Anna Zavelson is an Asian American actress who starred as Young Allie in the Broadway musical The Notebook, and is currently acting in an off-Broadway production of Masquerade. She has been acting, singing, and dancing for most of her life, was involved in Zach Theatre’s Pre-Professional Company, and has advanced to nationals in numerous vocal competitions such as the National Association of Teachers of Singing. A current senior in the University of Michigan’s Musical Theatre program, Zavelson draws on her professional experiences to offer a deeper look into the Actors’ Equity Association strike, its impact on performers’ livelihoods, and the broader cultural dialogue surrounding equity in the arts.
Aurna Mukherjee: Do you feel that all the different roles within the production process from actors to stage managers are being treated fairly in the negotiation, and why or why not?
Anna Zavelson: I think that there’s so many people that are necessary to make a Broadway show and everybody is working incredibly hard. I also think that what I’ve learned through this off-Broadway contract, through the show that I’ve been doing, is that the level of responsibility and what is required of everybody differs throughout every show. These contracts are so hard because of the industry and because our jobs are so unique that every show comes with a different set of requirements. Because of that, I think it’s really hard to have a contract that encompasses everybody’s needs fairly.
In general, I think that we will eventually come to a place where everybody’s getting exactly what they need, but right now it does feel like there’s still inequality in terms of what we’re paying different people to do and also, in general, the respect and the credit that we’re giving to everybody. That’s really interesting, because I only speak for Masquerade, because it’s the first time that we’ve given a standard off-Broadway equity contract to an immersive show. And so, while the strike has been going on, we’ve mostly been focused on our own contract because we’ve been working with equity to form this new contract, and we’ve been trying to advocate for ourselves as actors and for our crew and the rest of our team on what we need. So I feel like my experience as of late has been just noticing all of the flaws in the off-Broadway contract and where we really need to improve.
AM: Yeah, that makes sense. Is there something in particular that you think matters most within these contracts? Are there any kind of opportunities for long-term change that you think it could bring?
AZ: Though I don’t know the exact details, there was an issue with swings and coverage. Being on a show right now where we are very struck for coverage is honestly one of the harder aspects of the job. I was debating calling out tonight. And I think I am still going to try to call out tonight, but we barely have enough coverage to the point that if enough of us call out, we have to cancel the show, and I know that it’s that way for a lot of shows on Broadway. When I was doing The Notebook, I was right next to The Outsiders, and they were having so many problems with coverage.
It’s hard to finance a Broadway show and so the last thing to get filled in is a swing, and the last thing that people want to think about is having to hire emergency covers. But what happens when we don’t have enough coverage is that we have to cut tracks. People have to go on without doing put-ins and that just puts a lot of other people in danger. The Notebook was a really small cast in a small show, so we didn’t run into that issue, but it’s an issue for other shows that are really physically demanding. I know for Sunset Boulevard one of my friends was a swing and they had to go on without a put-in. That can be really scary. I had heard talk of trying to get rid of on-stage swings or off-stage swings, and trying to make on-stage swings really the only track just runs into a lot of problems because people are cutting corners to try to save money and it gets dangerous for the actors that are having to cover those tracks.
AM: Yeah, that makes sense. One thing that I was curious about is that for the general public, this level of information is not there—how would you say the public perception of Broadway relates with the actual working conditions and contract issues being negotiated? Is there anything that you think people should be aware of from the outsider perspective as well?
AZ: Before I joined the Broadway community, I didn’t know a lot about how hard it is, and specifically did not know a lot about our contracts. I think that the public perception for a lot of people is probably something around, “I bet they get paid a ton of money and it’s super glamorous and Broadway is the dream.” But I think that even though all the news about the strike has been really vague, people have been starting to realize that it’s just a job and we work really hard. Right now I’m in the building that I’m in for like four and a half hours of my day every day, and then more on two show days. So it really does just feel like clocking into a job and getting work done just like most other nine-to-fives. But I think that people don’t realize how disorganized and how in flux it always is.
When these negotiations are happening, because throughout all of the years new shows happen, especially as technology advances, we run into other issues. I know [Here] Lies Love was one of the big shows that people had heard about where we had to really take a step back and question what we are doing to protect the rights of live musicians and how our contract treats our musicians. The musicians were threatening to strike, and I think that it’s just so confusing because we have a lot of different unions and the general public isn’t let into a lot of these conversations. Even for the actors, unless I was actively seeking out the terms that we were fighting for and actively going to these equity meetings, a lot of us (especially non-union actors) that are trying to get in the rooms are unaware of what we have the right to ask for and what we’re currently being offered.
It does just feel like information is scarce and all over the place. I’m just grateful that I have a lot of experienced older actors that have been in equity for a while that are able to share this information with me. As somebody that relies on these standard Broadway production contracts but isn’t currently on one, it was really hard to get that information just because I wasn’t actively in those talks.
AM: Just to make sure I understand, for people that are emerging within the space of Broadway, it’s difficult to get that transparency.
