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February 11, 2005
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| Park Square Theatre's production of "The Violet Hour" runs through February 12th. Park Square has a contract with Actors Equity Association that allows it to hire union and non-union actors. Artistic Director Richard Cook says the contract gives the theater access to the broad range of talent in the Twin Cities. (Photo courtesy of Park Square Theatre) |
St. Paul, Minn. — Actors Equity Association was chartered as a union in 1913. It's primary aim back then was to protect actors left stranded by touring shows which ventured west from New York City and collapsed. Today, Actors Equity has become the primary means by which theater actors, especially those in the Twin Cities, can eke out a middle class living.
31-year-old Joe Leary, who was cast in Park Square Theatre's latest production of "The Violet Hour," has reached a pivotal point in his acting career. He's decided to join Actor's Equity. There's a number of reasons behind his decision, the most important of which may be his own self image as an actor.
"It sort of validates the career," he says.
Leary is in Equity's membership candidate program. He has to work a total of fifty weeks with theaters and directors that have contracts with the union before he can join. Leary likes being an Equity candidate because it lets him gradually ramp up to Equity status while letting the theater community know he's committed. Leary says there are perks to being an Equity member.
"You're given access to health insurance," he says. "You're given access to pensions, a reliable pay scale, and how you're treated as far as rehearsals are concerned, how many hours you can be called and what not. It just really legitimizes the profession."
But there's a trade-off. Once actors join Equity, they can only work for theaters that have equity contracts. In a non-theater town like Kansas City, there wouldn't be any work. In the theater rich Twin Cities, prospects improve.
Kathryn Lamkey is Central Regional Director for Actors Equity in Chicago. Her area encompasses much of the midwest.
According to Lamkey 41 of the 54 Minnesota theaters with Equity contracts are in the Twin Cities. Given that theater density and the comparatively low cost of living in the Twin Cities, Lamkey says it is possible for union members to make a living, purely as actors.
Possible, but not easy.
Lamkey says usually they have to augment their theater work with commercials, industrial films and teaching jobs. She says there are 416 Equity actors in the metro area alone.
"They like being able to be a part of the community, to have homes, actual houses, which, you know, in New York City for all but the very highest paid of our members, that's not very likely to happen," Lamkey says.
Being an Equity member certainly doesn't guarantee a lavish lifestyle. If you work for a medium sized house such as Penumbra or Illusion Theater, you make approximately $275 to $400 a week. That figure rises to $500 for theaters such as Childrens Theatre Company and Chanhassen Dinner Theater. At the Guthrie Theater, an all union shop, actors make an average of $800 a week.
It's important to note that Equity actors work an average of only 12 weeks a year. There's also a hefty initiation fee and regular dues.
So why join the union?
Many members in the Twin Cities say the health care and pension benefits that are part of a contract are just as important as the pay. And says Kathryn Lamkey.
"Without us, you'd get even less," she says. "Unfortunately or fortunately, most actors would rather act than eat or do anything else. It is such a driven kind of thing that they will, often, in order to do their work, do it for free. And without us, an awful lot of actors are performing for free for very close to for free."
In the world of labor versus management, Actors Equity Association can't exercise the same leverage as say, the United Auto Workers Union. The theater industry is too fragile and Equity members change jobs too often. Kathryn Lamkey believes Equity's primary mission is to create work for its members by working hand in hand with theaters.
"We, in a sense, have to organize the employers, and get them interested in wanting to employ our members," she says.
Nationally, Actors Equity offers 17 different kinds of contracts to theaters and producers. It will also fine tune a contract to suit each theater's individual needs.
Park Square Theatre in St. Paul has what's called a "Small Professional Theater" contract, which allows it to employ both union and non union actors. It's the most prevalent Equity contract in the local theater scene. Artistic Director Richard Cook says it gives Park Square great flexibility.
"The real objective is an artistic one, because what we really want to be able to do is have access to the whole range of talent in the Twin Cities, which is wondrous," he says.
Many theaters simply can't afford to sign with Equity. That's partly because of the required health care and pension contributions. But Richard Cook says the fact that Park Square's an Equity theater sends an important signal to actors.
"It's part of the reputation building," he says. "It's part of the, yes indeed this is truly a professional environment. We do care about you as artists and we care about your profession, whether you're in or out of the union."
Cook however doubts that audiences pay attention to a theater's Equity status.
"If they're entertained and they're comfortable and they think you're great, I don't know that they care too much," he says. "But I think it can matter a good deal among the artists."
One person who has a unique perspective on Actors Equity is Zach Curtis. Curtis is founder of Fifty Foot Penguin Theater in Minneapolis. He's also an actor who's had an on-and-off relationship with the union. Curtis joined Equity in 2000 while working in a show at Illusion Theater in Minneapolis. Things were good for a while, Curtis says, but then times got tough.
"I finally ended up dropping out because there was a point where I realized I couldn't do any of the small independent shows I was doing up until then, I couldn't work on them in any way because we couldn't afford, I could afford, as the producer of Fifty Foot Penguin Theater, to pay myself to be in my own shows," he says.
Curtis ended up rejoining Equity when he was asked to be in a production at the Guthrie Theater.
Curtis believes Equity's presence in the Twin Cities is healthy for both actors and theater organizations. He wishes the union could come up with something that allows smaller, more experimental theaters with bare bones budgets to hire Equity actors. He notes that Equity now has a contract with the Minnesota Fringe Festival.
"They worked out a deal that you pay for rehearses, you pay for shows, but it's of a much smaller level," he says. "It's something that I wish they could do for small theaters year round."
The future of Actor's Equity in the Twin Cities is tied to the health of the local theater scene and ongoing support from foundations, corporations, and audiences. It also depends on the economy. If ancillary employment for actors, such as jobs in commercials or industrial films dry up, actors may have to leave the area to get work, or get out of acting entirely.
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