{"id":511848,"date":"2022-11-18T03:15:42","date_gmt":"2022-11-18T00:15:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/actors-equity-members-rally-for-better-understudy-coverage-sick-leave-on-broadway\/"},"modified":"2022-11-18T03:15:42","modified_gmt":"2022-11-18T00:15:42","slug":"actors-equity-members-rally-for-better-understudy-coverage-sick-leave-on-broadway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/actors-equity-members-rally-for-better-understudy-coverage-sick-leave-on-broadway\/","title":{"rendered":"#Actors\u2019 Equity Members Rally for Better Understudy Coverage, Sick Leave on Broadway"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a27143a5ef2a\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a27143a5ef2a\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/actors-equity-members-rally-for-better-understudy-coverage-sick-leave-on-broadway\/#Actors_Equity_Members_Rally_for_Better_Understudy_Coverage_Sick_Leave_on_Broadway\" >Actors\u2019 Equity Members Rally for Better Understudy Coverage, Sick Leave on Broadway<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Actors_Equity_Members_Rally_for_Better_Understudy_Coverage_Sick_Leave_on_Broadway\"><\/span>Actors\u2019 Equity Members Rally for Better Understudy Coverage, Sick Leave on Broadway<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    Members of Actors\u2019 Equity gathered in Times Square Thursday to rally for new protections in their Broadway contract.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    Of particular issue was the need for more understudies and swings on Broadway productions. The demand on these actors has always been high, but has recently been exacerbated by the pandemic, as actors have been thrown into roles they do not know to cover for COVID-19 cases in the cast.\u00a0The pandemic also caused many members to rethink industry norms and push for a better work-life balance and safeguards within the industry.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    Speaking at the rally, Maria Briggs, a swing and understudy on <em>The Music Man<\/em>, said she covers 11 tracks (or roles) in the musical, but has also been on all ensemble roles in the show, since she\u2019s the show\u2019s dance captain and knows the parts. She\u2019s hoping for better understudy coverage on productions, as well as better compensation correlated to the number of tracks that are covered.\u00a0She receives a stipend of about $116 per week for covering all the roles, on top of her base salary. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    \u201cYou don\u2019t see the pressure that we are under daily, hourly, by the minute, because you only see the same grosses that come in weekly, while we bend over backwards without extra compensation,\u201d Briggs said to the crowd.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    \u201cI\u2019ve heard numerous times from many people, even my fellow castmates, \u2018I could never do what you do \u2026 we\u2019re at the point of destroying the swing morale,\u201d Briggs added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    Actors\u2019 Equity and the Broadway League have been negotiating the now-expired contract since September. These negotiations are specific to the union\u2019s Broadway productions, as well as sit-down runs in cities, and not to its touring productions, which have been included in the past, but are now being spun off into a new contract.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    In addition to asking for more understudies and swings on productions, Actors\u2019 Equity is looking for better ventilation in the theaters, particularly in backstage areas, which can be cramped and susceptible to mold due to being housed in old buildings; limits on 10 out of 12 technical rehearsals (a practice that occurs the week before opening in which actors and stage managers are scheduled for 10 hours of work and two hours of break time in a day) and five-day rehearsal weeks rather than six, before a show starts previews.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    Judy Kuhn, a four-time Tony Award nominated actor in attendance, said the demands on understudies and other performers was one of the reasons she came out to the rally.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    \u201cWhen theaters reopened again, what was being asked of performers and stage managers and understudies was out of control. People love to write about the heroics of people being thrown on to a role that they\u2019ve never rehearsed or officially understudied,\u201d Kuhn told <em>The Hollywood Reporter<\/em>. \u201cThat\u2019s a nice story, but that shouldn\u2019t be h<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>ening. The pressure on actors to go on no matter what is really inhumane.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    Kuhn added that she believes scheduling around 10 out of 12s, as well as the demands around back-to-back shows around the holidays also needs to be rethought.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    The union is also seeking greater paid sick leave for its actors and stage managers. As it stands, actors and stage managers above a certain salary threshold are not paid for performances they miss due to non-COVID-19-related illness. In the most recent contract, this applied to actors who made more than $6,000 per week. Members who earn less than that have a cap on pay or a limit on the number of days earned.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    Vicki Whooper, an assistant stage manager on <em>A Strange Loop<\/em> who spoke at the rally, outlined the calculation made when it comes to taking sick leave, saying \u201cIf I don\u2019t feel totally OK, I should figure out how to push through it because no one else can do my job. That\u2019s not OK. The show should not hinge on three to four people feeling superhuman to get things done.\u201d This, in addition to the lack of work-life balance, has caused Whooper, who made her Broadway debut with the show, rethink the industry.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    \u201cWe do this because we love it, but is it loving us back in the same way? No. And it breaks my heart,\u201d Whooper said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    Negotiations for the new contract are ongoing and were taking place during the rally Thursday. Equity\u2019s goal with the rally was to show the amount of support for these issues for the among its membership.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    \u201cSometimes it\u2019s helpful for folks on one side of the table or the other to see how much the other side cares about the things they\u2019re asking for in order to push things across the finish line,\u201d said David Levy, director of communications at Actors\u2019 Equity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n    \u201cThe Broadway League is engaged in good faith negotiations with Actors Equity Association and want to underscore that we value all of their members, including understudies, swings, and stage managers for the work they do in bringing our productions to life. We are keeping our focus on the work at the bargaining table and look forward to reaching a mutually acceptable agreement. We are committed to the collective bargaining process and believe that we have made significant progress on the difficult and complex issues at the table,\u201d the Broadway League said in a statement.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/plain\" class=\"optanon-category-C0004\">\n!function(f, b, e, v, n, t, s) {\nif (f.fbq) return;\nn = f.fbq = function() {n.callMethod ? n.callMethod.apply(n, arguments) : n.queue.push(arguments);};\nif (!f._fbq) f._fbq = n;\nn.push = n;\nn.loaded = !0;\nn.version = '2.0';\nn.queue = [];\nt = b.createElement(e);\nt.async = !0;\nt.src = v;\ns = b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\ns.parentNode.insertBefore(t, s);\n}(window, document, 'script', 'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\nfbq('init', '352999048212581');\nfbq('track', 'PageView');\n<\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. 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The demand on these actors has always been high, but has&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":511849,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/IMG_2536-copy.jpg?w=1024","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[135782,29467,134764,70730],"class_list":["post-511848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-mediaa","tag-actors-equity","tag-broadway","tag-labor","tag-theater"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=511848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/511849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}