Alex Ellis : I was over worked and under paid

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Hi. My name is Alex Ellis. For most of my 20’s I was in NYC performing on Broadway. I did two National Tours and two Broadway shows. The first tour, I starred as Millie in Thoroughly Modern Millie. It was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. Why? Because I was overworked and under-****ing-paid. TROIKA ENTERTAINMENT (http://www.troika.com/) is a literal piece of garbage. I did over 30 one nighters in a row!!!!, slept on the FLOOR of a bus, was made to wake up at 4am routinely to hit the road to the next town. One week my show schedule was double, double, single, double, double, single, double. THAT’S 12 SHOWS IN ONE WEEK. As in two shows a day. As Millie. That’s like Elphaba on crack that has to tap dance. But like, in Waco freakin' Texas. I got sick in Florida, because I wonder why?! I was told if I called out, I WOULD LOSE MY MONEY. I was clearing only $600 a week after taxes and agent fees. As THE LEAD. I was treated like ****. This was NON-UNION. And for any newcomer with bigs hopes and dreams, HEADS UP! It was beyond a doozy!

On my next tour, Legally Blonde, I finally got the balls to tell the stage manager he was a literal piece of ****, because he promised me after months of preparation, I would go on as one of the leads in my hometown, with my family and friends in the audience, and when that time came he put the OTHER understudy on in spite of me. Knowing my self worth, I left the show after that. I was the ONLY person at the time calling him out in the hallway right before the show. Months later when my track opened back up after leaving to go work with Cirque du Soleil (ANOTHER fuggin' train wreck company that treat their actors like garbage), I was told I wasn’t allowed to come back.

MY POINT . IF YOU SPEAK UP, YOU GET FIRED. IF YOU CALL OUT, YOU LOSE MONEY. Try asking for time off for a family wedding, or life event you don’t want to miss. HA! Not a chance. IF YOU HAVE A VOICE, YOU GET BLACK BALLED. The ONLY show that was heaven on earth to me was #catchmeifyoucan . I was treated well, fulfilled all my wildest dreams, got paid weekly, went on as the lead, made extra money for TV spots and commercials, LOVED my fellow actors and creative team and had great health insurance. Until it ended and all of that was stripped. My last show before leaving NYC, was #onacleardayyoucanseeforever and that was a mess the minute I walked into the first day of rehearsal. I could tell something was very wrong on day one. The director had to ask me my name multiple times and one time asked me to go get him a shake from Green Symphony because he was on a low carb diet. Um…sure? Because if I didn’t.. would my stage time be revoked?! Was I going to say NO?! Harry Connick Jr. was my closest friend on that show. And he was nice enough to tell me the show was closing way ahead of time, so I had a heads up on how to prepare my life moving forward. After a slew of auditions that followed, CASTING (that’s a whole other chapter hineeeyyy), was putting me in the understudy prison cell. And let’s get one thing straight. I am a damn good actor, singer, dancer, collaborator, team player, HAPPY PERSON, will go the extra mile, meet my deadlines, and SHOW THE F*CK UP, full out. ALL THE TIME. It's in my bones. I am NO ONE’S understudy but my own. I won’t work double to get paid less. So I left. I moved across the country to get my head back on straight and to get my soul right.

THIS MUST CHANGE. Actors' Equity Association has done NOTHING to support their actors over this past year (and for many years prior), yet are asking each actor for money (WHAT MONEY?!) to be able to stay in a union, I mean corporation , that gives little to no ****s about them. #NOPLANNODUES . TREAT HUMANS BETTER THAT MAKE YOU MILLIONS OF DOLLARS. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. Also, white actors… SPEAK UP. Love n light hineys. TELL YOUR STORIES, SHARE SHARE SHARE. YEARS OF THERAPY TO REVERSE THIS PTSD.

Updated On: 4/20/21 at 11:57 PM

Alex Ellis WebsiteWell, they may have fewer stage opportunities now. But they seem to be being cast for tv.

Updated On: 4/20/21 at 12:35 AM

Her attitude is a bit much. When one signs up for a non-equity production, you're at the mercy of the producers unfortunately. Her experience on the Legally Blonde tour sounds like someone in power was playing games. I'm sure this wasn't the first time that an actor/actress has experienced this. She comes off unlikeable.

I know a common refrain seems to be, "Well you shouldn't have done it in the first place." But if those tours didn't exist, are there other ways of getting experience and/or getting seen as quickly if they didn't do them? I mean, a web series is great on a resume is great but proving your mettle on a stage means something still, I would think. Where else could they do it?

everythingtaboo said: "I know a common refrain seems to be, "Well you shouldn't have done it in the first place." But if those tours didn't exist, are there other ways of getting experience and/or getting seen as quickly if they didn't do them? I mean, a web series is great on a resume is great but proving your mettle on a stage means something still, I would think. Where else could they do it?"

There definitely aren't a lot of other opportunities to get exposure unless you get real lucky with auditions for off-Broadway or regional houses (but even then, most non-equity actors at equity theatres bear the brunt of the work and end up being the ones helping out stage management and performing other functions, thereby stretching their hours and commitment even further).

The reality is, most actors start out working summer stock or non-equity tour like jobs that are 16 hour days, 7 days a week. Now, you can absolutely 100% make the case that those are horrible and that the industry itself needs a major awakening about how they treat young, non-union performers. But I get the sense from this post (and perhaps I'm interpreting their point wrong) that they're acting like what happened to them on those two tours was out of the norm and unethical and Troika specifically needs to be stopped, when they're in fact doing nothing that hundreds of other companies aren't already doing.

Cats didn’t launch as a non-equity tour until 2001. And it was Troika.

Updated On: 4/20/21 at 01:15 PM

That is what she's saying, but, again, okay? There's literally 10000000000 actors out there that would do that job for less pay. It's just how it is. Actors are desperate for work. So, what's the point? The point is there should be someone in charge... like a union... but how do you stop non-union work? I don't know. Maybe the Union should open up more and allow more members? But then do the current members want that? I don't know.

fashionguru_23 said: "Random quick question: how can a Non-Equity show, play an equity theatre?"

Not sure, but it happens more frequently than we know.

fashionguru_23 said: "Random quick question: how can a Non-Equity show, play an equity theatre?"



Ok. So a quick answer is to explain it this way: sometimes a theater is just a building and it can be rented by anyone or any company. An example of this is a venue like the Broward Center in Ft. Lauderdale, or The Fox Theatre in Atlanta. But, sometimes a theatre is owned by an organization that produces shows and has an existing agreement (or contract etc) with AEA (and other unions but getting into THAT aspect of it can get confusing) and therefore EVERYTHING that goes on that stage will involve Equity Actors and stage managers. An example of this would be a place like Papermill, or Goodspeed.

Yes, landlords at Broward and the Fox have agreements with other unions (IATSE being the main one) which can mean that you can attend a show and have a situation where everyone except the actors and stage managers are protected under a union contract.