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Solidarity forever? I’ve never seen anything so divisive in this town. More to the point, I’ve never seen our community so galvanized against anything. Now, can we coalesce around some solutions, i.e. a tiered income flow being proposed by the likes of Jeff Marlowe, in which actor compensations are determined by fixed percentage of a production’s budget in conjunction with a percentage of its actual revenue?
“Mum,” I complained. “Every time I try to help around here, it’s like pissing into the wind.”
“I know dear,” she replied. “Why don’t you try pissing in a different direction?”
The scale of this problem is little known, but one city councilman has established a task force to rescue these actors from the clutches of these unscrupulous, abusive 99-Seat Plan producers. DWP and the Bureau of Street Maintenance employees are now on the alert to report to AEA and to the LAPD the secret locations of any suspected slave-actor theaters.
Though Equity’s New York office chose to offer a policy statement rather than answer Stage Raw’s 12 Angry Questions, the union’s Supervisor of Xerox Technologies, Bryan Blowme, was willing to speak candidly from his office in Tempe, Arizona. Mr. Blowme is currently on probation for unspecified violations of company policy, and does not expect to keep his job — hence the truthfulness of his replies.
Actors’ Equity’s National Director of Communications, Maria Somma, responds to 12 questions regarding the end of the 99-Seat Plan in Los Angeles.
THE INTERACTIVE FESTIVAL will occur on March 21, 2015 simultaneously at Pasadena, California’s Theatre @ Boston Court at 1 p.m. (Pacific Standard Time) and at Warsaw’s Teatr STUDIO in the Palace of Culture, starting at 10 p.m (Central European Time). The concert, with other live entertainments, will be simultaneously live-streamed between the two cities. An American playlet will be broadcast from Pasadena, followed by a Polish playlet (in Polish with subtitles) broadcast from Warsaw, followed by another American playlet, then another Polish playlet, and so on.
The following twelve questions have been sent to Maria Somma, National Communications Director of Actors’ Equity Association, who has promised to reply shortly.
In response to members’ concerns, Equity’s National Council has determined that they will act on a 3-pronged proposal that will ensure our members’ work is valued while preserving their ability to collaborate and work within an existing membership company setting. — Maria Somma, National Director of Communications, Actors Equity Association.
Herbert, the Chihuahua at the Lounge Theatre, was the model audience member. Throughout Mitch Hara’s performance, Herbert was attentive, his eyes and ears and facial expressions revealed curiosity and an investment in Hara’s flamboyant sashaying and cursing and confiding. At one moment in the sometimes interactive performance, Hara approached Herbert’s owner, and Herbert didn’t like that one bit. He growled so loudly that his owner placed her hands over Herbert’s mouth, but all that did was mute Herbert’s growl, until Hara stepped back and Herbert’s growling stopped. Some people would call this “feedback.” We prefer to call it Drama Criticism.
Sanity prevails: At a sometimes contentious, mostly dignified meeting of L.A. Theater Network at the Skylight Theatre, and at an AEA forum on the 99-Seat Plan, there was consensus that the plan needs to be tweaked, not gutted.
