Actors' Equity Releases Statement on Spiegelworld Controversy

As BroadwayWord reported yesterday, Local One of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) put on its largest demonstration in the theater district since the Great Broadway Strike of 2007 when hundreds of union stage technicians and union supporters took to the line on West 45th Street between Broadway and Eighth Avenue on Tuesday, May 22, to protest the use of non-union lighting and audio technicians on the non-union tent show, Spiegelworld's "Empire New York."

Actors' Equity Association has responded to the controversy with the following statement:

Actors' Equity Association urges Foster Mollison Entertainment to bargain in good faith with our sister unions, including AGVA and Local One IATSE, to achieve a fair and equitable contract for SPIEGELWORLD EMPIRE NEW YORK as it begins its run in the heart of the Broadway theater district.

Actors' Equity is among the more than a dozen unions whose highly skilled, creative and talented memberships work tirelessly to entertain audiences on Broadway. Actors’ Equity firmly believes that our sister unions should be represented at this production.

Spiegelworld, according to press reports is "presented in New York by Related Companies and Boston Properties." Both are two of the largest real estate companies in the world who may not be aware of the labor dispute on their doorstep. Spiegelworld Impresario Ross Mollison, who claims to have created "the greatest show New York has ever known" is about to face, as Mr. Claffey often repeats, the "greatest Local in the land."