[NEohioPAL]re: equity vs. non-equity in ohio

Thu Feb 9 07:01:17 PST 2006

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I never write on this, but to quote the last of your paragraph Adam, 

  "It's kind of frustrating that in the 9 months I lived in NYC I did two off-b'way shows and a concert at the largest US cathedral (St. John, Divine) with my union card, and I move back to Cleveland and I'll be lucky if I do one show this year."

  I feel so sorry for your equity status, really.  I just moved here from New York, and I DON'T have my equity card.  But while I was in New York I attempted to audition for broadway shows and tours, and anything I could get my hands on that would keep me working, but I couldn't even get seen for most of these shows because of that little piece of paper that you are so proud of.  Although I would wait all day to be seen and listen to the horrible talent behind a door that I couldn't get behind, I couldn't help but wonder why that status as a UNION actor was so important, especially if what I was listening to was a professional actor, because I know I was just as good if not better than most of talent I could hear at some of those auditons. 

   In fact in the year and half I lived there I wrote, produced, and performed my own cabaret show, and traveled here to do 3 shows in Cleveland Heights at the small professional musical theatre that is Kalliope Stage; a theatre that didn't care about my union status, but only cared that I had talent, and by the way, paid me equity wages to be there, as they do with all their leads, both in town and out of town.

  My advice is if you want to work, create it yourself, write your own show, direct your own show, or just gather some of your actor friends (union or not) and create your own company.  (and let me know, I'd love to be apart of it!)

  And now I'm ranting, and I'm sorry if I missed your point, it's just an issue that is close to me because of all the let downs that New York was simply because I'm not a member of AEA.  Seriously though, some of us try really hard to be professionals in this business, but if I died tomorrow without that precious card, I know I still did great work while I was alive.  Perhaps while living in a smaller city you should think about dropping your card, even if only for the work if that's all you want.

  Thanks.
  Jodi Brinkman

  Non-AEA since 1977

AdMan7601 at aol.com wrote: 
         Before I start, let me say that I agree with Mr. Berko's review about the tour of Rent whole heartedly, and also that I love and support non-equity theatre / actors.

       This may be nitpicking and not really relevant, but just to clarify one small point. :
  "The cast members are mainly professional theatre â€œnewbies,â€ recent college grads with little or no Broadway experience." (Berko review)

       The current tour (and all tours after the first national tour) of Rent is entirely non-equity, which means that none of them have had Broadway experience. Now granted that I'm equity and have never had B'way experience; but none of them will untill they join the union. Many in the tour in fact will get their card by transferring to the Broadway company as understudies or actual roles as they open up. And let me say the cast is awesome, they're all extremely qualified and definitely Broadway caliber, but to quote AEA's mantra, "If it's not Equity, it's not Broadway". Does that mean that they're not professional? No, they are professional actors, just not unionized professionals. Broadway as fact is all union. Producers need to stop telling audiences they're seeing a Broadway show on tour when they're not.. 

       My actual point (and my attempt to get to it coheseively failed), is that I feel that we  in Cleveland, as a community need to support our Equity actors as well. We need to be able to get more contracts into more theatres so that the AEA actors can work. You'll have several non-eq actors doing 7-8 shows a year whereas an equity actor will be lucky to do one or two. We shouldn't be outcast just because we've opted to join the actors union. What's the big deal about a "Community" Theatre hiring on an equity actor or two when we're part of that same community also. We shouldn't have to be asked by the director to work under the table if we want to work. Even some of the theatres that do have contracts don't support our members, they cast shows out of New York or Chicago without even having an EPA in Cleveland, or precasting the equity roles.

      There are many theatres doing great work trying to get more contracts; The Beck, Porthouse, etc..., but we as a community need to get more people to come see the shows at the theatres, so the theatres can make more money and use some of it to acquire more contracts. It shouldn't be a battle of Equity against Non-equity, but a battle of Actors against the Community to support us so we can all work. Our acting community has to demand more support, just as our small faction of the equity community has to demand our rights.

      If you've gotten this far into my "rant", thanks for reading this; these are just my opinions. It's kind of frustrating that in the 9 months I lived in NYC I did two off-b'way shows and a concert at the largest US cathedral (St. John, Divine) with my union card, and I move back to Cleveland and I'll be lucky if I do one show this year.

