Hi all - hopefully this is the right place for me to ask this. Not sure if many people in here are super well versed in the theatre world, but hopefully someone is and can help me out!
I am a current high school student looking at a multitude of colleges. Although I am not planning to major in it, I would love to do college theatre as an extracurricular. Due to a stroke of luck in high school, I was cast as one of the main roles in a national tour and got my Equity card. This means that I cannot perform in non-Equity theatre productions. This is very unfortunate, but does anyone know if I would be able to participate in the technical side of college theatre at least? I’m not really interested in going into theatre as a career/for the rest of my life (bolstered by the fact that my parents don’t support that at all), but I’m honestly very hesitant to give my Equity status up. (Also, I consider this a pretty strong extracurricular - does anyone have ideas on ways to frame this in my college app?) Thanks to anyone who can help!
Have you asked the Actors’ Equity Association about whether participation in college theatre can be an exception to the rule?
Ask here as well http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/theater-drama-majors/
Is that you can’t work in a non-Equity production or is it that you can’t unless you get their permission? And how hard is it to get that permission?
Or are you eligible for the card but can wait before you join Equity?
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/7932319/#Comment_7932319
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1796565-how-soon-to-get-equity-or-sag-cards.html
Or are there certain colleges that are Equity schools?
If the rules are similar to SAG, you should be able to do the technical side, just not perform. (My daughter was SAG and was unable to be in anything on camera, even for student productions, but she is able to do any tech/stage work that she wants).
But yes, if you’re an Equity member just give them a call or email. You may also be able to put your membership on hold (my daughter did this with SAG when she got too busy with school to audition). But actually now that I think of it, she still can’t be on camera while on membership hold, but it stopped the dues. But Equity might be different, just call!