aligned at a personal level with their characters.

“As a strong, woke gay(please insert any marginalized group here) man I cannot play this part! You have to change it! It’s not me and I feel bullied!”

In several incarnations, that is bound to happen.

Even though we play parts that aren’t us. For money.

That’s our job.

No matter how you slice the um, abuse, the chain of harassment command ends up in one place. Every call or complaint ends up in union leadership.

At the end of the day, the leadership of AEA vets every complaint. Every one. They decide who has merit. And who doesn’t.

It’s time to pull back the curtain on what’s going on, er, backstage at Actors Equity. This is who’s answering the phone:

There are so many of these… threats, harassment, bullying, name calling… that I’ll have to pay WordPress a fee for clogging their site. I could include several I’ve received.

This, AEA, is the body that sets the rules and policies.

Of harassment.

This crazy stew has been going on for quite a while now, and has culminated in an AEA member having to shut down their social media sites and change their name.

Because they’re getting death threats from fellow members.

You read that right. Death threats. Oh, and rape threats.

They’re now in contact with law enforcement and lawyers.

It’s a no holds barred Wild West atmosphere of appropriating race, gender and sexual orientation and using them as weapons and pejoratives in the Council room and social media.

The end goal is annihilation. To silence. To vanquish fellow union members.

Because that’s what allies do?

And, as you can see, the war has been essentially commandeered by the leadership of the union.

There are very real consequences for the objects of the scorn… from losing jobs to losing reputations to getting death threats.

Anyway, at this point, I long for a good dick joke.

And a complete change in leadership, so maybe you could trust the person answering the phone to actually help you. Frankly, I think we may be past that already.

For now, I wonder who you gonna call?

Now, you know who’s answering.