Lakewood, Colorado – When Trey Parker and Matt Stone purchased Casa Bonita, they described the attraction as “the Disneyland of Restaurants” with “Broadway quality entertainment.” Now, the workers who provide that entertainment are organizing with the same labor unions that represent onstage and backstage talent at Disneyland and on Broadway – IATSE and Actors’ Equity Association.
The entertainment workers, including the cliff divers, actors, puppeteers, magicians and crew, are unionizing first and foremost to strengthen their safety at work, with concerns that range from insufficient training to abusive patrons emboldened by alcohol. They are also looking for fair pay and benefits and clearer communication between workers and management.
Equity, as the performers’ union is more commonly called, represents 51,000 professional actors and stage managers on Broadway, at Disneyland and Walt Disney World, and in live theatre across the United States. International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local 7 represents theatrical stage, film and exhibition employees in Colorado, including the entirety of the Denver Metro area. IATSE as a whole represents roughly 170,000 behind-the-scenes entertainment workers across the United States and Canada.
Casa Bonita has been a beloved institution in the greater Denver area since it first opened in 1974. Much more than a restaurant, Casa Bonita was renowned for its live entertainment, including magicians, puppeteers, actors and cliff divers. It gained national notoriety following a 2003 South Park episode set in the restaurant, and in 2021 Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of South Park, purchased the restaurant and embarked on a massive program of renovation and reimagining the property for the 21st century. The challenges they faced in this renovation, which ballooned to an unanticipated $40 million, were documented in the 2024 documentary ¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!. Following a year of “soft launch,” the restaurant fully reopened to the public in September 2024.
“We’ve learned so much throughout the process of reopening Casa Bonita, and while our love for Casa Bonita has grown deeper, so have our concerns about the work still left to do,” said the workers leading this unionization effort. “That is why we’ve chosen to unionize. We believe a strong union contract could help us solve the challenges we’ve encountered around safety, scheduling, compensation and communication. Having a document that clearly sets shared expectations – and the mechanisms to enforce those expectations – will strengthen Casa Bonita and enable us to provide the best possible experience for our guests.”
IATSE Local 7 Business Agent Max Peterson said, "Every person working in entertainment deserves the rights and protections of a union, whether you work in a bar, club, theater, arena, convention center, film studio – or the most fun restaurant imaginable! The performers and crew at Casa Bonita are vital to creating the experience that so many love, and we’re proud to be collaborating with these workers and Actors’ Equity in our shared pursuit to secure fair pay, benefits and working conditions for everyone at this revered landmark.”
“Casa Bonita is the greatest restaurant in the world, so it makes sense that their entertainment workers should be represented by the greatest unions in the world!” said Actors’ Equity Association Director of Organizing and Mobilization Stefanie Frey. “We have a long relationship with IATSE, and we are so proud to stand with them, our union siblings. This sort of coordination could mean big things in the future for unionizing the entertainment industry.”
This announcement comes as entertainment workers across the country continue to organize unions, win contracts, and build on their momentum. In the past two years, Equity’s organizing campaigns have resulted in union recognition for the Characters and Parades departments at Disneyland, planetarium lecturers in Los Angeles, strippers in LA and Portland, and at Drunk Shakespeare companies across the country. Additionally, IATSE Local 7 has had successful campaigns at two Live Nation venues this year: the Marquis Theatre and Summit Music Hall, as well as numerous workers in many departments at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts dating back to 2018.
Equity and IATSE encourage all workers in live performance who believe they would benefit from a union contract to join the union. This includes performers in both traditional theatre settings and other stages. The Casa Bonita performers first connected with Equity via the union’s Organize Your Workplace form on their website. Anyone whose job would benefit from unionization can visit actorsequity.org/organize or iatse.net/join and if neither Equity nor IATSE is the right union for you, you will be referred to a more appropriate fit.
ACTORS’ EQUITY ASSOCIATION, founded in 1913, is the U.S. labor union that represents more than 51,000 professional actors and stage managers. Equity endeavors to advance the careers of its members by negotiating wages, improving working conditions and providing a wide range of benefits (health and pension included). Member: AFL-CIO, FIA. www.actorsequity.org #EquityWorks
The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees or IATSE (full name: International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States, Its Territories and Canada), is a labor union representing roughly 170,000 technicians, artisans and craftspersons in the entertainment industry, including live events, motion picture and television production, broadcast, and trade shows in the United States and Canada. Member AFL-CIO. Learn more at iatse.net
October 16, 2024
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