#Actors&039; Equity

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There’s Power in a Union

The United Auto Workers has begun a series of targeted strikes which may expand to most or all of its 145,000 members walking off the job. The Writers Guild of America has been on strike since May, disrupting pretty much any show with a script. The strike has disrupted everything from the Emmys® to The Drew Barrymore Show. Even if the shows had scripts, who would learn the lines? The Screen…

[the-baz]

Basil Rathbone: Union Man!

Basil Rathbone: Union Man!

Throughout his career, Basil Rathbone was active in the Actor’s Equity Association, the union that represents the interests of stage actors. The Actor’s Equity Association is governed by its own members through an elected Council. In 1948 Rathbone was elected Vice President of the association’s Council. The following year he was elected to serve as recording secretary.

Today’s post, however,…

[stllimelight]

Take Ten with John Flack

Take Ten with John Flack

By Lynn Venhaus Managing Editor One of the most versatile and lauded actors in St. Louis, John Flack is spending his summer working at what he loves, adding another comedy, drama and musical to his extensive repertoire.

He has been a member of Actors’ Equity, for 30 years, “right here in St. Louis,” and is grateful to be working in the profession.

“But my real dream is to continue to be…

[mystlnewsonline]

NEW YORK | Broadway actors' union strikes over developmental labs

NEW YORK | Broadway actors’ union strikes over developmental labs

NEW YORK —January 07, 2019— The labor union representing theatrical performers is demanding that its members no longer participate in any developmental stage work with commercial producers, putting Broadway’s pipeline of new musicals and plays under threat.

Actors’ Equity, which represents more than 51,000 actors and stage managers nationwide, declared the strike Monday after two years of…

[larryland]

Need to escape from your feuding family after Thanksgiving? Head over to the Ten Broeck Mansion and spend a few hours with the backstabbing, grasping and ambitious Hubbard family in Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes. Your family may look a whole lot saner by comparison!

If, like me, you are fully sated with Christmas carols, nutcrackers and visits to Santaland, NorthEast Theatre Ensemble has something completely different for you — a site-specific production of Hellman’s 1939 classic that captures the story of a Southern family’s selfish pursuit of the American Dream. It ends up destroying them, and those they love.

Not only is the central action of the play presented in intimate proximity, but servants listen at the doors and voices from other rooms drift in. “We really want people who come to see and be a part of this story,” NETE Artistic Director Janet Hurley Kimlicko explained. “In the Mansion the play becomes an intimate, even voyeuristic experience.”

“It wasn’t until I saw the photos taken at our first full dress rehearsal that I realized how amazing this looks,” said Tony Pallone, the actor playing Horace Giddens. “This isn’t a set. It’s a real house.”

“We were able to pull costumes from many different locations, and then Shae Fitzgerald pulled everything together to make everyone look amazing,” Kimlicko added. “And she brought in her sister Bonnie, a theatre professional from Boston, to do the hair. It really completes the look.”

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This is the fifth production for the two-year-old company. “After staging a few shows at an area theater, we wanted to branch out,” Kimlicko said. As it happened, she had crossed professional paths frequently with director Krysta Dennis, who had just joined the board of the Albany County Historical Society based at the Ten Broeck Mansion. Kimlicko had been involved with Dennis’ production of Votes for Women at the Mansion last March, and they both agreed The Little Foxes would be a perfect fit for the space.

“When the idea of staging The Little Foxes came up I thought, who do I want to direct? Wait, I know!“ Kimlicko exclaimed. “So I approached Krysta. We are very much on the same page and work very well together.”

A graduate of Colonie Central High School, Dr. Dennis holds her BA and MA in French and theatre from the University of Notre Dame; two doctorates in drama, one from the Sorbonne in Paris and one from the University of Kent in the UK; and a Diplome de Comedien in physical theatre from the Ecole Internationale de Theatre Jacques Lecoq. She is a lecturer in Creative Arts at Siena College and has been busy with many projects in the Capital Region.

Once America’s premiere — and at times only — professionally-produced female playwright, Hellman’s work is not produced as frequently nowadays.

“Lillian Hellman was way ahead of her time, writing with a sensibility that is entirely modern,” Pallone explained. “She offers a removed perspective on what was going on in her lifetime — with enough detachment to comment on it, and enough attachment to it to make it real.”

“The text is amazing, horrifying, revealing. The timeliness of the misogyny is devastating,” Kimlicko added. “There are so many layers to every character in this production; we spent hours unpeeling each person’s motivations.”

