Broadway remains dark as stagehands strike

Sarah Rebell Staff Writer

For the first time in history, Broadway stagehands are on strike. As a result, most shows have gone dark without the stagehands, who are essentially responsible for their smooth and safe production. In fact, only nine out of nearly 30 shows are running, because they all had separate contracts with the League of American Theaters and Producers.

When their contract expired this past July, the stagehand union Local One began talks with the League in an attempt to negotiate new regulations, citing several outdated conditions in the old contract. The League has had difficulty accepting many of the conditions Local One proposed, and stated that the union is “featherbedding,” meaning that the League is paying stagehands who are not needed and stagehands are making high wages in overtime.

“We have offered [the union] a three-and-a-half percent increase per year for five years, compounded, in exchange for reducing some of the most egregious practices, and they have refused to agree to any of them,” said Richard Frankel, the producer of “Hairspray” and “Young Frankenstein,” to NY1 news. “It’s not that we’re not willing to pay them or we’re not willing to give them substantial raises—we are—we just need some relief from these practices.”

Local One claims to have tried compromising with “bullying” producers who would not give in. The stagehands see themselves as working-class people whom the rich producers are trying to take advantage of. “Unlike the producers, we are not fighting for our second or third homes; we are fighting to keep the one that we have,” read the fliers Local One members have been handing out during picketing.

Other Broadway unions such as Actors Equity and Local 802 (the musicians union) are supporting the stagehands. Although actors whose shows currently are not playing are compensated with a small paycheck, “[The strike] is hurting us financially,” said Heather Parcells, who starred in the musical “A Chorus Line” before performances were halted by the strike. “Contrary to popular belief, our ‘take-home’ paychecks are not that much to begin with and make it somewhat difficult to live in the city.”

Local One’s strike has had a significant impact on the city’s economy, costing it approximately $17 million per day. Not only has this strike come at the height of the holiday tourist season, it has also come at the time of year when Broadway performers ask audiences to give money to their charity, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids.

“[The strike has] definitely been a hardship on audience members and everyone involved, but the most devastating thing about the strike is that it took place during [Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids]’s audience appeal fundraising period,” wrote theater columnist and Broadway actor Seth Rudetsky on playbill.com. “They lose $40,000 a day! And that money is counted on by AIDS organizations all over the world…soup kitchens, hospices, etc.”

“I support our stagehands and believe in what they had to do,” said Parcells. “However, I wish that it didn’t have to come down to this. The producers and theater owners make tons of money, why do the little people have to suffer to prove their point?”