Producers of Broadway's "Hairspray" have provided a $1,000 recoupment bonus to each of 31 cast members and stage managers of the original show produced at Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre.
The compensation comes under a rule of Actors' Equity Association's Production Contract, negotiated in 2000. The "Hairspray" bonus represents the rule's first implementation.
As explained by Ken Greenwood, Equity's senior business representative, Rule 72 covers an Equity-contract production transferred to Broadway by a producer with financial interest in the original show. The original actors and stage managers shall receive a $1,000 bonus when the show is certified to have recouped 125% of its capitalization. According to Greenwood, the rule carefully defines financial interest as well as other criteria for bonus payments, including a time limit.
Equity Executive Director Alan Eisenberg, who was chief negotiator during the 2000 Production Contract talks, said, "The rule reflects Equity's strong belief that original cast members, who contribute to the artistic and economic success of a long-running Broadway show, deserve recognition—in real dollars and cents—for their indelible contribution to the creative process."
"Hairspray" opened at the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle on May 30, 2002 under a Western Civic Light Opera (WCLO) contract, and subsequently opened on Broadway on August 15, 2002. The musical, budgeted at $10.5 million, recently reached the 125% recoupment threshold under the rule. Equity Business Representative Louise Foisy oversaw the claim.
Equity stated in a press release that it recognizes original cast members' creative contributions "in a variety of ways. For example, actors who appear in an original showcase code, 99-seat plan, or other Equity code production of a new work are entitled to a bona fide offer to appear in the first subsequent contract production of the play (within three years), or receive a buyout in lieu of the offer.
"Under other contracts (e.g., Off Broadway, Stock, Small Professional Theatre and various Letters of Agreement), actors are entitled to an offer or buyout if the producer has a financial interest in directly transferring or upgrading a production," the release noted. "Equity also negotiates Workshop Contracts for commercial projects with salaries, buyouts and/or royalties."
Eisenberg emphasized that Equity has recognized the synergetic relationship of regional theatres and Broadway for many years: "When nonprofit and commercial producing interests co-mingle, we have to protect the interests of the actors and stage managers as well. Equity achieved this important bonus in the last Production Contract negotiations, and will revisit this provision in 2004."