Latest in Actors’ Equity Association

Calling President Donald Trump’s proposed elimination of the National Endowment for the Arts “short-sighted at best,” Actors’ Equity Association has vowed to continue fighting what has become an annual Trump tradition. "For the third consecutive year, the Trump administration's budget has proposed the elimination of…

Update with League statement Actors' Equity Association and Broadway producers have reached what Equity is calling a “historic” agreement on a profit-sharing contract model for union members participating in early stage production development. With the agreement, Equity has removed the Broadway League, the producers…

An old Broadway tradition has a brand new name: The “Gypsy Robe,” part of an opening night ceremony dating back to 1950, will now be called the “Legacy Robe.” The name change, prompted by sensitivities to the term “gypsy,” was announced today by Actors’ Equity Association. Equity members chose the new name through a…

Refresh for latest… As organized labor was left reeling from today’s Supreme Court’s decision in Janus v. AFSCME that public service employees don’t have to pay union fees, Hollywood guilds planted a flag of defiance. In the high court’s second 5-4 decision along party lines in two days, following Monday’s upholding o…

Actors’ Equity thinks Broadway’s choruses and ensemble casts should be eligible for Tony Awards, and is now actively campaigning for just that. A petition on a new website called EveryoneOnStage.com is aiming for a chorus of support. The Equity Association’s campaign mission is to convince the Broadway League and the…

Actors’ Equity Association today named Come From Away, A Doll's House, Part 2 and Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 as co-recipients of the union’s Extraordinary Excellence in Diversity on Broadway Award for the 2016-17 season. Chosen by Equity's National Equal Employment Opportunity Committee, the award…

Tyler Perry has union troubles. His stage play Madea On The Run is touring the country, but SAG-AFTRA and Actors’ Equity are telling their members not to work on the show or face disciplinary action. In the play, Madea is in trouble with the authorities and on the run from the law. Members of Equity and SAG-AFTRA who…

Stage actors in Los Angeles have voted overwhelmingly against a proposal that would require small-theater producers to pay them at least minimum wage. Local members of Actors’ Equity Association voted nearly 2-to-1 against the pay raise — 2,046 to 1,075 — but a union official noted that the vote is "only advisory" to…

EXCLUSIVE: Former SAG President Ed Asner is urging stage actors to vote no on Actors’ Equity's proposal to scrap L.A.’s 99-seat theater waiver. Balloting on the plan begins today, with an Equity Council vote slated for April 21. The proposed change would require small theater companies to pay actors minimum wage…

Armed with picket signs and the support of such recognizable stars as Tim Robbins and Helen Mirren, some 350 people marched Monday afternoon a mile-long route to the North Hollywood office of the Actors’ Equity Association to protest the union’s proposal that would require small theaters to pay actors the minimum wage…

The high-profile union actors have lent their support to a rally and march slated for Monday afternoon to protest a plan by Actors’ Equity that would force L.A.’s 99-seat theaters to pay actors a minimum wage. The proposal, announced earlier this year, has spawned headlines and hollering from the Los Angeles Times to…