Equity in the News August 2020

After almost six months of nationwide shutdowns because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Actors’ Equity Association is allowing three theater companies to mount indoor shows using union members.

The venues, all small nonprofits in New England, will be permitted by Actors’ Equity to put on work with union actors.

Indoor productions at East Lynne Theatre Company, Music Theatre of Connecticut, and Northern Stage have been approved by the actor's union.

The COVID pandemic has hit many industries hard, but theater artists have had more trouble than most getting back on their feet, and many are facing dwindling options with no federal safety net to fall back on.

When Disney World reopened last month, it wasn’t entirely clear how a theme park could operate safely during a global pandemic, or if anything resembling a normal crowd would even be willing to take the risk. Earlier this week, the park announced plans to reduce its hours starting in September, after the company reported reduced turnout and “adversely impacted” earnings. Now, Disney has announced plans to open a coronavirus testing center on Walt Disney World property.

Walt Disney World in Orlando announced Aug. 12 that it will be providing an on-site COVID testing center for employees and their families. This announcement came after more than a month of back-and-forth between the mouse and Actors’ Equity Association, which had called for Disney to provide its employees with COVID testing, in order to ensure the safety of Equity members who work in the park. Disney World initially reacted to that request by not re-hiring the 750 union members it normally employs.

Walt Disney World and the union for its actors and singers reached an agreement on Wednesday that will allow them to return to work, more than a month after they said they were locked out of the reopening of the theme park resort for publicly demanding coronavirus tests.

Walt Disney World actors, who argued that the Florida theme park’s proposed coronavirus safeguards were inadequate to protect them, have resolved a dispute over COVID-19 testing, a union statement said on Wednesday.

Florida will begin providing coronavirus testing for Disney World cast members this week, ending a nearly two-month dispute with a union that represents stage actors at the park.

Walt Disney World and Actors’ Equity Association have reached an agreement over COVID-19 testing that will allow actors to return to work at the resort following a two-month stand-off.