Latest in Actors Equity

Actors' Equity has condemned President Donald Trump's "outrageous" proposal to freeze $110 million in the 2021 budget for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The proposed freeze is part of the $27.4 billion in government programs Trump is trying to stall in his last days…

UPDATED with more statements: A growing chorus of entertainment industry union leaders is condemning Wednesday's attack on the Capitol building by supporters of President Donald Trump – and the politicians who incited the violence. "It took three years, 50 weeks and four dead at the Capitol for far too few Republicans…

SAG-AFTRA and Actors' Equity Association have reached an agreement to end their bitter jurisdictional feud over the taping of live stage presentations. "We are happy to report that SAG-AFTRA and AEA have reached a unanimous agreement with respect to the broadcast and streaming of live performances during the pandemic…

Updated with response from Actors’ Equity. SAG-AFTRA has filed a jurisdictional complaint against Actors’ Equity in their ongoing dispute over the taping of live theatrical presentations. The union filed the complaint and a request for mediation with the Associated Actors and Artistes of America – commonly known as…

The usually fractious SAG-AFTRA national board of directors unanimously has approved a resolution reaffirming the union's jurisdiction over the taping of live theater productions, accusing Actors' Equity Association of taking part in a "surreptitious campaign to encroach upon SAG-AFTRA jurisdiction." The board…

As the long-simmering jurisdictional dispute between Actors' Equity and SAG-AFTRA continues to unfold in public, Equity executive director Mary McColl today disputed SAG-AFTRA's claim that Equity had asked for a "waiver" to represent actors who perform in taped stage presentations during the pandemic – a jurisdiction…

UPDATED with Actors’ Equity response: SAG-AFTRA and Actors' Equity Association are locked in a jurisdictional dispute over the taping of live theatrical presentations. SAG-AFTRA has long held that jurisdiction, but says that it's offered AEA a waiver to help out their fellow actors during the coronavirus shutdown of…

UPDATED with statement from fund’s trustees: Actors' Equity is calling on union trustees of the Equity-League Health Fund to withdraw their support from a plan that will make it more difficult for theatrical actors and stage managers across the country to qualify for health benefits when legitimate theaters…

Sandra Karas, secretary-treasurer of Actors' Equity, was surprised Monday morning when she read The New York Times' article about President Trump's income taxes – and the $70,000 that he reportedly wrote off as a business expense for hair styling in connection with his TV show The Apprentice. "It made me laugh when I…

Actors' Equity has approved the first two theaters to resume performances since the nationwide shuttering of playhouses in March due to the coronavirus pandemic. The theaters, a pair of regional venues in Massachusetts, have agreed to safety protocols that include testing for Equity members and those who come in…

Kate Shindle has been re-elected president of Actors' Equity, the union representing more than 51,000 theatrical actors and stage managers. She was first elected to the post in 2015, having previously served as the union's eastern regional vice president. She made her Broadway debut in Jekyll & Hyde, with other…

Actors' Equity said today that it is "taking steps to become an anti-racist organization." A formal resolution passed by the union's council regarding the Black Lives Matter movement states that Equity "recognizes the impact that systemic racism and white supremacy have had on its own structures, acknowledges its…