Actors' Equity Association
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Actors' Equity Association
Founded in 1912, following the dissolution of the Actors' Society of America, it had its constitution and bylaws formalized in 1913 with Francis Wilson elected as its first president. In 1910 the Actors' Society president Thomas Wise had remarked, “The motto of the Actors' Society is ‘equity.’ It is their desire to establish an equitable contract, equitable for the actor and equitable for the management.” The need for “equity” arose from the gross abuse of performers by much callous management. Actors often had been stranded far from home, had been forced to rehearse for weeks without pay, and frequently had been given little other consideration. The growth of the Theatrical Syndicate, or Trust, had only aggravated matters. Making but small headway, the actors struck in August 1919, closing virtually all Broadway shows. Performers held a number of benefits to draw financial support, and the public, looking on the actors as friends and aware of the indignities they had suffered, responded wholeheartedly. George M. Cohan, himself a beloved performer, and the Producing Managers' Association organized a rival organization, the Actors' Fidelity Association, enlisting many distinguished, more established performers into their camp. But numbers told, so Equity prevailed. With the coming of the New Deal and its support of organized labor, Equity sometimes grew brazen and destructive. For example, its refusal to allow Eva Le Gallienne and her Civic Repertory to offer Sunday performances probably doomed that fine group. Always sensitive to foreign (read British) actors taking jobs away from American performers, Equity refused to allow Jonathan Pryce to re‐create his London performance in Miss Saigon (1991) on Broadway until producer Cameron Mackintosh threatened to cancel the entire production. In recent years the minimums and bonds demanded by this and other unions have been a factor in stifling production, shrinking the road, and forcing musicals to perform in auditoriums that are really too large for live performances, although the avarice of producers has played no small part in this last absurdity.
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Actors' Equity Association
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| Founded | 1913 |
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| Members | over 49,000 stage actors and stage managers |
| Country | United States |
| Affiliation | AAAA (AFL-CIO), FIA |
| Key people | Nick Wyman, President |
| Office location | New York, New York |
| Website | www.actorsequity.org |
The Actors' Equity Association (AEA), commonly referred to as Actors' Equity or simply Equity, is an American labor union representing the world of live theatrical performance, as opposed to film and television performance. However, performers appearing on live stage productions without a book or through-storyline (vaudeville, cabarets, circuses) may be represented by the American Guild of Variety Artists (AGVA). As of 2010, Equity represented over 49,000 theatre artists and stage managers.[1]
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Contents
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History
At a meeting held at the Pabst Grand Circle Hotel in New York City, on May 26, 1913, Actors' Equity was founded by 112 professional theater actors, who established the association's constitution and elected Francis Wilson as president.[2] Leading up to the establishment of the association, a handful of influential actors—known as The Players—held secret organizational meetings at Edwin Booth's old mansion on Gramercy Square. The Players included Frank Gillmore, who from 1918 to 1929 was the Executive Secretary of Actors' Equity and its eventual President, a position he held from 1929 to 1937.[3]
Actors' Equity joined the American Federation of Labor in 1919, and called a strike seeking recognition of the association as a labor union.[2] The strike ended the dominance of the Theatrical Syndicate, including theater owners and producers like Abe Erlanger and his partner, Mark Klaw. The strike increased membership from under 3,000 to approximately 14,000. The Chorus Equity Association, which merged with Actors' Equity in 1955, was founded during the strike.[4]
Equity represented directors and choreographers until 1959, when they broke away and formed their own union.
Causes
In the 1940s, Actors' Equity stood against segregation.[2] When actors were losing jobs due to 1950s McCarthyism and the Hollywood blacklist, Actors' Equity Association refused to participate. Although its constitution guaranteed its members the right to refuse to work alongside Communists, or a member of a Communist front organization, Actors' Equity never banned any members. At a 1997 ceremony commemorating the 50th anniversary of the blacklist, Richard Masur, then President of the Screen Actors Guild, apologized for the union's participation in the ban, noting: "Only our sister union, Actors' Equity Association, had the courage to stand behind its members and help them continue their creative lives in the theater. For that, we honor Actors' Equity tonight."[5]
In the 1960s, Actors' Equity played a role in gaining public funding for the arts, including the founding of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).
Actors' Equity fought the destruction of historic Broadway theaters.[2] It played a major role in the recognition of the impact the AIDS epidemic was having on the stage.[citation needed]
Exchange of actors between U.S. and U.K.
"Under the current rules, a producer who wants to bring a British actor to New York must seek the approval of Actors Equity, the American union, just as British Equity's approval is needed to bring an American actor to London. In theory the two unions try to balance the exchange. But over the years some Britons have charged that provisions for exchange have been unevenly and unfairly applied."[6] Many feel the restrictions should be loosened or ended, while others claim the flow of talent across the Atlantic is mostly one way, from the UK to the United States. While established stars are admitted automatically, the problem arises with non-star talent.[6]
See also
- American Federation of Television and Radio Artists
- Stage Managers' Association
- Clarence Derwent Awards
- Philip Loeb Humanitarian Award
- Paul Robeson Award
- St. Clair Bayfield Award
- Canadian Actors' Equity Association
Notes
- ^ Healy, Patrick: "Actors’ Equity Association Names Mary McColl New Executive Director" The New York Times, October 14, 2010
- ^ a b c d Actors' Equity Association. "Actors' Equity: A 90 Year Celebration". http://www.actorsequity.org/NewsMedia/misc/celebration/. Retrieved 2007-12-18.
- ^ [1] Gillmore on the Screen Actors Guild website
- ^ "Timeline, 1919" actorsequity.org, accessed December 3, 2011
- ^ Greg Krizman, webpage: "Hollywood Remembers the Blacklist", Screen Actor, January 1998 (special edition).
- ^ a b Lee, Felicia R. "British Group Urges Freer Exchange of Actors With U.S.", The New York Times, February 3, 1999, E1.
External links
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Oxford Companion to American Theatre
The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. Copyright © 2004 by Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved.
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