Endangered Actors

In Calendar’s profile of Joe Stern (“Hometown Boy Makes Waves,” by Richard Stayton, Jan. 9), I was struck by his concern for the plight of actors, referring to them as “an endangered species.” His concern has motivated him to return to L.A. and gather a group of outstanding actors to put on “The Tavern” at his Matrix Theatre. But I couldn’t help but notice that he doesn’t seem to care enough to pay them!

He doesn’t seem to realize that the rank exploitation of actors in the L.A. theater community is one of the major factors contributing to their present endangered status. One of the most destructive things that happened to actors here was when Actors’ Equity Assn., the union that is supposed to protect them and to which they pay dues for this protection, sanctioned the 99-seat Equity Waiver Plan, which allows theaters to employ actors but not pay them.

All the actors I know and care about have paid very heavy dues to reach a point of professionalism and self-esteem that has earned us the right to be paid for what we do. Twenty years ago, when I was first starting out, I hated the idea of working for nothing, but I did it because at that stage of my career it was appropriate. But now? Is it still appropriate? I don’t think so. The accepted and agreed-upon notion that actors must subsidize themselves by working in television in order to be able to work in the theater for free is a distorted and corrupt idea. It may be good for producers, but it can only speed actors toward extinction.

If Stern really loved actors as much as he claims to, he could demonstrate it by finding a way to pay them.

DIMITRA ARLYS

Los Angeles