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Greater Albany Becomes Equity's Newest Liaison City

In June 2011, a group of about 30 Equity Members in the Albany/Troy/Schenectady area formed the Upstate Equity Actors Alliance (UEAA) in an effort to call attention to their presence in the community and to create more opportunities for work. In May 2012, former Eastern Regional Director Rick Berg met with members from the area and addressed the process of becoming a Liaison Area and the benefits of achieving Equity status, as well as Council's expectations and guidelines for Area Liaisons. Based on their petition and his recommendation, on September 18, 2012, the Eastern Regional Board officially recognized Greater Albany as Equity's newest Liaison City.

With over 400 active AEA members, the Greater Albany AEA area now includes the neighboring cities of Albany, Schenectady and Troy, Saratoga Springs and Glens Falls to the north, and as far south as the city of Hudson, extending to the New York State border.

UEAA President Tim Dugan said that achieving liaison status was the logical outgrowth of the process of bringing area AEA Members together. "We are excited to add another area to our Liaison community," said Flora Stamatiades, National Director, Organizing and Special Projects and staff to the Committee on Area Liaison Affairs (CALA).

Equity affiliated theatres in the area include Albany's Capital Repertory Company, Cohoes Music Hall, Lake George Dinner Theatre, Adirondack Theatre Festival (Glens Falls) and Stageworks/Hudson, who use a variety of Equity agreements to hire members. "There are also many colleges in the area that have benefited from bringing in Equity Actors in the past," says UEAA vice-president John Romeo. "We'd also like to encourage our community theatres to look at hiring Equity Actors."

Albany-area AEA members met with ERD Rick Berg last summer to begin the process of becoming an Area Liaison city.