AZ: Yeah. It’s also funny because I’m running into this now on an off-Broadway contract, but a lot of people that come into the industry are really young. We’re twenty-year-olds and it’s just super exciting to get paid money and to have health coverage. I think it takes being in the industry and realizing what is fair and what we should be given to really understand what’s happening now and where we can improve because a lot of the young people, and I speak for myself, just go into it being excited. I’m getting paid so much more than I used to get paid. I don’t know what’s wrong with this. If I’m in the building for literally all of my day, I don’t see an issue with that. I’m just happy to be there. There’s the difference in seasoned vets and in the young people that are just new and excited. So it can be hard to take in all of this new information and really digest the fact that our contract isn’t perfect and that the industry is not perfect.
AM: Do you think political leaders tend to do enough to protect live theater and Broadway as a part of American culture? How can government funding play a role within that and is there enough of an effort in that area?
AZ: Speaking for the current times, I definitely think there is not enough of an effort. I think that when we have political leaders that don’t care about anything except for themselves, then important things like the arts get thrown aside. I think that just in general, it can feel like the arts are not integral to society and that the arts are not as important as a lot of other aspects. But there are shows that are out right now like Ragtime that are actively making people think and hopefully changing people’s minds on how they treat others and how history is continuously repeating itself.
Even aside from that, I think that just Broadway and commercial theater is necessary to society. We always joke that we’re not neurosurgeons; we’re just doing theater. And so I do think that theater is something that is a privilege to experience, but I also think that it is really important that we are given the tools to share our art. I feel like we run into political figures that are not only not supporting the arts, but also actively shutting down productions that are trying to make change and actively trying to limit what voices can be heard. I think that it’s a huge problem because the media in general is trying to take away diverse voices which is something that’s really scary.
AM: Yeah, that makes sense. I remember with The Notebook production, there were a lot of people that changed races between the production time frame and was wondering what your thoughts are on that?
AZ: It was interesting to watch people get upset over something that was just a creative choice and that was trying to open up the story to make it universal. I do appreciate when art makes people really think and I appreciate when art is divisive. I appreciate the fact that we were able to have these kinds of conversations, but I also ran into a lot of old white people that didn’t understand it. Why would they change races? That doesn’t make any sense. But we were all wearing the same colors. We’re all being called Noah and Ally. I don’t understand where the confusion lies because I feel like we tried to make it really clear. I also just feel really grateful right now to be in a show that’s taking creative risks. It’s Phantom of the Opera, so that’s about as commercial theater as you can get.
But we’re trying to tell a story in a different medium and trying to do something that really is pushing the envelope. In this climate nobody’s giving money to the arts and investors are really hesitant to invest in shows that aren’t going to make money that don’t have stars attached or aren’t obviously going to turn a profit, we’re lucky to have people that really cared and that just really wanted this to happen. Because we’re not reliant on a Broadway house and we’re not competing with all the other Broadway shows; it feels like we have a little bit more freedom when creating this show to really take risks. I feel really grateful that I’m in that position, but I also know that many shows that are happening right now just feel uninspired and it’s a sign that we’re just really struggling to bring theater audiences in because we don’t have support from the government.
Everything costs so much money. We’re having to charge so much for tickets because it costs so much to run these productions and it really does feel more than ever that theater is a privilege and that the really wealthy upper-class, usually old white people, are, like, the only people that have access to theater. The shows that are being presented right now reflect the demographic that we’re pandering to. I’m hopeful that Broadway will change. But right now, I feel like a lot of the most creative things are low-budget off-Broadway shows that are just doing art because they need to do art, and luckily there’s been a lot of that popping up across town and luckily people are starting to realize that the word Broadway doesn’t mean everything and they’re branching out to explore new art, which is exciting. But it’s just a weird shift that we’re going through.
AM: You already touched on this, but I have a question on the topic of off-Broadway shows and recognizing that there are other types of art. What would you say public awareness and audience support plays in influencing the outcome of some of the talks that go on? Do you think that creates a major shift in some of these discussions? What can the public do to really make a change from their part as well?
AZ: It’s hard and it feels unfortunate because, specifically for the Broadway contract, I feel like audience support of Broadway shows and just bringing in audience revenue is probably one of the only ways that we’re able to balance out and make sure that everybody’s getting paid what they need to be paid and has long running sustainable jobs. I think that the problem with so many Broadway shows right now is that they open, and nobody goes to see it. They’re open for a month and then all of the people working on that show lose their jobs. It’s hard because I just talked about how I don’t think that Broadway is exciting anymore, but Broadway shows are asking people to pay obscene amounts of money to support them and that’s what’s necessary to support these actors and the crew and all of the people that are working on these shows.
It hopefully will continue to be a balance because there are some really exciting shows that come out and I think that, when really creative and really special things go to Broadway, it’s up to the public to show that they’re resonating with these pieces. Hopefully producers will start to realize that when original shows are good, people will go support them. The Happy Ending and Dead Outlaw didn’t last very long unfortunately, but there are some Broadway shows that are really special and that are telling an important story and I hope that they’re able to reach levels of levels of notoriety with the public so people can actually come and support us and these contracts can actually mean something because we’ll have a job for more than a month.