Equity in the News DC Metro Theatre Arts

On April 21, the Council of Actors’ Equity Association (the national union for professional actors and stage managers in live theater) unanimously passed a new internal membership rule that members may only return to work when the union deems it safe to do so, and that they will not sign over their rights to a safe workplace. Three days later, on April 24, Equity announced that public health expert Dr. David Michaels, who served as Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) from 2009-2017, during the Obama administration, would consult for the union to help develop new model health and safety standards for COVID-19, and would be key to implementing a plan in which member safety is put first and decisions are made with a clear scientific basis.

Known for her acting on stage and screen in such notable productions as Jekyll & Hyde, Cabaret, and Legally Blonde on Broadway, the national tour of Fun Home, and the 2004 movie thriller The Stepford Wives, Kate Shindle has also been acting on behalf of the New York theater community in her role as President of Actors’ Equity Association (Equity). Elected in May of 2015, Shindle (who also serves as a board member for both The Actors Fund and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS) is one of only three women and the youngest member ever in the history of the organization (founded in NYC in 1913) to hold the position.