  All the best,    
  Adam Kern
AEA
www.adam-kern.com

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<DIV>I never write on this, but to quote the last of your paragraph Adam, </DIV>  <DIV> </DIV>  <DIV><EM>"It's kind of frustrating that in the 9 months I lived in NYC I did two off-b'way shows and a concert at the largest US cathedral (St. John, Divine) with my union card, and I move back to Cleveland and I'll be lucky if I do one show this year."</EM></DIV>  <DIV> </DIV>  <DIV>I feel so sorry for your equity status, really.  I just moved here from New York, and I DON'T have my equity card.  But while I was in New York I attempted to audition for broadway shows and tours, and anything I could get my hands on that would keep me working, but I couldn't even get seen for most of these shows because of that little piece of paper that you are so proud of.  Although I would wait all day to be seen and listen to the horrible talent behind a door that I couldn't get behind, I couldn't help but wonder why that
 status as a UNION actor was so important, especially if what I was listening to was a <EM>professional </EM>actor, because I know I was just as good if not better than most of talent I could hear at some of those auditons. </DIV>  <DIV> </DIV>  <DIV> In fact in the year and half I lived there I wrote, produced, and performed my own cabaret show, and traveled here to do 3 shows in Cleveland Heights at the small <EM>professional </EM>musical theatre that is Kalliope Stage; a theatre that didn't care about my union status, but only cared that I had talent, and by the way, paid me equity wages to be there, as they do with all their leads, both in town and out of town.</DIV>  <DIV> </DIV>  <DIV>My advice is if you want to work, create it yourself, write your own show, direct your own show, or just gather some of your actor friends (union or not) and create your own company.  (and let me know, I'd love to be apart of it!)</DIV> 
 <DIV> </DIV>  <DIV>And now <EM>I'm</EM> ranting, and I'm sorry if I missed your point, it's just an issue that is close to me because of all the let downs that New York was simply because I'm not a member of AEA.  Seriously though, some of us try really hard to be <EM>professionals</EM> in this business, but if I died tomorrow without that precious card, I know I still did great work while I was alive.  Perhaps while living in a smaller city you should think about dropping your card, even if only for the work if that's all you want.</DIV>  <DIV> </DIV>  <DIV>Thanks.</DIV>  <DIV>Jodi Brinkman</DIV>  <DIV> </DIV>  <DIV>Non-AEA since 1977<BR><BR><B><I>AdMan7601 at aol.com</I></B> wrote: </DIV>  <BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid"><XMETA content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2802" name="GENERATOR"><FONT id=role_document face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>  <DIV>     Before I start, let me
 say that I agree with Mr. Berko's review about the tour of Rent whole heartedly, and also that I love and support non-equity theatre / actors.</DIV>  <DIV> </DIV>  <DIV>     This may be nitpicking and not really relevant, but just to clarify one small point. :</DIV>  <DIV>"The cast members are mainly professional theatre â€œnewbies,â€ recent college grads <U>with little or no Broadway experience</U>." (Berko review)</DIV>  <DIV> </DIV>  <DIV>     The current tour (and all tours after the first national tour) of Rent is entirely non-equity, which means that none of them have had Broadway experience. Now granted that I'm equity and have never had B'way experience; but none of them will untill they join the union. Many in the tour in fact will get their card by transferring to the Broadway company as understudies or actual roles as they open up. And let me say the cast is awesome, they're all extremely qualified and
 definitely Broadway caliber, but to quote AEA's mantra, "If it's not Equity, it's not Broadway". Does that mean that they're not professional? No, they are professional actors, just not unionized professionals. Broadway as fact is all union. Producers need to stop telling audiences they're seeing a Broadway show on tour when they're not.. </DIV>  <DIV> </DIV>  <DIV>     My actual point (and my attempt to get to it coheseively failed), is that I feel that we  in Cleveland, as a community need to support our Equity actors as well. We need to be able to get more contracts into more theatres so that the AEA actors can work. You'll have several non-eq actors doing 7-8 shows a year whereas an equity actor will be lucky to do one or two. We shouldn't be outcast just because we've opted to join the actors union. What's the big deal about a "Community" Theatre hiring on an equity actor or two when we're part of that same community also. We shouldn't have to
 be asked by the director to work under the table if we want to work. Even some of the theatres that do have contracts don't support our members, they cast shows out of New York or Chicago without even having an EPA in Cleveland, or precasting the equity roles.</DIV>  <DIV> </DIV>  <DIV>    There are many theatres doing great work trying to get more contracts; The Beck, Porthouse, etc..., but we as a community need to get more people to come see the shows at the theatres, so the theatres can make more money and use some of it to acquire more contracts. It shouldn't be a battle of Equity against Non-equity, but a battle of <U>Actors </U>against the Community to support us so we can all work. Our acting community has to demand more support, just as our small faction of the equity community has to demand our rights.</DIV>  <DIV> </DIV>  <DIV>    If you've gotten this far into my "rant", thanks for reading this; these are just my
 opinions. It's kind of frustrating that in the 9 months I lived in NYC I did two off-b'way shows and a concert at the largest US cathedral (St. John, Divine) with my union card, and I move back to Cleveland and I'll be lucky if I do one show this year.</DIV>  <DIV> </DIV>  <DIV>All the best,   <DIV> </DIV>  <DIV><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"><B>Adam Kern<BR>AEA<BR><A href="http://www.adam-kern.com/" target=_blank><FONT color=#003399>www.adam-kern.com</FONT></A></B></FONT></DIV></DIV></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><p>
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