Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our regular Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we'll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.
Actors’ Equity Association, the national union representing more than 51,000 professional actors and stage managers in live theatre, and the League of Resident Theatres (LORT), the largest professional theatre association of its kind in the United States, have ratified a new four-and-a-half-year agreement.
“This agreement demonstrates that despite the hardships of the pandemic, we can build a stronger theatre industry for the workers,” said Equity Assistant Executive Director Andrea Hoeschen, who served as lead negotiator for the union on this agreement. “We are grateful to LORT for working with us to create an agreement that increases wages and job opportunities as well as expanding worker protections. We are optimistic that this agreement will also afford LORT opportunities to recover from the pandemic and expand their audiences moving forward.”
The contract includes meaningful salary increases and growth in all three job categories: chorus, principals and stage managers. It also widens equity, diversity and inclusion protections, including regarding hair styling and costuming, and expands protections against bullying, discrimination and harassment. It also expands flexibility in media and community outreach, enabling theatres to rebuild and grow audiences, and it creates additional opportunities for the development of new artistic work at LORT houses.