Many of us have a theatre from which we receive regular employment. Some of these regional theatres exist only because an actor or group of actors decided to make their own work, instead of relying solely on freelance employment. They don't fit the image of the evil blood-sucking producer that Equity was formed to deal with. They have titles like, "artistic director," "managing director," "producing artistic director," or other compound titles too numerous to enumerate.
I have a few theatres where I am a regular. The bosses of these theatres often have another title, at least as far as I am concerned, and that is: friend. Equity contracts give us a virtual armor that ensures that we have no dealings at all, so far as labor disputes are concerned, with management. "Familiarity," as the old saw goes, can "breed contempt."
I was deputy on a show where the artistic director, who was also acting on the stage with me announced, at half-hour, that there would be a video tape available of that night's performance and pointed to the camera in the balcony. The company looked at me, furtively, and then at the floor. I was in a quandary. One the one hand, I had a responsibility to make sure that the rule against taping was enforced, as per our contract. On the other, here was a man at whose wedding I gave a toast, and in whose house I was a frequent guest. Even if I went by the book and put the grievance through the stage manager, there would not be the normal anonymity of the Equity deputy. I was on the spot. I wasn't the only one. Everyone in the company had had a big sandbag of angst dropped on top of their heads, right before a show.
I took my friend/boss aside and said, "You know you're putting me in an awful situation."
"Oh, crap! You're not going to go all Equity on me now, are you?" he said.
I told him that even if he thought that our long friendship allowed him to presume that he could cause me to break the rules, that was one thing. But I was the company's deputy, and there were 6 other actors and a stage manager with whom I had only a three week relationship, and anyway, our long friendship had nothing to do with the contracts that they had all signed.
What could I do? I called an emergency meeting of the company (minus the artistic director, of course). I said that we were going to hold an illegal vote. I said that no provision in the contracts that we had signed allows us to vote away anything therein.
"There are two issues," I said, "One - whether to allow the taping or not. And, two - whether to turn the artistic director in to Equity for whatever action may be warranted."
This was all anyone needed right before a performance.
I continued, "This will have to be a unanimous vote. I know that if it goes one way, there is the possibility of retribution in the from of, 'You'll never work here again,' but this was thrown in our laps and we have to deal with this, and unless anyone has a better plan of action, let's vote on the first part now."
There was silence, so I handed out slips of paper. Everyone scribbled, folded and threw their ballots into a hat. It was unanimous. No taping.
The second ballot came back unanimously: no. There was to be no disciplinary action requested from the union against the producer.
Well, my friend the producer, was hopping mad that night. He was very vocal about how mad he was, too. I think they heard him in the lobby. He had to cancel a taping that he had paid a good chunk of money for and I am sure that it was non-refundable. That night's performance was not the most focused of the run. Some say the show never really recovered. We have stayed nominally friends, this artistic director and me, although the taping fracas cooled things considerably for a long time. I have not worked in his theatre since, though. Our friendship is such that I even mention the taping incident as the reason he hasn't had me back to his "rat-trap of a theatre." He says, jokingly that of course it is.
"That -and your lousy acting," he snipes, "But also there has not been a role available for you."
Has there been retribution for following the rules? I can't say with unwavering certainty. Would that vote have had the same outcome if we weren't united as a union? I doubt it. Human nature being what it is, despite the fact that I am a big union guy up and down the line, there is part of me that does not want to cause trouble and honestly, feared losing a possible source of future employment. My union brothers and sisters gave me the strength I didn't have on my own. (Thanks. You know who you are)
JJ and Lee Shubert
