A trade union wave that sweeping on Broadway is ready to reform the economy of making theater in New York for both employees and producers.
Striking stage crews have the non -profit Atlantic Theater Company – the birthplace of the musicals “Spring Awakening”, “The Band's Visit” and “Kimberly Akimbo”, all transferred to Broadway and transferred Tonys. The strike, which started last month, comes in the middle of a drive to unite podium hands and crews in off Broadway theaters.
Non -profit companies and producers fear that the trade union spush can increase costs at a time when many perform shortages and organize fewer and smaller shows. Second Stage Theater and Soho Rep are both recently left their old locations and chose to share space with other companies. Another measure for the contraction of the sector: in 2019, 113 shows were eligible for the Lucille Lortel Awards, who honor the Broadway work; There are so far only 59 eligible shows this season, which will close for the Lortels at the end of March.
Many employees see the trade union of theater team too late and noticing that the sector has taken a long way of his scrappy origin. Now that many of Broadway theaters have become adult institutions with increased production values, employees say, it is time for them to pay better wages and offer benefits to their crew members.
“The commitment is incredibly high,” said Casey York, the president of the Off-Broadway League, who represents theater owners, managers and producers, “not only for those who are directly involved, but for the future of this lively sector that that Always did a cornerstone of the cultural identity of New York “.
The drive is led by the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage employees, or Iatse, who represents employees on Broadway and in Hollywood. It has won trade union contracts on two long-term commercial off Broadway shows: the crew of “Titaníque”, a musical that falsify the film “Titanic” and the pop star Celine Dion, approved a contract in October and the crew with “Little Shop of Horrors , 'A revival of the Sci-Fi musical comedy, did this in January.
Now the trade union is concentrating on the non -profit sector, where actors, directors and designers were organized years ago, and where musicians are often united. In the past year, the staff and freelance podium crews that do the most work in three non -profit theaters – Atlantic, Vineyard Theater and the public theater – have united. Those production teams not only include the stage hands that move the landscape, but also people who work in audio, video, hair, makeup, wardrobe, props, carpentry and lighting.
“I am not sure why they have not been a trade union before, but who come from the pandemic, have generally realized employees that they need protection, and trade unions help employees collectively negotiate” New York City. “Usually the off -broadway employees came to us because they know that we represent entertainment employees.”
None of the three non -profit organizations where the crew members recently made a Union Union has reached a contract agreement. Conversations started with the public, but not yet in the vineyard.
In Atlantic, where the negotiations separated, crew members strike on January 12 and the runs ended of two plays that had already started with previews. The dispute has become bitter: both the theater and the Union have filed complaints with the National Labor Relations Board (it is not clear how President Trump's movements to put his mark on the board can influence that situation).
The employees of Atlantic, who, outside at least one of the two Chelsea locations of the company most weekdays, say that they believe that trade union is the only way to earn a living to do the jobs they love. They are looking for higher wages and benefits.
“I will be 30 this month, I would like to have a lifespan through the work I do, and I see the union as the way to guarantee the benefits and wages I need to get there,” said Liv Rigdon, The costume supervisor at Atlantic, who is one of the striking employees there. “Theater is something that I have always been dedicated to, and it is the life I have chosen, but I would like it to sustain me in the future.”
The tension already influences artists and the public. The theater postponed its autumn 2024 season in the hope of a settlement and then canceled his winter shows when employees walked away. It is not clear what will happen with his spring programming.
Atlantic officials did not respond to requests to discuss the situation, but they indicated in a statement when the strike began that they believe that whatever they do will have broader consequences. “If Iatse is successful in obtaining their proposed financial data at Atlantic,” the company said, “it would be a precedent for other off-Broadway companies and we can see the fall of some of our largest institutions, including Atlantic. “
Munroe said that the trade union was not going to put theater companies bankrupt. “We recognize the financial situation and economic reality of Off Broadway, but at the same time we recognize the financial situation of the off -broadway employees,” he said. “They have to pay rent and also buy groceries, and that is difficult with what they are paid.”
Christin Essin, a professor in theater history at Vanderbilt University and the author of “working backstage: a cultural history and ethnography,” said that, due to economic concerns, many crew members eventually leave Broadway, either for trade union work elsewhere or for other industries.
“Stagehands do such a physical work, and they start to realize that they can have injuries, and they must have someone who protects their interests, and they want pensions and the things we don't think about when we are in the twenties,” ” They said.
There is a widespread expectation that more off -broadway certainties will try to trade unions, and that this will lead to higher wages for employees and higher costs for employers. Tom Kirdahy, a main producer of the Revival Off Broadway “Little Shop”, said the negotiations with the union had been friendly. He said that last month the contract reached the crew, had increased the operating costs of the show, making the need for ticket sales strong to stay strong.
Laboration costs for Stagehands and others represented by Iatse have been an important costs for institutions for larger executive arts, such as the Metropolitan Opera and Carnegie Hall, both non-profit organizations, where overtime and work rules the annual compensation of some of the best paid members From being able to stimulate some of the best paid members of the trade union to a few hundred thousand dollars. It is not clear how similar or inaccurate contracts can be for those at larger locations. “They are wrong because the needs are different,” says Jonas Loeb, the spokesperson for the Union.
There have been some corners of the Off Broadway World with Union Crews for a long time. Lincoln Center Theater, Manhattan Theater Club and Roundabout Theater Company, large non -profit organizations that have both Broadway and Off Broadway theaters, have trade union bonds, just like Stage 42, an Off Broadway Run of the Shubert organization.
But most are not a trade union, and some wonder if they can afford to be affected if they want to retain their role as incubators of new and challenging works, and training grounds for new generations of stage writers, actors and directors.
“Everyone who works on Broadway is usually pro-union, but there are implications, and I am worried about how this will influence non-profit organizations that are already suffering at the moment,” said Adam Hess, a former president of The Off-Broadway League that now works as general manager of Dr. Theatrical management.
York, the president of the Off-Broadway League, called production teams 'essential' but noted the financial challenges that the sector is confronted with.
“In recent years have been difficult, and while we recover, we have to concentrate on reinventing, maintaining and growing this sector for the long term,” she said.
There are various theories about why the crews of the sector did not stay -Union for a long time. Some point to the temporary nature of the labor force (jobs are usually freelance and short) and the entry level of many of the jobs (partly due to the low wage, which means that the positions are often seen as a training ground for jobs with better wages and benefits ).
Also: Off Broadway, at least when it started, had not particularly extensive backstage operations. But that has changed, and the production values have improved considerably as some theaters have become more institutional, with larger budgets.
“If you remember from Broadway and what it looked like in the 50s and 60s, and the small theater movement for that, they were in spaces that were not much physical production – there were theaters in cellars and weird old buildings, and often The actor moved the chair on and out of the stage, “said George Forbes, the executive director of the Lucille Lortel Foundation, who operates an off Broadway Theater and Champions of Broadway work. “It was a different world and a different type of production.”
