BayAreaSM: You're right, I am passionate about this. And sadly, I don't seem to be eloquent enough on this issue to make my point very clear. I am on the AEA Stage Management Committee in my area, and I intend to bring this subject up the next chance I get. We have given too many concessions over the years which allow for theatres to get away with this, and it has to stop.
Part of the problem I'm seeing is that these theatres are not LORT, nor SPT, nor Production, nor any other big conglomeration of producers that work together with Equity to create meaningful negotiations. Two of the companies that I've mentioned have their very own agreement with AEA - both of which I have read extensively and quoted - have plenty of money (they're both commercial), and yet they've each managed to individually negotiate away a rule that I personally think is very important, and instead give a huge responsibility to actors, only during performances, which I have seen (and not only from the audience), actively impair a production.
Let me give some background as to why this irks me so. I began my career working almost exclusively in smaller non-profit theatres, who did nothing but dramas/comedies/non-musicals. I rarely worked shows with a large enough cast to necessitate an ASM of any kind, never mind an Equity one. So I ran lights and sound and set up all the props and mended costumes and whatnot, over and over again, for many years. I loved that work, and still do, but I rarely had the chance to do a musical (or large-scale production) that would allow me to work with an ASM and use that clause in so many contracts. And as a result, I haven't worked with an Equity ASM. Ever. And I haven't worked with even a qualified PA or non-Equity ASM since I first moved to this city, 8 or 9 years ago. I've run the shows entirely on my own.
In the last few years I've begun working in the musical theatres in my area, as an SM or as run crew. I've finally found myself in the land of large-scaled productions that warrant and could afford that Equity ASM - or even a nonEq PA who is eager to learn (I was that girl once, too!). And yet, though I had worked in the contracts that have this provision for qualified SM assistance all these years, I again find myself without any assistance whatsoever. Especially in rehearsals. No PA. No Equity ASM. No ASM of any kind (except, you know, in name only, or the Actor who is asked to move scenery during performance weeks and is given an extra weekly stipend, but doesn't otherwise assist me in any way).
I have had very few opportunities to be an ASM in my area, especially once I turned Equity. I thought all these years that the field was too competitive - that there were too many qualified SM's and too few contracts to fill. I mean, there are only so many places that do musical theatre in my area - and they all seem to have their AEA ASM's pretty well booked, because I never see those jobs posted. Little did I know that they didn't post those jobs because there was actually no one doing them.
I have no qualms with smaller theatres negotiating for concessions because of hardships. But this required AEA ASM provision always seemed a hallmark of our union's ability to negotiate in the interest of SM's. And to see it ignored/abused so rampantly in the community that required this provision in the first place (musicals with large casts or a chorus) is beyond a shock to me. To see Equity going along with it and negotiating away the aspects of the provision that support the stage manager, but only with individual producers, not with the larger grouping of producers like LORT, is frankly insulting.
And I disagree that an agreement with Equity and an individual producer is none of my business. I am Equity, too. Our union is its membership. And as stage managers we should speak loudly so that our needs are heard, because, as so many have mentioned, we are not the majority of the union. I'd bet that these contracts had this ASM provision gradually eroded away because there was no SM speaking out that an ASM was needed. I know I can't be the only one who is seeing this systematic shift to allow producers concessions to eliminate AEA ASM's whenever possible. Shows benefit from good stage management, and SM's need the work, too.