A Conversation with Actors' Equity

On Monday, February 28, Theatre Bay Area hosted Alt Stages in conversation with Bethany Umbach from Actors' Equity Association.

Alt Stages hosts several round table discussions through out the year on issues facing small, professional theatres. These issues range from publicity and social media strategies to managing a board. The recent conversation with Bethany Umbach was aimed at helping these theatre companies better understand the contract process and the producer's relationship to equity.

A full report of the conversation is available on the Alt Stages Facebook page here. Below are a few of the questions posed to Bethany during the discussion.

Are there exceptions to the rules? If waivers/exception can be made, how do producers pursue them?

Concessions are exceptions to agreements and codes made by the union for certain projects/companies. Codes are often strict and the union doesn’t usually allow for concessions on those projects where codes apply. Agreements have more leniency. The union’s objective is to ensure that actors are paid for their services and treated fairly. Concessions may be requested through the appropriate Equity business representative and will be presented to the appropriate Equity committee for consideration. Contact Bethany Umbach about questions and concerns. (Bethany can be reached at bumbach@actorsequity.org or (323) 978-8080.)

When you say "annual budget," do you mean "operating budget?"

No, this refers to the annual production budget (with regards to MBAT or BAPP).

Who can hire Equity Membership Candidates (EMC) and why?

Anyone can hire and pay an EMC actor as a non-professional/local jobber (provided they are not a member of any of the 4A's unions), but only seasonal agreements (such as BAT) allow the EMC program to be approved for us and for those actors to earn weeks (points) towards Equity membership. EMC program approval is granted in theatres where there is a minimum equity ratio and an equity stage manager required, along with other criteria. The EMC program is set up to be a mentorship program if there are not enough equity members to mentor an EMC, so having Equity Actors and stage managers at the theatre is essential.

What are the time frames suggested for approval for the various contracts?

Deadlines are listed here and in the Bay Area Equity Contract Comparison. All deadlines are before the first rehearsal and are intended to give both the producer/company and Equity time to work out the contract.

What is the general path from BAPP to MBAT? Is there a bridge?

The goal is to get actors paid. Contracts serve members in specific areas. The BAPP will not change much in the future, but the MBAT is the lowest agreement. The MBAT is the bridge between codes like the BAPP and agreements like the BAT. There really is not really a way to create an agreement between a BAPP and MBAT due to minimum wage and legal employment issues.

How does a company operating on a MBAT contract hire an actor who has opted for financial core with American Federation of Television and Radio Actors (AFTRA) or one of the other sister unions? Are they considered union?

If they are financial core with AFTRA they are not actually members of AFTRA. If they are AFTRA members or members of one of the other sister unions, they should be hired on an Equity contract.

How does theatre in an educational setting apply to union contracts? Is a project considered educational simply by virtue of being performed in a physical school setting?

There are some projects that don’t seem to fit into the above codes or agreements, or maybe there have been rumors about what kind of contracts are needed for outdoor theatre, educational theatre, children’s theatre or some other specialty show. The best way to get specific questions answered is to call equity and have a phone conversation with a representative about what the performance will be, who it is intended for, why it is happening and who will be involved and how. Being clear, open, honest and willing to have a dialogue is the first best step to getting the best agreement or code.

What if a company/performance doesn’t take in any ticket revenue, they just pass the hat?

It depends on how many people are expected at a performance and where the performance will be. Even if all revenue is by donation and the number of seats are uncontrollable (like in outdoor theatre) there is a way to make it possible for equity participation (LOA or concession to a standard agreement). Producers/companies won’t know if they don’t ask.

Once you go on one equity contract, are you stuck at that level?

No. Equity wants producers and companies to be able to move up to the next agreement level, but they generally don’t want producers/companies to move backwards. Remember, Equity’s goal is to get it’s members paid fairly for their work and to make certain employment opportunities for its members are possible.

Self-Producing: A Case Study

When’s the last time you saw the phrase “all remaining performances are completely sold out”? It’s everyone’s dream but how often is it a reality? A few weeks ago, I was among those that got to see a performance in the sold-out run of Becoming Julia Morgan at the Berkeley City Club (it closed January 9th). I was struck by the steady stream of audience members filing in (and those turned away) and was even more inspired by the fact that Becoming Julia Morgan is a self-produced project. I checked in with Belinda Taylor, the playwright, and producer Sabrina Klein to see how the experience of self-producing played out.

