Equity in the News September 2020

Equity will continue to prioritize relief for members and the industry.

Broadway’s closures also heavily impact the businesses around theaters, including hotels, restaurants and public transportation.

Sandra Karas, secretary-treasurer of Actors’ Equity, was surprised Monday morning when she read The New York Times’ article about President Trump’s income taxes – and the $70,000 that he reportedly wrote off as a business expense for hair styling in connection with his TV show The Apprentice. “It made me laugh when I saw it in the paper,” she said. “The first thing I thought was, ‘That’s not deductible.’”

Mary McColl stated, 'The Senate will rush this nomination while ignoring the HEROES Act, which would ensure that no one loses their health insurance'

Actors’ Equity praised the introduction of a new bill that would offer 100% COBRA health insurance subsidies to workers who have lost coverage during the pandemic.

The shutdown has touched New York in its heart — and its wallet.

Three area theater groups have joined hundreds of others from around the country in an appeal to Congress for $9 billion in emergency arts funding.

Actors’ Equity Association has thrown its support behind Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, marking only the second time in the trade union’s history that it has made a political endorsement.

Taking a rare sidestep from neutrality, the union representing more than 51,000 stage actors and managers across the United States announced Monday its endorsement of the Democratic presidential ticket of Joe Biden and Kamala D. Harris.

More than 260 theaters representing producers in 37 states and the District of Columbia have signed the letter.