Penny Orloff

'Pro99' Actors' Equity Members Send Open Letter to AEA President

Members of the 'Pro99' movement of Actors' Equity Association have issued an open letter to AEA's newly elected president, Kate Shindle, in response to her victory and to her inaugural address as president of the national union for actors and stage managers. The open letter is signed by over 400 Equity members (listed below), including such notable names as Ed Asner, Francis Fisher, Sally Kirkland and Alfred Molina. The 'Pro99' movement formed in late 2014 in opposition to AEA's rollout of a new plan that will effectively force 'intimate theaters' in Los Angeles to pay Equity actors minimum wage, go 'non-union' or even close - despite an overwhelming vote against the plan by 66% of the Los Angeles membership on an advisory referendum. 'Pro99' members around the nation, who take their name from the current AEA '99 Seat Plan' that allows members to volunteer in smaller venues, oppose AEA's new promulgated plan. They are requesting that Equity leadership put a moratorium on the plan until local members' voices can be heard, and that the union work with its members to develop an alternative plan that will more realistically address the needs of the Los Angeles theater community.

BWW Reviews: Jovanka Bach's O'NEILL'S GHOSTS Rivets With Her Stark, Unapologetic Portrait of Eugene O'Neill

Does genius have to be accompanied by totally a-hole behavior? John Stark directs his uniformly strong cast in a slick, strong-handed pace, in which they vividly exhibit the demons alternately possessing and inspiring the playwright's writings.

Rogue Machine Presents Shorts & Sweets

Multi-award winning Rogue Machine launches their popular seasonal offering of original short plays. SHORTS & SWEETS includes DOG IS DEAD by Henry Murray, BREEDERS by Kevin Armento, I MIGHT DO by Marja Lewis-Ryan, and BIT OF A BLOW by Lynn Lobban.

Rogue Machine Presents Shorts & Sweets

Multi-award winning Rogue Machine launches their popular seasonal offering of original short plays. SHORTS & SWEETS includes DOG IS DEAD by Henry Murray, BREEDERS by Kevin Armento, I MIGHT DO by Marja Lewis-Ryan, and BIT OF A BLOW by Lynn Lobban.

Rogue Machine's RANT & RAVE Chapter 7 Takes Place Dec. 7 at Theatre Theater

Rogue Machine takes a group of local (vocal) writers, gives them a topic, and then a time limit. It always proves to be an evening of laughter, tears, some cathartic thinking, and wonderful discovery...with some of the most dangerous minds in the city.