Former Theatre Bay Area (then Callboard) editor-in-chief Belinda Taylor finished her first play a few years ago after being commissioned by Klein (who at the time was the executive director of the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts and former executive director of Theatre Bay Area. Becoming Julia Morgan, a play investigating the life and legacy of the architectural legend, had an award-winning, sold-out run in Sacramento in 2006. The next step seemed obvious: mount a Bay Area production. But Taylor found it a bit harder for the idea to gain traction than she had anticipated, especially since Klein had since left JMCA. So what to do? Klein came on as producer and Barbara Oliver (legendary director and a founder of Aurora Theatre) joined up as director, and the nucleus of a huge self-producing project began. Klein says, “It’s not like we said ‘Hey, let’s produce the play on our own!’ It was more, ‘Ok, no one else believes in this play as much as we do, so let’s make it happen on our own.”

Once the core group was established, the planning began in earnest. Luckily, this trio of esteemed professionals had varied experiences and a network of resources to tap into. A wide array of new contacts became interested in the show and supported the road to production. Playwrights Foundation became the fiscal sponsor. After a nudge from a colleague, Taylor found a couple who owned a Julia Morgan home and was willing to offer it up as a venue for a fundraiser. Various vendors contributed wine, food and other items for a silent auction at the fundraiser. Add to that list the performers who donated their time to the fundraiser in order to give attendees a preview of the show, and this first fundraiser raised about half of what was needed to get the show going. A second fundraiser at a private residence raised the remainder. After securing pro bono PR work from Taylor’s colleague Gary Carr of Rising Moon Marketing; PR, things really started moving. Peets Coffee in Berkeley came on board and store manager Scott Soo-Hoo (of the Vine Street location in Berkeley) even created a “Julia Morgan Roast” for the run of the play. Taylor says, “My friends in Bay Area theatre and in Bay Area media were definitely an added bonus.”

Klein refers to a number of benefits of self-producing: “We were not tied to any mission outside this one show. We could brand ourselves strictly as experts on Julia Morgan and as three women who love architecture, history and Julia Morgan’s work, giving us a common bond with a lot of non-theatre people. We had no reputation to prove or to overcome (the flip side of having no reputation to build on!), which can be a positive. We were incredibly agile, responding to opportunities as they came up. Many small companies are like that, but we really felt it was a strength in our case too.”

Her biggest recommendations for the self-producer: Ask for advice and build on existing resources. In this case, what the team lacked in both infrastructure and access to a deep rolodex was offset by the expertise of those in the team members' inner circle. The members relied on their fiscal agent, Playwrights Foundation (to help with insurance, Actors' Equity and liability issues), CentralWorks (to help them understand what it would take to produce and perform in the space), neighboring theatre Shotgun Players (who provided a number of referrals and recommendations for the creative and support team) and, of course, Barbara Oliver (whose reputation helped bring quality designers into the mix). And you never know where someone in your circle will lead you. For example, Anne Smith got an invitation for the first fundraiser in March (the show opened in December) and instantly invited the team to appear at the Commonwealth Club in August. About 50 people who love Julia Morgan (or architecture, or historical female role models, or some combination of the three) showed up, including four who ended up as donors and one who ended up as a volunteer and who then made even more connections for the production in the world of architecture.

Klein closes her advice with a note that a great ticketing service matters. In this case, the Julia Morgan team used a combination of Brown Paper Tickets and, yes, Theatre Bay Area’s own TIX (www.tixbayarea.org).

Aside from logistics, were Klein and Taylor pleased with the final results? "It was an experience like no other," says Taylor of watching her play performed at the final preview. "Everything came together: costumes, lights, sound, scenery, props, actors. My play was on its feet. I was somewhere on cloud 9. Dazzled. Astonished. Grateful.”

Have you ever self-produced? If so, what was the experience like for you? Have you ever wanted to self-produce? What’s holding you back?