Tagged With Aea

Fringe and the 99 Seat Theatre Plan

Greetings, Fringers!I have little doubt that you are following the stories surrounding the changes to the 99 Seat Theatre Plan proposed by Actors’ Equity. We visited AEAs headquarters in North Hollywood to ensure we passed on accurate information to you.Question: How do the proposed changes to the 99 Seat Theatre Plan impact HFF15 productions?Answer: Not at all.The 2015 festival is business-as-...

Actors' Equity Association Defies Its Membership and Eliminates the 99 Seat Plan

From the Desk of Actors’ Equity AssociationThere has been an important conversation going on regarding the future of theater in L.A. Today, after receiving and considering months of feedback from members on all sides of the debate, Equitys Council has taken several important steps to address many of the concerns expressed by members in Los Angeles. They have acted in a manner consistent with Equitys long history of advocating for wages, working conditions, collaboration, fairn...

David Elzer Does the Math on the NEW 99 Seat Plan

3RD GRADE MATH with DAVID ELZER!So, truth be told, I never made it past High School, lots of reasons why that was the case, but fear not, I ended up doing ok. Never good at Math though I was pretty fabulous in Theatre Arts – but lately I have had to relearn some basic Math skills since my new dream in life is to be a professional poker player and poker is pretty much all about the Math, well mostly.So here are some simple Arithmetic problems I thought I...

While We Wait for the Lawsuit...

The inter-webs remains a-blaze with opinion. Frankly, I’m not sure what else there is to say that hasn’t been said yet, but that’s not stopping these folks from lettin’ it rip. First, this, from our supposed “theater critic of note” on the subject:While I am the first t...

Some Realities on Producing in the 99 Seat World

I had the great privilege of being among the first-nighters knocked out by Angeliki Giannakopoulos’ innovative stage adaptation of her award-winning PBS documentary MY CHILD: MOTHER OF WAR, which opened Sunday night, April 26, at the 99-seat Hudson Backstage Theatre in Hollywood. Look for my full review soon at Arts in LA but still, Bitter Lemons seems to be the place to make another kind of critical statement this presentation so clearly ascertains. Starring the Pro-99 movement’s own gl...

On Dealing With Bullies

By now my fellow LA-based Equity members have received the latest emails from our so-called “leadership”, one, a bubbling cesspool of condescension, the other, a thinly-veiled attempt to divide and conquer under the guise – once again – of “listening”.Here’s a snippet from the first:Council adopted these changes through a process governed by the terms of a Settlement Agreement that stipulates how changes must be made to the 99-Seat Theater Plan. As a first step, Council propose...

How We Look to the Kids

What was supposed to be 120 minutes’ pedagogy at Cornish College of the Arts this week turned into eight hours’ plotting of the future of show business in America – the ten graduating seniors in Advanced Analysis were too well versed for us to bother much about theater’s past and present. They were aspiring writers, actors, directors, dramaturgs, designers. They were smarter than any ten human beings I’ve shared a room with in dog’s years. It was scary. A jealous part of me wante...

Has Equity Unwittingly Violated Labor Laws By Trying to Make it About Labor Laws?

One of the more repugnant components of the proposals recently rammed down our throats has been the whole minimum wage thing, something NO ONE ASKED FOR and suddenly appeared seemingly out of thin air.Clearly, the Equity “leadership” was doing this to try and tie this debate to Federal Labor Laws and put further pressure on its membership to cow tow to their will. They may have also thought they were covering their asses legally, though their assertion that the 99 Seat Plan has been in violation of...

The 2015 Bitter Lemons' AEA Election Endorsements

Okay. Here are our official 2015 Actors’ Equity Election Endorsements. It’s basically just one person’s opinion, don’t think it’ll matter much in the long run, but we like to be on the record so when the current incompetents continue to screw things up we can confidently and comfortably reply, “Well, we told you so.”When I could, I’ve added a little statement blurb under each of the names so you can get an idea of why we want these folks in and the rest of the rabble out.Only recommend...

A Statement to the NYC Membership from AEA Western Regional VP Candidate Donal Thoms-Capello

Donal asked and we obliged. Again, we are opening up the Bitter Lemons’ platform for other candidates as well. Just ask and we shall oblige. Take it away, Donal!From the Desk of Donal Thoms-CappelloMy Fellow Equity Members,While the 99-Seat issue out here in LA has certainly served as the catalyst to get me more involved in union matters, my motivation to run for office evolves from broader concerns about what it means to be a professional actor in this country...