Actor Chris Tierney, dressed in the iconic Spider-Man superhero costume, teetered on the edge of the set piece representing the Brooklyn Bridge.  After a dramatic moment, Tierney leapt out toward the audience, just as Director Julie Taymor had choreographed.  The rope attached to his back was meant to hold the actor in a launch-like position, like a cinematic freeze-frame effect.  But, last night things did not go as rehearsed.  The cable attached to the actor’s back detached and the 31-year-old “aerialist” plunged at rapid speed through the stage floor.  Moments later, Jennifer Damiano, the actress playing Spidey’s love interest, Mary Jane, screamed in horror… real-life horror.  Her fellow cast-member had just seriously injured himself in an accident that could have, and should have been prevented.

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Actors’ Equity Association, the theatrical actors union, has finally stepped in and pulled its members from the production until significant changes are made to the show’s special effects.  The show’s press representative has announced that they plan to re-open Wednesday night, but insiders say it will be difficult to make that deadline.

Broadway professionals who are accustomed to dealing with Actors’ Equity Association on a regular basis have been wondering when the union would finally step in and perform the fundamental role they have always claimed to play: protector of the safety of their members.  In an era where producers are forced to hire full-time massage therapists for chorus dancers and must pay hazard premiums to actors who perform on a raked (slanted) stage, it is an outrage that Mr. Tierney was the fourth actor to sustain an injury in this ill-conceived stage extravaganza. (more…)

You hear the stories about the DMV worker asked to remove an American Flag from their cubicle, and the secretary forced to not have a bible on her desk, or the fireman who can’t have a Hooters calendar up at the firehouse.  They all make the headlines and they contribute to the somewhat sanitized work environments now pretty standard in corporate America due to H.R. weenies scared of the ever-annoying “Hostile Work Environment” law suit.

It brings to mind the day I had to meet at the LA Actors Equity Association (AEA) offices to negotiate some special provisions for a show I was hired to manage.  AEA is the union for stage actors and for all you Hollywood types who just deal with SAG, consider yourself lucky that at least you deal with a PROFESSIONAL operation. 

To get to the conference room at the AEA office, I walked down the length of their front offices with a pool of desks on the left and a wall full of office doors down the right side of the corridor.  The offices were for various representatives hired to enforce different contracts based on size of theatre and geographic location this side of the Mississippi.
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