Friday, September 26, 2008
Unprecedented freeFall
Posted by Mark E. Leib on Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 8:01 AM
The premiere of freeFAll Theatre Company's The Wild Party at The Studio@620 is unprecedented in that 13 of the show's 15 actors are members of the Actor's Equity union. Usually - though not always - Equity actors are those with more experience and, arguably, more talent. But most smaller theaters can't afford the minimum salaries that Equity demands for its artists. So it's common to find one or two Equity actors in the smaller theaters, while the rest are non-union. Outside of Broadway tours, it's unusual to find even six or seven Equity actors in a show. (For that matter, it's rare these days to find 15 actors of any sort in a show: much easier on any budget are the six-or-fewer-actors shows that you find so often on national stages.)
I asked freeFAll's artistic director, Eric Davis, a fine actor himself, how he was able to afford so many union actors. He told me that most theaters only make 60% of their income from ticket sales, and that he's reconciled to the idea that the rest will have to come from elsewhere. So he's found funds from various sources, and one - a campaign asking for one dollar from each contributor - has already raised about $20,000. He added: "One of our main values is, you know, theater in America is largely subsidized by actors not really getting paid. And so we don't think that that's where the money to do theater should come from, by not paying the actors. With this particular show, we decided that we wanted to show what can happen when we do put resources into something."
What can happen - what is still happening at the Studio for another few days - is a terrific show. FreeFall couldn't have had a better premiere.
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First, let me say that we at Jobsite are very happy for the success Eric and freeFall have had with The Wild Party. We need more venues and more quality theater in this area for the culture to grow to the point to really sustain theater artists. Congrats to everyone who was part of creating that show and to everyone who went and supported it. But I also wanted to call shenanigans on the assertion that Equity actors "usually" have more experience or more talent than non-union actors - particularly in smaller markets like we are in. Many of the actors involved with Jobsite have at some time been AEA, flirted with AEA or went through the EMC program to some point short of taking a card. The truth is that this market just can't support that many union contracts. Not enough people are going to the theater and not enough people are giving to the theater for companies to pay AEA salary, and by and large the union has simply not cared that their members are getting no work at all instead of working out something. There's a reason why over 95% of AEA members are unemployed at one time and that reason is the union itself. If you're not in a top-tier market - they simply do not care about you. It's harmful to what we do to perpetuate this insane notion that a union card makes someone's work better. A card can be given to a fresh-faced kid with no experience to make a minimum the same as it can be earned by a hard-working actor who has put in his time. And as long as you're paying dues, the union has nothing resembling quality control going on. We strive to get to the point that we can pay a living wage - union or not. I know other producers in the area who feel the same way. Eric is right that typically a theater underpays or doesn't pay an artist at all when the money isn't there. That's not ideal, but not producing at all doesn't advance the art or the culture of the area either. Again, congrats to everyone with The Wild Party. For all our sakes' this is hopefully just the beginning of another great theater for this area.
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