Actors’ Equity Plan Wins Approval; Draws Criticism

The new Actors’ 99-Seat Theatre Plan, designed to restructure the 16-year-old Equity Waiver Plan (whereby Actors Equity Assn., the actors’ union, “waives” certain rules in theaters with fewer than 100 seats), was approved Monday by a vote of 1,684 in favor and 1,023 opposed.

Of about 8,000 ballots mailed to Los Angeles area union members on March 21, a total of 2,896 were returned by Sunday’s deadline, with 172 found invalid. Ballots were counted in the Equity offices Monday in the presence of two invited observers from the Equity Waiver Theatre Operators Committee, a group strongly opposed to the new plan.

The new Actors’ 99-seat Theatre Plan requires a tiered payment for actors per performance ($14 to $5) and institutes numerous rules governing casting procedures, insurance, safe and sanitary conditions, complimentary tickets, rehearsal and performance schedules and financial accountability on the part of producers.

Edward Weston, Equity’s Western Regional Director, Tuesday issued the following statement:

“It’s a time for members to join together, accept the will of the majority and give the new plan a chance to operate. The plight of actors is not understood sympathetically by our government or the public, and seldom even by their own families. We should not be fighting each other but uniting to achieve greater goals.”

There is a good chance, however, that unity will not be immediately forthcoming. The new plan, which goes into effect Oct. 3, will affect about 170 Equity-approved Waiver spaces, and many Waiver theater operators have said that the new restrictions could put them out of business.

“Equity has acted as if we were General Motors and they were representing the auto workers,” said Tom Ormeny of the Waiver Victory Theatre in Burbank. “If General Motors were to negotiate concessions from its workers and then give its executives bonuses, the union would have a strong case. But no one in Waiver is getting rich. We were dating, and then we were raped.”

Lev Mailer of Equity’s Western Advisory Board insisted that Equity wants only to make the plan work to everyone’s advantage.

“I am going to suggest that we immediately hold informational meetings with our members, including the Waiver theater operators who are members of Equity,” Mailer said. “It would be my intention, within the year, to make whatever corrections are necessary if we feel that (the new plan) is crippling the community. We want it to succeed.”

But Ron Sossi, an Equity member who operates the Waiver Odyssey Theatre complex was unconvinced: “It’ll be too late. There’s no way we can even try the plan.”

As for Mailer’s assertion that individual negotiation with theater operators will be possible even before signing, Sossi replied, “It’s the old divide and conquer thing. They said they would confer with us last winter and they didn’t.

“I find it hard to trust.”

“(The new plan) is incomplete,” said Steven Markus, co-producer of a number of Pacific Theatre Ensemble Waiver shows, “but it’s necessary. You put the loans out to get the business started. Now the volume of business is tremendous, and it’s time to take the next step. Let’s not break the bank, but let’s have car fare.”

Markus said the new rules will create a problem for large-cast productions, “but if we impose this on ourselves, we’ll find a way to make it work. It’s time to challenge ourselves. If the theater business isn’t destined to survive, that would be a terrible shame. But it shouldn’t have to survive solely on the backs of the actors.”

“As a producer, I can recognize the problems,” said Anthony Grumbach, another Pacific Theatre Ensemble member. “I co-produced ‘June Second’ with 10 people in the cast, and I wouldn’t deny this would make it more difficult. But as an actor, I was in one production--not PTE--with a $30,000 budget, and the actors didn’t get a dime.”

The Equity Waiver Theatre Operators Committee (consisting of about 40 people, many of whom are also Equity members) is meeting Thursday at 11 a.m. to consider the options.

Many theater operators are convinced that there was a violation of union procedure, both in the manner in which Equity mailed out the referendum and in that the proposal did not contain opposing viewpoints. They say they also plan to look into other aspects of the legality of the new agreement.