“The power dynamics in the play intrigue me as an actor,” Pallone added. “And there are still families doing the same things today. This is in no way light entertainment.”

“Krysta brought the issue of race more to the fore,” Kimlicko said. “In the script, the servants are very much in the background. Krysta didn’t give them more lines, but used the space to allow them to be seen going about their work — while keeping tabs on the family machinations through open doors.”

Following the November 19 matinee, there was a well-received panel discussion of race and servitude in the context of both the production’s turn-of-the-century setting and today. The panel featured Marisa Williamson, Matthew Kirk, Mary Liz Stewart, Paul Stewart, and Mike Lake.

Equity actors Pallone and Kimlicko are appearing in The Little Foxes under the auspices of Actors’ Equity Association’s Members’ Project Code (MPC). “This special contract is designed for AEA actors who want to do a showcase of their work,” Pallone explained. “A group of local Equity actors formed the Upstate Equity Actors Alliance (UEAA) a few years ago to explore our options as working professionals. We became an official liaison to the New York City headquarters, which allows us to use the MPC to showcase our work in productions like this. This wasn’t possible before UEAA.”

The MPC gives professional actors the option to agree to work for less money than a standard Equity contract would dictate — or even for no money at all. But “NorthEast Theatre Ensemble is committed to paying our artists,” Kimlicko said. “I don’t buy into this BS that artists should work just for the joy of being on the stage. Too many people work very, very hard for nothing. We value our artists and their time. I am proud to say that, in every show, I have been able to compensate our people at least something.”

“This is a wonderful show and a wonderful creative group working in a unique space,” added Pallone. “I am honored to be part of The Little Foxes.”

NorthEast Theatre Ensemble presents The Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman, directed by Dr. Krysta A. Dennis, at the Ten Broeck Mansion November 17-25, 2017. Assistant Director Suzanna Bornn; costume design by Shae Fitzgerald. Cast: Marquis Heath as Cal; Karen Christina Jones as Addie; Parker Cross as Oscar Hubbard; Steven O’Connor as Ben Hubbard; Patrick Quinn as Mr. Marshall, Amy L. Kerr as Regina Giddens; Molly Waters as Alexandra Giddens; Nick Muscatiello as Leo Hubbard; Janet Hurley Kimlicko as Birdie; and Tony Pallone as Horace Giddens.

Performances Fridays at 7:30 pm, Saturdays at 2:00 & 7:30 pm, and Sundays at 3 pm at the Ten Broeck Mansion, 9 Ten Broeck Place in Albany, NY. Performance runs approximately 2.5 hours, with one intermission. Tickets $20, Students/Seniors $12. Seating is limited; patrons without tickets or reservations are not guaranteed seating. For further information, call 518-526-9170, e-mail northeasttheatreensemble@gmail.com or visit http://sbornn.wixsite.com/nete.

Ticket link: https://www.artful.ly/store/events/13799

Dysfunction at Its Finest: NorthEast Theatre Ensemble Brings “The Little Foxes” to the Ten Broeck Mansion Need to escape from your feuding family after Thanksgiving? Head over to the Ten Broeck Mansion and spend a few hours with the backstabbing, grasping and ambitious Hubbard family in Lillian Hellman’s…

[newyorktheater]

Young Jean Lee

Playwright Young Jean Lee wrote an Op-Ed this week about the advantages of affirmative action in education and diversity in the theater. Looking at some of the faces below of the people who made theater news this week helps provide the proof — performer Billy Porter delivering the LGBTQ State of the Union; Qui Nguyen announcing a sequel to his “Vietgone”; Kenny Leon directing Shakespeare and Kristoffer Diaz writing the book for the stage musical Hercules, both in Central Park; a new trophy for Yazbek (David) and a new role for Yazbeck (Tony), both descended from Lebanese immigrants.    It’s bracing then to realize that it’s the theater that popularized blackface; for nearly a century the minstrel show was the most popular stage entertainment in America, and, as recent events make clear, it remains part of our cultural DNA. (See my Blackface on Stage: The Complicated History of Minstrel Shows.)

Off Broadway Week through February 24th.

