Is it possible for non-US citizens to be on broadway?

[Akkka]

Posted: 4/2/18 at 12:33pm

Hi. I’m a teenager who aspires to be a musical theatre performer (maybe on broadway) when I grow up. I currently live in the UK however I am only a Japanese citizen. I am planning on going to a university in the US or the UK and graduate with a musical theatre performers degree. And I have 3 main questions about it:

1. When I graduate, will broadway/ national tour companies in NYC hire me even though I do not have a visa or a green card in the US?

2. Is it too hard to find a performing job abroad? Should I just be a musical theatre performer in my own country or should I find something in the UK(west end) instead?

3. Is there any way I can get a visa/green card easily?

 

[Dancingthrulife2]

Posted: 4/2/18 at 12:44pm

You can reach out to Minami Yusui, who played the King and I, Miss Saigon and is now in My Fair Lady. She was born in Osaka and played Gekidan Shiki before tobei (coming to the U.S.). Best of luck!

Updated On: 4/2/18 at 12:44 PM

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

Posted: 4/2/18 at 12:47pm

I take it that you will be on a student visa. For your last question, you should consult with an immigration attorney.

[Dancingthrulife2]

Posted: 4/2/18 at 12:50pm

Also, from what I know, you can start from Toho stage in Tokyo or Gekidan Shiki if you want to go back to Japan, as I've seen marvelous productions at Teigeki and Theater Creation (mostly musical theater). You do need a visa to work legally in the U.S., and are only able to join the Equity after being hired for a Broadway production or national tour. You can apply for O Visa, but it requires "a demonstrated record of extraordinary achievement." With Trump, however, you might want to stay in London for a while.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 4/2/18 at 2:08pm

Dancingthrulife2 said: "and are only able to join the Equity after being hired for a Broadway production or national tour."

Just to clarify, you can join Equity on any Equity contract, not just the contracts that govern Broadway and national tours. However, as others have stated, as a non-natural born US citizen you would need to submit proof of US citizenship (if you go that route) or proof of Resident Alien status.

If you are truly serious you can reach out to Equity to get details about the current requirements.

http://www.actorsequity.org/membership/howtojoin.asp

[Akkka]

Posted: 4/2/18 at 4:51pm

Thank you so much all for the informations. I’ll try and check out those people and etc.  X

[Akkka]

Posted: 4/2/18 at 4:52pm

Please post some more as well if you have some other information!!!

[lightguy06222]

Posted: 4/2/18 at 7:43pm

get married to an American, and you can get a green card.

[Wick3]

Posted: 4/3/18 at 11:53am

I don't know how it works exactly but if a show does really really well on the West End, at times it goes to Broadway with the same actors (i.e. Miss Saigon, Harry Potter, Sunset Boulevard, Sweeney Todd off-bway, The Children, King Charles III, etc.) and I'd imagine all of those actors from West End would need a work visa here in the USA and Actor's Equity will need to approve them (back in the early 90s Miss Saigon had issues getting Lea Salonga and Jonathan Pryce on Broadway.)  On the Playbill cast section there's usually a * mark indicating how Actor's Equity is in support of that actor performing on Broadway or something like that (indicating to me that they're not Equity members.) 

I'm not 100% sure but I know some friends who said it's easier to get a job on a cruise line as a performer/singer but the obvious downside is living in a cruise ship for a set number of months at a time.

 

[haterobics]

Posted: 4/3/18 at 12:00pm

Wick3 said: "I'm not 100% sure but I know some friends who said it's easier to get a job on a cruise line as a performer/singer but the obvious downside is living in a cruise ship for a set number of months at a time."

The real downside is you're not able to audition for anything else, so you're putting a lot of your chances of booking a better gig on hold for the duration of your contract.