Repairing the house

Sue Caputo, a Clifton Parkbased actress who served as a regional delegate to Equity’s first-ever convention held this past April, sees the new policy as making overdue repairs. On a recent Everything Theater podcast, Caputo said, “I picture (the union) like a house that was built in 1913, with all of the amenities of 1913. Fast forward to 2021, and that house needs a little bit of retrofitting. It needs to open itself up more.”

Caputo noted that discussions about a shift to the membership model were part of the union’s focused work on diversity and inclusion, which has grown into a multistage initiative with the increased visibility of the Black Lives Matter movement.

“The old system had a significant flaw: It made employers the gatekeepers of Equity membership,” explains AEA President Kate Shindle in a statement on the organization’s website.

“The union has inadvertently contributed to the systemic exclusion of BIPOC artists and others with marginalized identities by maintaining a system in which being hired to work those contracts was a prerequisite of membership.”

But while no one we interviewed disagrees with the importance of diversity and inclusion, many question just how this will work.

Paying

Artistic Director, Black Theatre Troupe of Upstate New York

one’s dues

Playing those aforementioned bit parts can be considered as “paying one’s dues,” but the phrase has a more concrete meaning in this context as well. In addition to payroll deductions and biannual fees, initiation currently costs $1,700. That can be paid over three years, but only after an initial down payment of $600.

“It’s too high. That’s my rent,” said Karen Christina Jones, an Albany-based actor, director and activist who founded the diversity-focused Callaloo Theater Company. “The intention is not realistic.”

When she first heard about the policy, Jones added, she was very interested — until she saw the numbers. “That’s not going to work with my budget, and I don’t think Equity is really thinking about that,” she said. “They’re really not thinking about that demographic that they want to get.”

That observation is echoed by Michael Kennedy, founder and artistic director of Creative Action Unlimited, a locally based theater company with a mission to share stories of marginalized

Eastern Region Principal Delegate, Actors’ Equity Association and vulnerable members of society. “I wonder at the decision that they seem to have made not to lower membership rates because that excludes people who are economically oppressed. So, what exactly do

“

I picture the union like a house that was built in 1913, with all the amenities of 1913. ... It needs to open itself up more.”

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Equity salaries are beyond what our company can afford.”

Founder and Artistic Director, Creative Action Unlimited they mean by ‘inclusion’?” she asked.

These comments ring especially true as the industry emerges from its long pandemic-era lockdown — a factor that has made some question whether the new policy has more to do with refilling Equity’s coffers than increasing diversity.

“Is it a bit of a money grab from a union that has had nearly every member out of work? Is it a needed boost financially to rehire laid-off staff ? It’s complicated at best,” opined Equity