While I was in graduate school at Florida State University in Tallahassee in 1970 studying International Relations (don't ask), a friend suggested we drive up to Atlanta to audition for the ensemble of Theatre of the Stars. As we were waiting to be seen, she whispered to me, “I think there are a lot of Equity actors here.”
Equi-what?”
“Actors' Equity – the actors' union,” she explained.
“Do you mean that if we get this job we have to join a union?”
Yes, I was clueless about Actors' Equity Association, how difficult it was at that time to get a card and what it would mean to me to become a member. I got my spot in the “Tots” chorus, did my first show singing and dancing behind Robert Cummings and Mamie Van Doren in – How To Succeed – and came to see how lucky I was. Now, when I am opening my Filofax, I not-so-secretly hope some “civilian” looking over my shoulder will notice my Equity card prominently, proudly and permanently displayed.
