New York -- Actors’ Equity Association, the national union representing more than 51,000 professional actors and stage managers working in live theatre, has published its latest biennial Hiring Bias and Wage Gap in Theatre Report, documenting the years 2022 and 2023. This document examines employment opportunity and average salaries for actors and stage managers working on Equity contracts across the country. As with previous years, this report found that the industry is making gradual progress towards diversity and equity in union jobs for stage managers and actors. The report is available in two editions: standard and higher accessibility.
To reach its findings, the report analyzes the distribution of new contracts and the average weekly salaries among six distinct and intersecting protected identity categories: race/ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation, disability and veteran status. This report also examines the intersection of some of these identities to see how age/race, age/gender and race/gender shift these distributions.
Equity has been tracking this data since 2013, and this is the fifth iteration of this report. This year’s report is the first to cover two years of data, as the union intends to do moving forward to give more time for trends to emerge. While Equity cannot legally tell employers whom to hire, Equity leadership hopes that this report will help move the needle and bring to light current progress and challenges in the industry.
“Change doesn’t happen organically,” said Actors’ Equity Association President Brooke Shields. “The whole reason Equity began sharing this data was to bring awareness of existing disparities to the people who make decisions about what shows to stage, who to hire for them and how much to pay those workers.”
“It’s now more important than ever that we take care to ensure our own workplaces can live up to the actual ideals of diversity, equity and inclusion,” said Al Vincent Jr., executive director of Actors’ Equity Association. “I hope this report can support all of us in the theatre industry in doing just that.”
Notable findings of this report include:
- There was a drastic increase in work weeks compared to the previous, atypical 2021 season as theatre reopened post-COVID shutdown, as they continue to approach pre-pandemic levels
- 30.26% of all new contracts in 2022–2023 went to BIPOC Equity members – 8.96% higher than those reported in 2016–2019
- Actors and stage managers over the age of 45 saw 1.18% more contracts compared to that 2016–2019 period
- Women and non-binary members worked on fewer on contracts on average in 2022 and 2023 compared to 2016–2019.
REPORT CREDITS: Report authored by Danee Conley, Director of Diversity & Inclusion for Actors’ Equity Association. Data compiled by Russell Lehrer. Introductions by Equity President Brooke Shields and Equity Executive Director Al Vincent, Jr. Additional contributions by Elizabeth Mason and David Levy. Design and layout by Noah Diamond.
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
April 9, 2025
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