Pro-Waiver Forces Hit Equity Plan

In a week’s time, the Western Advisory Board of Actors’ Equity, the stage actors’ union, has turned the Los Angeles theater community upside down.

Last Monday, the board mailed its 8,000 area members a referendum outlining and recommending approval of a proposed new “Actors’ 99-Seat Theater Plan” that could reinstate union regulation in the region’s free-wheeling smaller theaters. It has split the union wide open and pitted members against each other. The proposal could radically restructure the 16-year-old Equity Waiver Plan (whereby the actors’ union “waived” certain rules, but not its jurisdiction, in theaters of 99 seats or fewer).

The new plan, modeled along the lines of New York’s highly structured showcase code, has enraged Equity Waiver theater operators and many actors who work in Waiver. They see it as too restrictive, complex and costly to implement. Many believe it will mean the end of smaller theater in Los Angeles. Most of all, opponents of the proposal are angered at the way Equity has gone about trying to get it approved.

Waiver theater operators say they feel betrayed by promises of a series of meetings that never took place and Equity officials’ disregard of a motion (approved by a majority of the members at a meeting in September 1986) that called for opposing points of view to be included in a referendum.

Equity officials insisted last week that the plan is workable, that the three meetings they had in the winter of 1986-87 with the Waiver operators’ committee were sufficient for drawing up the new proposal, and that there were no breaches of procedure or faith with the membership. (“Lots of membership resolutions are ignored,” said Edward Weston, Equity’s regional director.) But such protestations appear only to have sharpened the pro-Waiver forces’ determination to mobilize.

On Friday, about 250 pro-Waiver picketers marched outside Equity offices in Hollywood from 1 to 3 p.m. At noon Saturday, a smaller group met at the Las Palmas Theatre to share information and network on further action. (The deadline for returning referendum ballots is Sunday.)

“It’s essential that forward motion be stopped,” said actor Christopher Reeve, who stopped by the Las Palmas on his way to a “Summer and Smoke” matinee at the Ahmanson. “Section Five of the bylaws says, ‘No referendum may be put forward without expressing different points of view.’ ”

Reeve said: “The New York-based formula doesn’t work here. In L.A., Equity Waiver is theater. And it’s clear the operators are willing to talk to Equity.”

The Odyssey Theatre’s Ron Sossi reiterated that promises Equity had made to the theater operators 18 months ago about “a series” of meetings were ignored. “Whenever phone calls were made, they said they were still discussing it: ‘When we finish checking the legal ramifications, we’ll call another meeting.’

“They know this (new proposal) cannot work. At the Odyssey, we’d have to raise $125,000 to $150,000 a year to pay actors. We don’t know how to raise $20,000. In 19 years , only one show has made (the $4,200 per week claimed, in Equity’s assessment of pay schedules, to be the usual take). That was ‘Kvetch,’ and only for a few weeks. The majority of operators voted that there should be changes: work considerations, pay plans. Our problem is procedural. They agreed to talk. The talk didn’t happen.”

Said actor-director Allan Miller: “My wife, Laura Zucker, and I started the Back Alley (Waiver theater) out of our own pockets. (With this plan), forget 10- to 15-character plays. It’s two characters, no set. Every (grant) proposal Laura has written in the last two years has been to augment actors’ salaries. But (Equity) won’t listen. They won’t discuss.”

There were plenty of suggestions for counteracting Equity’s action. Said Gary Grossman, author of the 1986 opposing-viewpoints motion: “Call 10 friends, have them call 10 friends and have them call 10 friends. The problem is a lack of knowledge. This referendum looks cool. There’s even a hint that they’ve worked it out with the operators.” And, he added, “a not-signed ballot is a vote against us.”

Later Saturday evening, pro-Waiver activists passed out flyers at the Music Center, site of the “Hollywood Salute to Broadway” AIDS benefit. Another distribution of flyers is scheduled tonight at the Sheraton Grande Hotel, for guests to the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards.)

Said director Ron Link (who staged “Shakers” at the Odyssey): “The reason I’m angry is I’ve seen (the showcase code) ruin New York theater. What we’ve got to do is publicize this.”

The operators claim that many actors have a poor understanding of the ramifications of the new plan and because the informational meeting had to be called so quickly, many did not hear about it. One New York actor thought his ballot “looked good” when it arrived and just happened to hear of the meeting from friends. Several people lobbied for coverage on “Entertainment Tonight.” (KCBS-TV Channel 2’s coverage of Friday’s picketing lumped their cause with those of the other striking entertainment unions.)

A major concern of pro-Waiver forces is that a majority of the 8,000 local members of Equity are not involved in Waiver and are being asked to make a decision that will affect the minority among them that is. Of that 8,000, Grossman said, “we need 3,000 to 4,000 before we even get close. Two hundred-fifty pickets Friday was great, but not astounding. We need astounding.”

An information packet has gone into all Waiver theaters. An attorney has volunteered her services. Another picket protest is planned for 1 p.m. Tuesday in front of Equity offices at 6430 Sunset Blvd. And another general meeting will take place at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Las Palmas Theatre, 1642 N. Las Palmas Ave., Hollywood.

Times Theater Writer Sylvie Drake contributed to this article.