History of National Tours

[MomCares]

<p>Interesting article. Thanks for sharing it!</p>

<p>

The campaign is partly a response to the continuing threat that Equity leaders see from nonunion tours: There are about 20 {non-Union tours} moving around the United States at any one time, compared with about 25 Equity tours.

But I wonder how many of the 25 Equity tours are low-paying SETA contracts.

Equity tours are typically based on recent Broadway productions, and actor salaries range from $550 to $1,850 a week, plus per diem. Nonunion tours usually come with lower salaries, smaller production budgets and frequent travel days among cities; they are often based on older Broadway productions (like “Annie”) or are unrelated to Broadway, like the “Evil Dead” tour that also ran here this fall.

If some actors are really making only $550/week on Equity tours it is sad, though I suppose at least the travel conditions and safety and insurance status is better. And I’m not sure the “recent Broadway production” distinction holds, as I can think of many recent Broadway shows the went straight to non-equity tours.</p>