Equity wants to create a new agreement that will guarantee actors and stage managers are paid “a salary no less than the legally mandated minimum wage and ensure members are paid for rehearsals as well as performance hours," according to a release. Under the current 99-seat agreement, Equity actors can be paid a stipend of as little as $7 a performance for the first four weeks of a black-box theater run.
1 comment:
I think that the concept of the 99-Seat Plan is a brilliant idea. For people who enjoy watching the dramatic arts (attending plays, seeing films, etc.), but do not necessarily have a knowledge for theatre in itself, I feel that they are inclined to have a very surface level understanding of all that theatre is and all that it has to offer. In saying this I mean that the general audience will stick to watching the main Blockbuster hits or the most well known musicals and plays showing on Broadway. By paying actors less as a result of them taking on smaller roles, this only plays into this idea, and further covers the hidden gems that are lying beneath the surface of the industry. Now that actors feel more comfortable taking on roles in which they would never have played before due to the low pay, actors and actresses that are more well known may to the public may in fact take a risk and become apart of lesser known projects. As a result of this, audience members will follow where these artists lead them, and they will begin to uncover the arts in a way beyond that of the most popular theatrical hits at the moment.
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