Theatre claims Actor's Equity "wasn't interested" in helping them reopen
Surflight Theatre’s ‘Cabaret’ (Photo Credit: Studio63)
While many professional theatres across the country are waiting out COVID 19 before they reopen, some aren’t being so patient.
Over the past month, five theatres had dropped their Actor’s Equity Association(AEA) status in order to not abide by the union’s safety protocols to reopen.
But according to the artistic director of one of those theatres, the decision to drop their Equity status came as a result of the union not being helpful in helping them to reopen and that the actor’s organization weren’t interested in helping their members.
Scott Steiner is the producing artistic director at Surflight Theatre in Beach Haven, NJ. Surflight was one of the theaters that had dropped their Equity status in order to bypass the union’s safety protocols. According to the union’s “Safety Spotlight”, the theater had “abandoned their commitment to Actors’ Equity workplace safety rules that protect the audience and actors and stage managers.”
But Mr. Steiner says that fault lies with the union. He told The City Pulse:
“We have spoken with more than a dozen theaters who tried to get reopening plans approved by AEA. Actors Equity was simply not able or interested in trying to investigate reopening plans or approve theaters where there were real jobs for their members.
Their only answer was to stay closed, and that is basically what they have been telling every theatre no matter what kind of plan was presented.”
For the record, Actors’ Equity retained Dr. David Michaels, former head of OSHA under President Obama, to create new health and safety protocols for the industry. In May, Dr. Michaels released his first four principles for safe and healthy theater productions:
The epidemic must be under control with contract tracing and testing.
Individuals who may be infectious must be readily identified and isolated.
Venues and productions may need to be modified to minimize exposure.
Efforts to control COVID-19 exposure must be collaborative.
I’ve been told by other theatres that the points with the most contention have been that the epidemic must be under control with testing and the isolation plans for those infected. It should be noted that New Jersey has just announced the availability of 48-hour testing which is something that AEA requires.
My Take:
While I don’t know the intimate details of conversations between Surflight and AEA, I doubt Mr. Steiner’s take that the union wasn’t able or interested in helping them to reopen and preserve jobs for their members. I’ve seen communications between the union and other theatres and have seen how much the union is willing to do to help theatres to reopen.
Mr. Steiner’s claim that the union is telling every theatre to stay closed is also false because the union has already begun to approve safety reopening plans. So I don’t know what he’s talking about.
I would also have less of an issue with Surflight’s reopening if they made their safety protocols publicly known, which it doesn’t look like they have. Their website doesn’t feature a detailed plan. That would be concerning for me to visit that theatre, let alone work there.
I’ve reached out to the union for their reaction to Mr. Steiner’s claim and will update this piece with their comment and any new information that becomes available.