Equity is preparing to square off with small theater producers in Los Angeles over a proposal to require a minimum wage for actors. The upcoming bout between the union and the producers will rekindle a fight many performers in the city are too young to remember. The settlement of the Equity Waiver wars in the 1980s ratified the 99-seat plan by which much of L.A. theater (outside of the Geffen and Center Theatre Group) is governed. It allowed Equity actors to work for very little pay in professional theater productions. Now Equity wants to scrap the deal, under which an actor can be paid as little as $7 a performance, and institute a minimum wage. Small producers, many of whom survived the earlier “wars,” are vehemently opposed. “Many of the same names are saying the same thing that we heard from them back in the late ’80s, when Equity said...
- 2/18/2015
- backstage.com
Equity’s proposed minimum wage requirement for actors is “financially impossible," according to a group of Los Angeles intimate theater producers. Members of the Review Committee, created from the settlement of the 1988 Equity Waiver Wars, met Monday at the Matrix Theatre on Melrose. Simon Levy, producing director of the Fountain Theatre, said myriad options were being considered, including legal action. "The problem, as I see it, is that Equity wants to come up with a one-size fits all solution when in reality its a very diverse community,” Levy told Backstage. “The economics of a 40-seat theatre is different than a 50 or 75 or 99. If all of us were doing one- or two-person plays, then minimum wage is doable. But [with large-cast shows], it’s financially impossible.” Actors’ Equity Association is making a push to implement a minimum wage for actors during rehearsals and performances of 99-seat management theater productions. Equity's proposal would put company...
- 2/10/2015
- backstage.com
Shakespeare's "King Lear," featuring alternating star turns by Dakin Matthews and Harry Groener; Rogue Machine's searing family drama "Four Places"; and Fountain Theatre's powerful "The Ballad of Emmett Till" are among the most-honored productions in the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle's 42nd annual awards nominations, announced today. The annual citations salute excellence in L.A.-area theater productions during 2010. Winners will be announced during a ceremony at Burbank's Colony Theatre on March 14. Joining the aforementioned shows in contention for the coveted production award are the Fountain's "Opus," the Actors' Co-op's "Wit," and two world premiere offerings: Del Shores' "Yellow" (Coast Playhouse) and Tom Jacobson's "The Twentieth-Century Way" (Theatre @ Boston Court). Shores' "Yellow" has also been named as the recipient of the Ted Schmitt Award for outstanding world premiere script, accompanied by a $1,000 award from Samuel French, which also extends an offer to publish it.Among other special recipients...
- 1/25/2011
- backstage.com
Ben Bradley, a longtime director at the Fountain Theatre in East Hollywood, was found stabbed to death Saturday night in his apartment. He was 59.According to a report ion the Los Angeles Times, police believe Bradley's home may have been the target of a robbery. Bradley had worked for the Fountain for 16 years, and was scheduled to direct the theater's upcoming production of "The Ballad of Emmet Till," which was scheduled to open in February. His 2006 production of "Joe Turner's Come and Gone" won the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Ovation Award for production of the year award and garnered Bradley best director honors. "We've all been together for such a long time," the theater's producing director, Simon Levy, told the Times. "We're just all in shock. We're baffled. ... There is hardly anybody in this theater community who does not know Ben in one way or another. He was just this big,...
- 1/4/2010
- backstage.com
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