This unprecedented month long shut down of Broadway, and temporary banning of gatherings of more than 50 people due to the coronavirus outbreak means no theater for the next several weeks. But what does it mean for the performers who make a living off of being in front of audiences eight times a week? Frank DiLella spoke with Kate Shindle, the President of Actors' Equity Association.
Frank DiLella: I’ve been talking to some friends who are in shows that are about to open and there’s still no word about them getting paid.
Kate Shindle: These are things that even buried within the Broadway universe, some of the not-for-profits have told people we’re going to pay you during this hiatus. We’ve been diving into our contract language and talking to all the other unions and the Broadway League to try and bring this to a solution and a closure that’s not just quick but also sufficient. There’s no doubt to me that there are going to be people who feel this hardship in a very real way.
Frank DiLella: For those of your members who are in need, who have questions, what services are you guys providing and what can they do to find out more information?
Kate Shindle: The best thing to do is call the union. A lot of our people are working from home, but we do still have the phone lines open and there is a "Find Your Business Rep" page on the Equity website in the member portal so you can figure out exactly who you need to talk to. I feel like there is a real question among people who love the theater and are just simply disappointed that they’ve waited for months to see a show and now can’t go see it about what can they do, and one thing I saw online that I really liked is that if you get a refund for your ticket and you can afford to do so consider donating it to The Actors Fund.
Because The Actors Fund is not going to be able to provide relief at the scope the government would, but there’s no doubt to me that there’s going to be a massive demand for resources and help and emergency assistance, and they can find it at actorsfund.org. It doesn’t matter if you’re in a union or not in a union, right? That organization sustains partially from the grants from Broadway Cares, which is usually collecting from audiences this time of year, and that obviously has been suspended as well, so it would be really helpful.
Frank DiLella: Your executive director, Mary McColl, put out a call for action for all your members across the board last week when we knew Broadway was shutting down. Can you just reiterate what that call of action is?
Kate Shindle: Yeah, actually it's to contact your legislators. Because we want to make sure that this language gets into the next bill that Congress takes up, the language about emergency expanded medical leave pay. Look, this industry is not structured like anything else. In most industries you may have 14 days off or working from home or layoff or unemployment, but then you have a job that you expect to go back to. I mean I expect, you probably expect, that there may be shows that were scheduled to open that postponed to next season, but people have planned around that income for a year. And you know, if they hadn't started rehearsals yet and they hadn't signed their contract it doesn't alleviate the hit that they're taking. So if our members can please fan out and contact your legislators, then hopefully we'll get into the bill that they're going to consider this week.