Strange Doings in Buffalo
Recently in Buffalo there was an agreement made between Actors’ Equity and Studio Arena Theatre which resulted in two local non-union theatre companies “presenting” their shows in the Studio Arena space as part of Studio Arena’s subscription series, using non-union actors on a one-shot AEA contract at the LORT D level rather than Studio’s LORT B scale. The whole situation was quite stunning both in its conception and resolution. To gain a background, you can read this, then this, then this. Below is an article I wrote which I intended as a letter to the editor of ArtVoice, but then decided simply to post it here.
*****
The recent dust-up between Studio Theatre and Actors’ Equity Association is symptomatic not only of what’s wrong with Buffalo theatre, but what’s wrong with American theatre in general. As someone who has worked as a union and (mostly) non-union actor in this city since 1989, the agreement reached between these two parties, far from being “revolutionary” or “out of the box” thinking, appears to be nothing but a short-term fix for a troubled theatre that has seldom, in the time I have been here, shown one iota of respect for the local theatre community, especially for local actors. Continue Reading »
