Actors’ Equity reaches labor agreement on touring Broadway shows

Richard Shavzin, an actor and director, and Ariane Dolan, a chorus actor, wait to hand out fliers from Actors’ Equity Association outside the James M. Nederlander Theatre in the Loop on Wednesday, the opening night of “Jagged Little Pill.” (Pat Nabong/Sun-Times)

A day after members of Actors’ Equity demonstrated at theaters in Chicago and other cities, the union has reached a labor agreement for touring stage productions.

Actors’ Equity which represents professional actors and stage managers, and the Broadway League, the New York-based national trade association for Broadway theater, announced the deal Thursday morning. The joint statement from the two sides did not reveal terms of the three-year contract.

The deal now goes to Equity members for a ratification vote.

Local Equity members had handed out informational leaflets Wednesday night to patrons at opening night of “Jagged Little Pill” at the James M. Nederlander Theatre in the Loop.

Leah Morrow, a Chicago-based Equity member and elected National Councilor for the union, said then that members were seeking “increased wages, gaining increases in per diems needed to cover the rising cost of food and housing on the road, as well as adequate job coverage for stage managers and actors who get sick or injured while on the road.”