Dunkirk, NY – November is the month when my semi-annual dues payment for my membership in Actors’ Equity Association come up. Today, I decided to tender my resignation from AEA. It wasn’t a hard decision, and in reality it’s one that has been in the making ever since my experience in the summer of 2023 trying to get a performance waiver (see below). Rather than write up a separate post, however, I decided simply to share my resignation letter online. John Fasulo is the National Director of Membership, and resignations have to be addressed to him.
Dear Mr. Fasulo,
Thank you for this reminder concerning my dues payment. In response, I am writing to inform you that I wish to discontinue my membership in Actors’ Equity Association. As a consequence, I will not be paying those dues. I believe protocol requires me to give you a reason for quitting AEA. Here are five.
- At 72 years old, I believe the time has come for me to semi-retire from acting (I don’t think actors ever really retire). The bulk of my career has been spent working in the theatre community of Buffalo, NY, and I have been very happy doing so. Buffalo has a thriving and active theatre scene, and I’ve always been proud of the work it has produced. But given my age and my “type,” I do not see a lot of opportunity ahead for me. Additionally, I live outside of the city limits, and the commute when I’m in a show has become more difficult as I have aged. It seems the wear and tear of a 35+ year acting career is finally taking its toll.
- While I do believe that there will be fewer opportunities for me in Buffalo, what opportunities that might exist would be easier to explore and accept as a non-union actor. It is well-known to all Equity actors in Buffalo that most theatres shy away from hiring Equity actors due to the higher costs and paperwork involved. Over my career since joining Equity, I can point to at least three examples of times when I was up for a role, and the director wanted to cast me, but was denied by the producer due to my Equity status. At this point in my career, while my perception is that my casting potential is diminishing, should a “bucket list” role be offered to me, I no longer want my AEA membership to serve as an obstacle to accepting such a role.
- Tangentially, the greatest benefit of being an AEA member in Buffalo was the higher salary scale. But at this point in my life, that’s no longer a concern. I don’t need the extra money that an Equity contract would offer me. I am grateful to have worked enough shows to have a small Equity League pension to go on top of my Social Security and investment income, so the pension money compensates for the decrease in salary as a non-union actor.
- I also no longer expect to be cast anywhere outside of Buffalo. I do not audition on any regular basis and am not looking for work on a national level.
- Finally, I wish to become more involved with theatre projects closer to home and at the community level. In the summer of 2023 I had a polite but contentious exchange with Ms. Meghan Mackowiak concerning a request for a performance waiver so I could perform in a local community theatre’s new 10-minute one-act festival that they were attempting to get off the ground. I requested the waiver so that I could volunteer for the organization and perform in two of their shows. My request for a waiver was denied, on the grounds that Equity only grants waivers for educational and religious purposes. It seems that Equity members cannot volunteer their talents for good causes. I went ahead and performed in the shows anyway without the waiver and without a contract, and informed Meghan I was doing so, so as to be transparent and above board. Nothing further came of it. Given my experience in this instance, and realizing that my desire to work with local theatres is completely hamstrung by my AEA membership, it behooves me at this point to resign my Actors’ Equity membership so as to pursue my interest in becoming more involved with local community theatres, helping them grow and prosper and bring live theatre to the region.
Those are my reasons for resigning from Actors’ Equity Association. To me, at this point, the dues are a waste of money, and I assume over time they will go up, like everything else in life. I don’t wish to pay $176 annually to hold a membership that has outlived its usefulness to me. If you have any further questions, or if there are any other bureaucratic steps I must take to effect my resignation, please let me know.
Best,
Tom Loughlin
And that’s that. I was a member for 18 years, and if the truth be known, there were only two reasons to join. One was the higher guaranteed pay scale, and the other was for publicity purposes in relation to the Department of Theatre and Dance at Fredonia and its ability to advertise members of AEA on its faculty. I was never a “proud” member of AEA, just a member. I found much to dislike about the union, and little to like. Is there any sense of loss on my part? Sure. True or not, the perception of AEA actors as somehow being “better” continues to linger. Also, it wasn’t easy back in 2006 to get into the union, given its restrictive requirements. But I can always say I did it, I was a member for 18 years, and now it’s over – another “retirement,” so to speak. There’s also a liberating feeling involved as well. I can work anywhere I want now in Buffalo, for example, and not depend solely on the larger theatres to hire me (and they’ll be happy to hire me for less money now!). But as I stated in the letter, I feel the days of commuting to Buffalo are mostly behind me. Let’s see now what I can create locally – that’s where the new action is. -twl
