Art lovers gear up to fight Trump
‘I’M WORRIED ABOUT THE NEXT GENERATION’
CINDY TOLAN
50 26
Being an intern and reading the stage directions for the first read through of Tony Kushner’s “Angels in America.”
A few. Madeline Kahn in Wendy Wasserstein’s “The Sisters Rosensweig” when she puts on the pink Chanel suit; Cherry Jones in “The Heiress,” with the line, “He came to the wrong house, and he came twice.” ... Anything Joe Mantello acts in.
Oprah Winfrey, Tina Fey, Arthur Miller, Robert Altman, Tony Kushner, Scarlett Johansson.
Rather than discover, I would say gave an opportunity to Riz Ahmed, Maggie Gyllenhaal (photo inset right), Andrew Rannells, Jason Mitchell and Quvenzhane Wallis.
I was in my 20s trying to figure out what I wanted to pursue artistically . . . when I helped my friend, Rebecca Miller, cast her first feature film, “Angela.”
“Like other vendors such as advertising agencies, accountants and lawyers . . . casting companies are engaged as independent contractors; they are separate businesses with their own employees and typically work on more than one show at a time within and outside our industry.”
The League also said it was willing to take its argument to another venue — the National Labor Relations Board.
“We have even made clear to the union that we are prepared to expedite an NLRB process,” the League said.
BERNIE TELSEY
Casting assistant in 1981, opened my office in 1988
Casting the original “Rent” production Off-Broadway and for the 12 years it ran on Broadway.
150 At the Deaf West revival of “Big River” as the cast performed the song “Waiting for the Light to Shine” and in the middle everyone stopped singing but continued to act. It was so emotional. It was the moment I understood what it was like to be deaf and not be able to hear. Idina Menzel, Lin-Manuel Miranda
WILL CANTLER
25
Sitting in auditions with Arthur Miller (below l.) for the 50th anniversary production of “Death of a Salesman” as he told us that everyone makes the mistake of casting Bernard as a nebbish, but he should be smart and athletic. And the character was based on himself! I still pinch myself. 175+ (I’m not kidding)
Lena Horne’s “The Lady and Her Music.” I never expected to sob like that at “Stormy Weather,” she tore my heart out. For Bernie Telsey, 57, there’s no need to seek outside counsel.
“We’re really not asking for much — this is a $13 billion industry, and what would it cost for 40 people to receive the health insurance and other benefits that every other member on Broadway gets?” said Telsey.
Will Cantler, 61, said when he started out, he was lucky to be married to someone with good health care coverage.
“If I hadn’t had that, I don’t think I could have done it,” he said. “It has such a negative Marisa Tomei, Bryan Cranston, Josh Radnor, Matthew Perry, Zachary Quinto, Sarah Paulson, Allison Janney, Judith Light. day! Every The first time I saw Philip Seymour Hoffman audition and I thought, “Wow.” and Bette Midler. Some composers we cast for are Paul Simon, Sting, Cyndi Lauper, Boy George, Sara Bareilles, Elton John. Matthew Morrison and Marissa Jaret Winokur in “Hairspray,” Annaleigh Ashford, Aaron Tveit, Leslie Odom Jr. (left), Andrew Rannells, Laura Bell Bundy, Norbert Leo Butz all got their breakthrough role in musicals I cast. 150
The minute I was able to see someone’s amazing work on stage and then suggest them for a role . . . I was able to channel my love of actors and turn it into something productive like trying to get them a job.
DAVID CAPARELLIOTIS
22
Having one of the Golden Girls rub hand cream all through my hair and whisper dirty words into my ear when auditioning for the role of a seductress of a certain age.
My first Broadway show seeing Robert Sean Leonard who had replaced Matthew Broderick in “Brighton Beach Memoirs” on my first trip to the city in high school.
Many, some of whom become friends, some of whom I have little contact with after they are cast.
That’s not my preferred word — that person was there all along, this was just their moment to be seen and the depth of their talent truly revealed. Giving actors a Broadway debut is my favorite part of the job.
The time a member of the ’80s Brat Pack licked my bare leg during an audition to play a dog when I was a casting intern at Manhattan Theatre Club. impact on those breaking into the career today.”
Casting directors also find it a challenge to get full pay for all their work — because there are no contracts that protect them through the early stages of the process, the group noted.
“A lot of times it’s, ‘Oh, can you help us cast this show, and if you bring in big-name talent, that will get us financing and it’ll be a go, and then you’ll get paid,’ ’’ Cantler said.
If it works out, it’s great, the directors said, but if not, they often take a loss.
“We don’t want it to be the one individual who has to stand up and say, ‘OK, I’ll do it, but you need to pay me upfront.’ That’s really hard,” said Telsey. “That’s where a union would really help.”
Rubin said she and others feel their work is genuinely appreciated by the Broadway and theater industry as a whole.
“The directors and producers, all the people we love to work with, are the people we want to keep supporting — and we want them to have the best future casting directors possible to find them the best talent,” she said. PRESIDENT TRUMP’S socalled “skinny budget” is headed for an art attack — and a diverse coalition of labor organization and employers have come together to fight back.
Twelve of the country’s largest entertainment unions — SAG-AFTRA, the American Federation of Musicians, Actors Equity, to name a few — teamed up with cultural institutions like the Met, the New York City Ballet and the Broadway League to urge Congress to fully fund the arts.
The coalition sent a letter to Congress this past week highlighting the economic benefits of the arts.
“As members of the entertainment industry, we see firsthand how the American economy benefits from arts and cultural programming,” the letter said.
“The arts and entertainment industry contributes over $700 billion to the nation’s annual economic output, equivalent to 4.2% of gross domestic product, and employs over 4 million people across all 50 states. Most people who work in our industry earn a living in familysupporting, middle class careers,” the group said.
Trump’s proposed 2018 budget, unveiled in March, calls for the elimination of the National Endowment of the Arts and the National Endowment of Humanities. It also cuts federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to zero.
“Our industry simply cannot guarantee that private funding alone will allow these important endeavors to continue,” the letter noted.
White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney defended the “hard-power budget” on MSNBC — even though it revealed few details.
“Can we really continue to ask a coal miner in West Virginia or a single mom in Detroit to pay for these programs?” Mulvaney said of the arts cuts.
“The answer was no. We can ask them to pay for defense and we will, but we can’t ask them to continue to pay for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting,” he said.
The corporation received $445 million in federal funding in the last fiscal year. The arts and humanities agencies got about $148 million each — a sliver of the roughly $4 trillion federal budget.