BWW SPECIAL FEATURE: How I Got My Equity Card - by Michael Cerveris

BroadwayWorld.com is proud to present its newest 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!

I spent my first year or two out of university doing the usual showcase and non-Equity work in places like the old Cubiculo (essentially a dank basement) and wayyyy off Broadway (i.e. Brooklyn), gathering knowledge and experience, but not much else. However, I had the good fortune (despite my non-union status) to be freelancing with a few provisionally supportive agents.

One of them sent me to an audition for the Wilma Theatre of Philadelphia - perhaps just to get me out of town so I would stop pestering them. At any rate, Jiri and Blanka Ziska, saw enough raw material in me to make them believe they could mold me into something like the actor they needed to play Dorian Gray, in their multimedia adaptation of Joyce's story. That job meant so much to me, not least because it provided me with my Equity card. That meant I had finally graduated from dank cellars, poor conditions and low pay to, well let's be honest slightly mildewy ground floor facilities, somewhat better conditions and generally less low pay...But now I also had the strength and support of my colleagues and peers in continually fighting to improve conditions, compensation and opportunity for all of us.

I got on the train to Philly a college-graduate/waiter/aspiring actor and came home a professional actor/waiter! OK, so it didn't change my daily life overnight, but it really did make a personal and professional difference having achieved the rights and responsibilities of union membership in my chosen profession. To this day, that card is in my wallet giving me pride, gratitude and a sense of validation, that I am a working actor receiving and contributing to the support and betterment of my colleagues and friends.

Click Here for More Entries in BroadwayWorld.com's New Series "How I Got My Equity Card"

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.