By Alyssa Goodstein
Ella Fent (she/her) is a server/bartender at Drunk Shakespeare where she has worked for three years. Drunk Shakespeare United Chicago won their first union contract in May 2023, and are represented by Actors’ Equity.
Talk to us about the impact of social media and digital technology in your organizing drive.
I sound like I'm joking when I say that this union was built through Instagram DMs and Whatsapp group chats, but it's entirely true.
While we work in person and see each other almost every day, a majority of our organizing was done online.
The first action we took in Chicago to try to improve our workplace was writing a letter to our CEO, where we asked for raises and some small changes in the theater, and that was written during Zoom calls and a ridiculously long email chain. We had several virtual meetings between our cast and crew and our management, and kept a shared Google Drive with running meeting notes to keep people informed.
When our last meeting with upper management ended on a bad note, we started a group chat to talk about the possibility of unionizing and what that would look like.
How did you decide to seek representation with Actors Equity, and what was the role of the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC)?
I started looking up resources on unionizing a workplace, and that's what led me to the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC).
I filled out the form on their website and got a call the next day from a volunteer that helped pair us with an organizing mentor. The timing was perfect; they were about to start running their remote organizer training series, which I signed up for immediately.
I had weekly conversations with experienced organizers, who were so helpful in getting this campaign up and running, and they helped us to have the confidence to reach out to Actors' Equity.
How did the social media presence of Drunk Shakespeare United (DSU) lead to organizing drives in other cities?
After we were officially adopted by Equity, we launched Drunk Shakespeare United's social media the day after we filed our union authorization cards in Chicago.
Our Instagram page was key to getting the Drunk Shakespeare in other cities involved. We started following cast members in other cities and literally just sending direct messages to them, asking how their theater was doing and how they were feeling about their workplace environment.
We scheduled some Zoom calls, started a group chat with leaders from each city, and by the end of the summer, we had four Drunk Shakespeare locations unionized.
Social Media made it easy to share the resources and information we had gathered, and we created a massive shared Google Folder that all union members could view, so everyone could stay updated on any union news, regardless of their city.
Management spread anti-union rumors in an attempt to union bust. How did EWOC and Actors Equity support Drunk Shakespeare United through this?
One of the biggest rumors that impacted Drunk Shakespeare United was actually spread by a manager years before we started officially organizing.
They told us that Equity wouldn't represent us because we are much smaller than what people typically consider to be an Equity theater, and worse, our show includes on-stage consumption of alcohol, which in management's words “would cause such a legal headache for Equity that it's not worth their time”.
We wanted to make sure the serving staff was covered by the union, and traditionally, Equity was focused on representing actors and stage management, not off stage service workers.
I brought all these issues to my friends at EWOC, and told them we were convinced Drunk Shakespeare United would have to find another option, but they were prepared to deal with misinformation and encouraged us to still reach out to Actors' Equity.
They reminded us that we can often create roadblocks for our organizing drive based on what the boss wants us to believe about unions.
Once I filled out the contact form on Equity's website, they got back to me almost immediately, and welcomed us with such open arms.
What challenges did Drunk Shakespeare's high turnover rate present and how did the organizing committee navigate the difficulties?
We knew it would take time to win our first contract, but I don’t think any of us expected how emotional the turnover would become.
New hires were wonderful and would bring new energy to our negotiations, but seeing friends who were part of the initial organizing drive leave before they got to see the rewards from their work broke my heart.
Our alumni network is wonderful, many of our former cast and crew would check in and ask how the contract was coming along.
Today, I know several former DSU members who are now in the beginning stages of organizing their new workplaces, and it makes me so proud and happy. I might be a little sad that I don’t get to share a champagne toast and a new contract with every Drunk Shakespeare employee, but getting to see other small, weird theaters stand up for their employees is absolutely incredible.
How do you plan to keep the work going to unionize nontraditional workplaces? If you could share a message with other workers who might not see themselves as “eligible” to join or start a union, what would you say?
Union activism has led me to a complete career change as a workplace organizer.
I was so grateful for all the training and support I got from EWOC, that today, I volunteer with them, and they continue to help me grow as an organizer.
EWOC has helped thousands of workers at hundreds of workplaces since 2020, and assist over 200 workplace campaigns at any given time. No workplace is too small and no job is too weird, every worker deserves the protection and security of a union.
I am consistently impressed with Actors' Equity's organizing team, and how accepting they are of new workplaces. From our very first call, they made it clear that even if Equity wasn’t the right fit for us, they would help pair us with a union that could support us.
Even if you think getting a union contract that fits your job seems impossible, or if you think your organizing drive won’t succeed, just take that first step of reaching out and ask questions about what your union could look like because there are people who want to help.
Drunk Shakespeare, as it implies, is drunk. How do you navigate mental health and overall safety in your contract discussions? What if someone needs to stop drinking for health reasons or is getting sober?
It’s a tricky balancing act, but our actor representatives on our negotiating team really stood their ground and stood up for themselves, and it was incredible to watch.
We won limits on how frequently an actor can be scheduled to drink on stage, how much notice they have to receive before a drunk shift, and rules about rehearsal time before drunk shows.
The company has to provide the drunk actor with transportation home after their drunk shows, and in Phoenix and DC, the company will reimburse actors for rides to the theater, so they no longer have to worry about leaving their car at work overnight.
If an actor needs to take a break from drinking for any reason, it is a conversation between the actor, the company, and Equity, to find an appropriate solution that lets the actor rest without making other cast members drink a dangerous amount to cover the actor’s typical drunk shifts.
It’s nice to have our contract and our union as protection, so no one has to have that tough conversation with management alone.
The theater industry is heavily unionized, yet in college thespians are rarely taught about organized labor. What do you wish you had learned and why do you think it is important for labor to be a part of theater education?
I feel very lucky in my theater education to have learned a brief history of performance unions, but it was always treated as less of a protection of worker rights, and more of an elite club you got to join.
I definitely considered becoming an Equity actor as having “made it” in the industry, and the protections that the union had fought for were just seen as VIP perks.
The idea that a theater could go from non union to unionized because the workers fought for it did not even seem like a possibility.
There are so many wonderful theater makers out there, who care about their work and their cast mates, who are willing to put in the work to improve their theater, but they aren’t taught how to effectively use that energy to make change.
Is there anything I didn’t ask that you would like to discuss?
I have said it before and I will say it a thousand times, I am so grateful for every person who helped fight for this contract. This was such a life changing experience, and if you are even entertaining the idea of “what if my workplace could unionize?”, reach out to an organizer.
A unionized workplace doesn’t just help one person, it can help hundreds or thousands of people, in ways you don’t expect. The work is hard, but helping others will always be worth it.
