Equity Actors

So, this may be a really stupid question, but I'm going to ask it anyway. I went and saw Mamma Mia (touring company) in Kansas City last night. As I was going through the program, and reading the bios, I saw that 16 actors had put in their bios "proud member of AEA" or something to that effect. Some had it in all caps, and most had it followed with an exclamation mark. Is there something going on that would make Equity Actors feel the need to "boost it up?" I'm not saying by any stretch that I think they shouldn't put it in their bios. It's just that when 16 put it in, one starts to wonder. If that's a dumb question, my apologies...

Thanks a bunch! That really helps. I was thinking there was gonna be another strike, and I was going to fall over!
Thanks again!

Proud member of AEA since 2002.

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I noticed this too. Heck, if I were equity I would shout it to the world!

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Actors' Equity Association is the American union for professional actors and stage managers.

They act like any other union, guaranteeing health benefits, wages, etc.

Any Broadway or off-Broadway actor is a member of AEA (with a VERY rare few exceptions).

For more information, visit http://www.actorsequity.org

Updated On: 2/14/05 at 08:22 PM

For those who don't know:

SAG is the Screen Actors' Guild. They are the equivalent of Actors' Equity Association, except SAG is for film and television actors, as the name suggests.

As a member of Equity, I have to say I am NOT a proud member.

Because as someone said earlier, they are supposed to guarantee things like Health Benefits and Wages...however...often time those wages are as low as $245 a week. And with the amount of weeks you need to "guarantee" health benefits, it's virtually impossible to acquire them, unless you are in a successful Broadway show (look out cast of GV).

Equity, IMHO, is past it's prime and is no longer serving it's membership well.

What this post will be met with is cries of "Well, if you want change, YOU should run for office." Well to be quite frank-A)With the day jobs I am required to handle, I don't have extra time, in addition to an auditioning schedule, to pursue Equity office. and B) I'm not really interested in running for office in an organization which basically serves little-to-no purpose and continually refuses to stand up for things that matter with their membership.

Flame away...

Much of the 'proudness factor' has been inspired by the non-equity tour debate. A lot of the national touring companies are saving money by employing non-union actors, and AEA nor its members are pleased with that decision.

A lot of people feel that these tours should remain under equity contracts, because the shows aren't as good as when they employed equity actors (quality of performers). AEA has asked its members to wear their membership proudly as sort of a "stamp of quality" if you will.

But again one can argue that even the Equity actors in Equity productions that are currently touring are not getting real protection from the union. Equity has proven themself as somewhat useless on repeated occassions. EVERY other theatrical union offers far better protection than Equity does for it's membership.

agreed JRB - not perfect, smaller base with less money to work with than SAG - but, I believe, always trying to improve.

Proud member here too!

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Proud Equity member here!

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haha...i just want to be Equity to get my foot in the door. do i need it?

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yeah..i mean i'm about to go to the SETC auditions...and some of the companies that will be there will be Equity companies...I'm so confused about it all. And half of me just doesn't care about all that...i just want to perform. THATS ALL. UGH...i HATE politics.

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