Actors’ Equity Association continues to expand its Los Angeles footprint with a new senior staffer taking over its western outpost.
Gail Gabler is set to join the stage actors union Dec. 1 as its western regional director/assistant executive director. She’s leaving a position at the SEIU Local 721 in Los Angeles for the position with Equity.
“Gail is an accomplished and experienced union leader,” Mary McColl, Equity’s executive director, said in a statement. “She will be integral to Equity’s continued work to bring Los Angeles theater to the forefront and use her organizing and member mobilization skills on behalf of the entire membership in the western region."
In addition to managing the Los Angeles office with its staff of 19, Gabler will be responsible for overseeing the union’s operations in 14 states, including collective bargaining, contract administration, and staff development.
“This is an exciting opportunity to represent Actors’ Equity Association’s western region,” Gabler said in a statement. “I look forward to calling on my labor movement experience in the support and service of Equity’s incredibly talented and dedicated membership.”
The union, which opened its new L.A. office in September, recently commissioned a survey by Hart Research Associates to gauge its membership's opinions on the city’s theater industry. The union is also set to hold focus groups in November. The results of the two efforts will be combined into a report for the union’s national council, which will then develop a “strategic plan” set to be announced in early 2015.
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