The Week in New York Theater Reviews and Previews

  The Trial of the Catonsville Nine

More than half a century has passed since the Berrigan brothers, both of them priests, along with seven other Catholic activists, broke the law to protest the Vietnam War… The Trial of the Catonsville Nine” ran on Broadway for 29 performances in June, 1971, with a 16-member cast including Sam Waterston and James Woods… Now, the Transport Group is presenting what it calls a radical re-imagining of the playWhat’s changed most drastically is the staging. In place of 16 actors, there are now only three who juggle all the characters. All three of the performers are Asian-American

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Talking Band’s City of No Illusions

“City of No Illusions” (the title a nickname for Buffalo, since the Blizzard of 1977), which Talking Band artistic director Paul Zimet has both written and directed.  Running from February 8 to 24th at La MaMa, the play explores this connection between death and immigration in scenes that alternate between serious, satirical and surreal. The cast includes young performers who are themselves immigrants portraying the characters who are immigrants or refugees.

The Week in New York Theater News

The Band’s Visit album wins the Grammy for best musical theater album. Watch songs from all the nominees at Broadway at the Grammys.

Dean and I went up and accepted the awards but I’d like to shout out to the incredible musicians who are at the heart of the album- George Abud, Ossama Farouk, Harvey Valdes, Garo Yellin, Sam Sadigursky,Alex Eckhardt, Phil Mayer, Jeff Theiss, and MD Andrea Grody. Thank You Folks! https://t.co/jy0LMN6tBP

— David Yazbek (@DavidYazbek) February 10, 2019

Thirty-three-day #NotaLabRat strike by Actors Equity is over, with the Broadway League agreeing to profit sharing and higher wages.

  Anastasia will end its Broadway run on March 31, having played 808 regular and 34 preview performances. It’s already on tour internationally, with more tours planned.

Laura Benanti will extend her run by five months in Lincoln Center’s My Fair Lady, through July 7.

Congratulations to Edmund Donovan, winner of the Clive Barnes Award in Theater, for his role in Lewiston/Clarkston

Shakespeare

Kenny Leon

Daniel Sullivan

Al Menken

Kristoffer Diaz

Lear deBessonet

New Shakespeare in the Park summer season at the Delacorte:

Much Ado About Nothing, directed by Kenny Leon May 21 – June 23

Coriolanus, directed by Daniel Sullivan, July 16 – Aug 11

Hercules, music by Al Menken, book by Kristoffer Diaz, directed by Lear deBessonet Aug 31 – Sep 8

Thrilled that this is finally announced.

Beyond thrilled to finally officially get to play on the @PublicTheaterNY stage. Especially THIS Public Theater stage.

I love you, New York City. https://t.co/tlIKVJTxbI

— Kristoffer Diaz (@kristofferdiaz) February 6, 2019

    Florian Zeller

Jonathan Pryce

Eileen Atkins

Qui Nguyen

May Adrales

Jeff Augustin

MTC’s 2019-2020 season adds three new plays:

1. The Height of the Storm by Florian Zeller starring Jonathan Pryce and Eileen Atkins, opening September 24

2. Poor Yella Rednecks by Qui Nguyen (Vietgone), directed by May Adrales, opening June 2, 2020

3. The New Englanders by Jeff Augustin, directed by Saheem Ali, opening October 2, 2019

Lincoln Center appoints Henry Timms its new president andCEO. Timms currently heads the 92nd Street Y and came up with the idea for #GivingTuesday. His new  job begins in May.

Tony Yazbeck et al to star in Marc Blitzstein’s The Cradle Will Rock, March 21 – May 19 at Classic Stage Company. “The 1937 premiere of this story of American class tension directed by Orson Welles was famously shut down on the eve of opening night by federal authorities”

Joining Alex Brightman and Sophia Anne Caruso in the cast of Beetlejuice on Broadway : Rob McClure, Kerry Butler, Leslie Kritzer, Kelvin Moon Loh, Adam Dannheisser and more! Opens April 25 at Winter Garden

Joining the previously announced principal cast of Reeve Carney, André De Shields, Amber Gray, Eva Noblezada, and Patrick Page in Hadestown will be Jewelle Blackman, Yvette Gonzalez-Nacer, and Kay Trinidad as the Fates. The chorus of Workers will be played by Afra Hines,Timothy Hughes, John Krause, Kimberly Marable, and Ahmad Simmons. The full cast will also include swings Malcolm Armwood, T. Oliver Reid, Jessie Shelton, and Khaila Wilcoxon.

Christopher Burney

Johanna Pfaelzer

Christopher Burney has been appointed the new artistic director of New York Stage and Film (responsible for Powerhouse season every summer at Vassar) Currently artistic producer at Second Stage, he succeeds Johanna Pfaelzer, who’s been named new artistic director of Berkeley Rep.

