New Talks Planned on 99-Seat Theater Plan

The two sides in the protracted dispute over Actors’ Equity’s new 99-Seat Theater Plan will meet for further talks and possible negotiations in late October, several weeks after the controversial plan is scheduled to take effect next Monday.

Equity initiated the new round of talks Friday, in a conversation between the union’s attorney, Leo Geffner, and Jerome Birn, who represents 15 Equity members who have sued the union over the plan. The offer came one day after U.S. District Court Judge Terry Hatter Jr. urged the two sides to settle their differences out of court.

Alan Eisenberg, the New York-based executive secretary of Equity, will participate in the talks, which are likely to begin Oct. 25, said Geffner. Eisenberg has never met with opponents of the plan in Los Angeles.

The talks could lead to “collective bargaining with ATLAS (Associated Theatres of Los Angeles, an organization of smaller theater producers),” said Geffner. “Or we could meet with members of ATLAS on an informal basis” for discussions of the union plan and a competing plan that ATLAS has offered. “We’re not setting a fixed agenda.” If any agreement is reached, “it would have to go back to the (national Equity) council.”

Geffner emphasized that “the plan goes into effect on Oct. 3. There has been no change in policy yet.” He declined to say what action, if any, would be taken against Equity members who perform in productions that open after Sunday outside the auspices of the union plan.

The first production to run that risk was going to be an East-West Players staging of “The Fantasticks.” But Thursday, East-West changed the show’s official opening date from Oct. 5 to Sunday.

Meanwhile, Maria Gobetti, speaking for the actors and theater operators who have sued the union, said Friday that they “are serious about going to trial” and will begin to subpoena union records today.

“Fine--we’ll subpoena their records, too,” declared Geffner.