Amid the Equity strike against developmental work, industry presentations are still occurring, though under altered contract terms.
One such presentation, “Chasing Rainbows: the Road to Oz” a musical about the life of Judy Garland that includes Equity actors but a non-Equity producer, went on as planned Thursday, after an initial disruption to rehearsal time.
“After members were asked to walk out of a rehearsal, Equity reached an agreement with the producer, who is independent and not a producing member of the Broadway League, at higher terms than our standard minimum,” said Brandon Lorenz, an Equity spokesperson.
A spokesperson for the production confirmed that the show had an agreement in place for the staged reading, reiterating that it was not a lab.
Under the strike terms, Equity members, and now Equity member candidates, are not allowed to accept roles under a lab agreement, workshop agreement, staged reading contract and stage reading guideline in works produced by members of the Broadway League.
Just walked out of rehearsal as @ActorsEquity has declared strike on all new Broadway show development. So glad to see my union holding strong for a much needed agreement! #NotALabRat pic.twitter.com/IXyvuHL7a4
— Andrew Keenan-Bolger (@KeenanBlogger) January 7, 2019
The spokesperson for “Chasing Rainbows” would not confirm the producer. The show previously held a series of presentations in 2017, produced by Richard Winkler and Jo Ann Bono.
The principal actors in the reading included Keenan-Bolger, as well as Ruby Rakos, Daniel Reichard, Sally Wilfert, Karen Mason, Michael McCormick, Colin Hanlon, Samantha Joy Pearlman, Andrea Laxton, Violet Tinirello, Sophie Knapp and Christina Maxwell.
The readings follow developmental productions that the show had at Flat Rock Playhouse in North Carolina and Goodspeed Musicals in Connecticut.
