"What was important was that the panelists were all playwrights, and, as playwrights, their considerations, fears, and hopes were essentially the same as playwrights working in any genre – e.g., how do we get our plays performed, and how do we grow great theater?” --BY PAUL BIRCHALL
“'Twenty dollars?' he said, incredulously. It was a good thing we were standing at the time, because at that moment I realized that I was considerably taller than he, and that tiny advantage was enough to get me through the moment. He began to play out a farce version of the events, in which I was cast as the big bad businessman out to fleece the poor, helpless little dancer. He wasn’t really angry, and he was having fun. I think he enjoyed the audacity of my offering twenty dollars to a man who commanded ten thousand or more for a single performance." -- BY NEAL WEAVER
"A few days after the ad was posted, Rivera’s casting director Raul Clayton Staggs and Rivera received a letter from a mysterious address Equityworksla@yahoo.com, which, at the bottom of the letter and in small font, stated, “We are in no way authorized to represent AEA and this notification has not been approved or authorized by AEA. We are concerned, professional members of the L.A. Theatre community and we are in support of their efforts.” --BY PAUL BIRCHALL
"When the entertainment finally got under way, the rumors proved true. The headliner was Judy Garland, alongside other talent including Shelley Winters, Josephine Premice and Carol Channing."-- BY NEAL WEAVER
“Los Angeles Intimate Theatre is a thriving incubator with a track record of critically acclaimed productions. Many have gone on to other venues, creating jobs along the way. It needs to be treated with the same care as any other small business community.”
"When the entertainment finally got under way, the rumors proved true. The headliner was Judy Garland, alongside other talent including Shelley Winters, Josephine Premice and Carol Channing."-- BY NEAL WEAVER
"This is, obviously, quite bad news for the local theater scene and we will need to take some time to absorb just what all this means and how we will react to it. Already, we are seeing several Facebook posts from Equity actors who are vowing to go rogue and act secretly (and, yes, illegally) on 99 seat stages. Others are seriously discussing the notion of going FiCore, a topic discussed at length in journalist Myron Meisel’s excellent earlier Stage Raw article." --BY PAUL BIRCHALL
"On November 7, Judge Terry Hatter (who is presiding over the AEA case) received a letter dated October 31 from none other than performer/ 99-seat scene dissident Armina LaManna, and others.In an annoyed response, the court not only rejected the letter for being both irrelevant to the case and inappropriate, it ordered counsel to instruct all parties that the letter had not been entered into the case file." -- BY PAUL BIRCHALL
"The court has still not ruled on the union’s Motion to Dismiss the lawsuit Asner, et al V. Actors’ Equity Association (filed by union actors and some producers against AEA) which aims to reboot the process by which the former 99-Seat Plan got removed. That removal was allegedly in violation of a 1989 out-of-court settlement that was ostensibly intended to protect the 99-Seat Plan and to provide local union members with fair representation over control of that Plan. There’s some speculation that the court is waiting for the outcome of two NLRB filings against AEA, before deciding whether or not to accept or dismiss the lawsuit, and that could take months." -- BY PAUL BIRCHALL AND STAGE RAW WRITERS