The Davenport Theater closed in January after five years. Ken Davenport, the producer who said he named the theater after his grandfather, has told people in the industry that he lost his lease.“It will not be a theater,”  a rep of the landlord told Philip Boro in Broadway Journal. “Maybe a gym.”

Congratulations to Urban Assembly School for the Performing Arts, &snfAnijah. Lezama of Brooklyn, Kelly Lukito of Flushing, local recipients of grants/scholarships from The American Theatre Wing’s Andrew Lloyd Webber Initiative.

If you want theater to be totally accessible, you need to look larger: In NYC, “there are 550,000 residents who have difficulty walking. Two-thirds of them live far from an accessible subway station…”https://t.co/jouOjQoDDn

— New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) February 11, 2019

Melissa Errico writing about Open Table, a musical about a family restaurant that she has been spending the last five years helping its creative team Adam Gopnik and David Shire put together, and how she realized the show is about New York City. (with a delicious exchange with Stephen Sondheim.)

  We’re here, we’re queer, and we ain’t going nowhere! @theebillyporter delivers the LGBTQ State of the Union on issues facing the #LGBTQ community, triumphs, setbacks, and looking ahead to 2019. 🏳️🌈✊#SOTU #LGBTQSOTU pic.twitter.com/xdubUj26mD

— Logo 🏳️🌈 (@LogoTV) February 5, 2019

  In an opinion piece in the New York Times — “I’m Asian-American: Affirmative Action Worked for Me” — playwright Young Jean Lee (Straight White Men, etc.) talks about her getting into Berkeley because of affirmative action, turned her life around. But she also talks about the theater:

“I’ve seen how increasing diversity can cause a field to flourish. The theater world is in the midst of a golden age of playwriting, and this has coincided with a concerted effort by theaters to diversify their programming. The next step is for theaters to produce more work by playwrights who come from low-income backgrounds, as our field is still dominated by the voices of the middle-to-upper classes. To achieve real diversity, I believe that affirmative action should be a holistic process, as it is at Harvard, encompassing class as well as race.”

  Rest In Peace

Albert Finney, 82, “angry young man” British stage actor, 2-time Tony nominee (Luther, A Day in the Life of Joe Egg), 5-time Oscar nominee (Erin Brockovich, Under the Volcano, Tom Jones, etc.)

Joseph Sirola, 89, actor and Tony-winning producer.

    Anastasia Ending. Hercules Coming to Central Park. Laura Benanti Continuing. Diversity vs. Blackface on Stage. #Stageworthy News of the Week Playwright Young Jean Lee wrote an Op-Ed this week about the advantages of affirmative action in education and diversity in the theater.

[fairedelargentsurinternet]

Actors' Equity union members defend Obamacare

Actors' Equity union members defend Obamacare

Seven years after Obamacare made its big debut, the entertainment industry that’s come to rely on it for health care is bracing for the possibility of a final curtain. Among the roughly 51,000 thespians represented by Actors’ Equity, one of the largest labor organizations in the entertainment world, only a fraction work steadily enough to qualify for health care coverage through the union. Before…

[still4hill]

Actors' Equity Endorses Hillary Clinton

Actors’ Equity Endorses Hillary Clinton

Donald Trump may love being in the spotlight, but the people who work under the lights know who will perform best on the world stage and behind the scenes. Hillary Clinton Statement on Actors’ Equity Association Endorsement  Today, after receiving the endorsement of the Actors’ Equity Association, Hillary Clinton issued the following statement. This is the first time the professional stage actors…

[giterdonegossip-blog-blog]

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Ed Asner Tells Union Actors: Just Say No To Equity’s Minimum-Wage Plan

EXCLUSIVE: Ferm'r SAG Presdint Ed Asn'r is urgyun' stage acters ta vote no un Acters’ Ekwitee’s proposal ta scrap L.A.’s 99-seat theet'r waiv'r. Ballotyun' un t'plun cummences today, wit un Ekwitee Council vote slatid fer April 21. T' proposet change would rekwire piddly theet'r cumpnys ta pay ac...

[giterdonegossip-blog-blog]

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Frances Fisher & Jason Alexander Add Big-Name Thesps Supporting March Against Equity’s Minimum-Wage Plan

T' high-profile union acters have lent thar suppert ta a rallee an' march slatid fer Mundie afternoon ta protest a plun by Acters’ Ekwitee at would ferce L.A.’s 99-seat theeters ta pay acters a minimum wage. T' proposal, announcet earli'r thishere year, has spawnet heedlines an' holleryun' fr...