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The Hardline / Understudies, and actors "calling out"

« on: Aug 08, 2011, 12:13 am »

Background: I'm subbing for the PSM for a revue musical.  I'm doing about half of the shows each week while the PSM is in rep rehearsing another show (so I cover the matinees while he rehearses, and he does the evening shows).  I also subbed for a week for him while he was on vacation, so I've become fairly familiar with the cast and show at this point.  We have 2 understudies that cover the 5 principal roles, and attend every performance, to standby in case they're needed.

The other day I saw in a performance report that one of these covers was going on on a day I would be subbing (today), but only for the second of the two shows.  Her put-in was scheduled yesterday before the 2-show day (already a bit of a no-no).  Turns out that another cast member (let's call her "A") was sick yesterday, so the other cover (not the one originally scheduled), also had a put-in yesterday and ended up going on in the evening show.  Today I arrive and discover that both of these understudies will be going on ("A" is not better).  As far as I know from the PSM's notes, all is well and both are prepared and ready to go on - as one understudy was already scheduled to perform, and the other had one show already under her belt.

But once the cast begins to arrive, I start to hear another side of the story.  Apparently the scheduled understudy's performance today was just so she'd get the chance to go on.  The principal actor she'd be replacing (let's call her "B") did not have an excused conflict, she just planned to "call out" for that show so the understudy could get her feet wet in the role.  Sounds like a nice gesture, but it's not something I've run into before, and certainly not something condoned by producers.  In any case, it was something that did not absolutely HAVE to happen today, since it was just done out of the goodness of B's heart.

And that's when it gets icky.  Yesterday, A arrived for the scheduled put-in and said she didn't feel well enough to go on.  Instead of at that point canceling (or pushing back) the scheduled put-in so that A's understudy could prepare to go on instead, A was pressured to perform in the first show, B's understudy had her put-in, and an additional emergency put-in was scheduled for A's understudy between shows.  So on a 2-show day, the cast had not one but two put-n rehearsals, and the emergency replacement was not the priority.

Clearly, I was not the PSM in the situation yesterday, or I might have made a different call, but today I was, and several cast members wanted the issue rectified for today's performance.  As far as the cast was concerned (and I tend to agree with them on this), B's understudy - who was only scheduled to go on for fun, not for a legitimate conflict - should have been told that she couldn't perform today, so that A's understudy could go on - because A had a legitimate emergency (illness) that took her out of the show.  Instead, we had 3 original cast members, and 2 understudies playing our 5 principal roles.  And B actually watched the show from the house.  And apparently - all of this was done with the consent of the producers.  I found myself quite appalled that this was allowed, but couldn't find any rule that specifically prohibited it.

Is this kind of "calling out" of a show in order to allow an understudy to perform a typical practice?  And wouldn't an emergency situation - like an illness - trump this activity?

2

The Hardline / Reporting violations

« on: Sep 17, 2004, 01:10 am »

I've never had this happen before, and I'm kind of at a loss.  I know we all do this for the love of theatre, and all of us have "let things slide" in order to get the show up at least once or twice.  This is especially true of smaller equity houses.

But this is ridiculous.

There are violations aplenty on this particular show, and all of them are because of the producing organization, and, namely, the producer himself.  At first, there was good faith that these small things would get fixed, so I "let things slide" in the beginning.  Now the "good" faith is gone, and we must count on ourselves to get the job done, which forces us to violate our own rules so that the show will happen (actors doing their own laundry, myself and other actors finding props and repairing set pieces for safety purposes, etc.).  Basically, I have come to believe that this company should never have been granted the right to use AEA contracts, because they clearly are nowhere near AEA-caliber.

So, my question is, when and how do I report these violations to the union?  And how do I do so without reporting our own personal violations as actors and SM?  And this may sound stupid, but my SM weekly report only allows me to report violations for actors, why isn't there a form for producer violations?  Because that's what I need!  Any advice for how to blow the whistle here without hurting myself or my actors in the process?