Actors’ contract expires, Broadway talks continue

NEW YORK -- Although the deadline has passed, negotiations on a new contract between the actors’ union and Broadway theater producers are continuing, both sides said Monday.

The contract between Actors’ Equity Assn. and the Broadway League, which represents both producers and theater owners, expired at midnight Sunday.

“The talks remain productive and both parties are confident a fair and equitable contract will be reached,” both sides said in a joint statement, while declining to talk about specific issues. The contract covers not only Broadway but touring productions as well.

Neither side wants a repeat of last November’s stagehands strike, a walkout that kept more than two dozen Broadway shows dark for 19 days and cost producers and the city millions of dollars in lost revenue.

Besides such topics as pension and health care benefits, one subject sure to be discussed is the experimental touring program started after the last contract talks in 2004. It allows for different levels of pay for different kinds of tours.

The question of safety most likely will come up too, what with larger, more elaborate settings that often use raked stages, elevators, flying, trap doors and pyrotechnics.