BroadwayWorld.com is proud to present its weekly feature, presented in association with and to celebrate the importance of the Actors' Equity Association. "AEA" or "Equity", founded in 1913, is the labor union that represents more than 48,000 Actors and Stage Managers in the United States. Equity seeks to advance, promote and foster the art of live theatre as an essential component of our society. Equity negotiates wages and working conditions and provides a wide range of benefits, including health and pension plans, for its members.
Check back weekly for new entries from stars of stage and screen on how they got their Equity cards!
"It was 1969 - the final Summer of Love. I was a dyed-in-the-paisley hippie: sandals on my feet, elephant bell bottoms hugging low on my hips, love beads strung around my neck and flowers in my Jimi Hendrix size Afro. While completing my undergraduate studies at the University of Wisconsin (Madison), I learned that Tom O'Horgan was holding auditions for the Chicago production of HAIR, America's first and only Tribal Love Rock Musical. I had to be there or be square, but how? Money was scarce. So, in order to raise round trip bus fare, I sold points in my future career to a few believing friends. Well, I made it to the auditions thinking that I would be told right then and there whether I had made the cut. Imagine my surprise when, after discovering that I was number 426, I was told to return the next day. The little money I had raised did not include funds for an overnight stay in the Windy City. I slept in Grant Park; used the facilities in the Shubert Theatre to freshen up; sang Wilson Picket's "Midnight Hour;" did something "sensitive" when asked to demonstrate movement and, in September, opened in Ragni and Rado's legendary musical as a member of the Potawatamie Tribe. The rest, as they say, is history."
ANDRÉ DE SHIELDS has garnered tremendous critical acclaim as an actor, director and educator. He received the 2001 Tony, Drama Desk and Astaire Award nominations and won the Outer Critics' Circle Award for his performance as Noah "Horse" T. Simmons in THE FULL MONTY, a role he originated at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre and recreated both on Broadway and London's West End. He created the role of Bill and provided "additional material" for the world premiere of LET ME SING at the George Street Playhouse and Charlotte Repertory Theatre. Mr. De Shields recently performed AMBASSADOR SATCH: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF Louis Armstrong (co-written with James P. Mirrione) for limited engagements at the Prince Music Theater in Philadelphia and the Helen Hayes Playhouse in Nyack, New York. He is presently performing in Ibsen's GHOST (starring Jane Alexander) at the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, DC.
In 1998, Mr. De Shields received both Chicago's Black Theatre Alliance and Joseph Jefferson Awards for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical for his portrayal of Jester in the Goodman Theatre production of PLAY ON!, the Broadway musical which earned him the 1997 Tony and Drama Desk Award nominations in the category of Featured Actor. In April, 2001 he was honored with his very own portrait in the gallery of caricatures at world famous Sardi's Restaurant on Broadway.
Mr. De Shields won an Emmy Award for his performance in the NBC television special presentation of AIN'T MISBEHAVIN', the role he created in the Fats Waller musical at the Manhattan Theatre Club and on Broadway, including the 1988 revival. However, he is probably best known for having created the title role in the Broadway musical THE WIZ in 1975. Eighteen years later, sharing billing with Stephanie Mills, Mr. De Shields recreated the role of Mr. Wiz for the 1992 National Black Arts Festival in Atlanta, Georgia. His other Broadway credits include HAARLEM NOCTURNE and STARDUST.
