I Support Blue Man Group in Toronto
I am a member of the actors union in Canada known as ACTRA, they support the Canadian Actors' Equity Association in a boycott of the theatrical experience known as The Blue Man Group.
My union has asked me to boycott this show, because the union wants a portion of the work to go to union members, as The Blue Man Group is a non-union show they don't have to hire union workers.
I am appauled that my union would as me an artist to boycott the work of fellow artists.
The Blue Man Group stands to bring money to local business', will hire Canadian performers, will be an asset to Toronto's alternative theatre experience and will bring tourist dollars into the city. I think it is selfish, and demonstrates how power hungry unions can be; perhaps the union should stop wasting time and money bullying the Blue Man Group and rather focus on getting more successful shows to stay in Toronto and then they can ensure employement of their memebers.
I am a working actor who has been performing on stage in Toronto for the past six years and I believe:
There is plenty of room in Toronto's theatre community for Blue Man.
3 Comments:
after the milionth email from Equity/ACTRA ("Come on out and join in on the fun, together we can shut Blue Man down") I got fed up and replied with the following:
This boycott is an embarrassment. I will be too busy working to go and celebrate people's efforts to try and shut down what theatre we have left in this city. There has always been room for both union and non union work in this city I can't understand why this has changed. With friends like ACTRA and Equity, performers certainly don't need enemies. If you want union theatre in this city, go out and make it, don't waste my time and my union dues trying to get me to shut a theatre down. If this were really a mandate, you would be picketing RenFest and Medieval Times - both major international franchisees who employ actors, not drummers, and who are all still running in Toronto. Why am I not being asked to picket in front of YTV, Corus, or other stations who don't use union workers? Should I not hire a private tutor because I am with Actra and this person is not with a teacher's union? Should a nurse not come to see my Fringe Show because I have non union performers in it? I understand that you want to hold theatres to a certain standard, and I understand asking theatres that can afford to, to go union. What I don't understand is trying to shut theatres down and celebrating the hope that we will. Actra is putting the cart before the horse and we look like children - if we can't have theatre the way we want it, then we've decided it can't exist? Shame.
Spend your time and my money bringing theatre and work to this city, not by making banners and having parties to try to shut it down. I have work to do, I suggest you do yours.
~Amanda~
I wholeheartedly agree with both posts. There is certainly a place for unions in this day and age, even in the arts, but when a union that should be promoting art tries to shut it down, there's definitely something wrong. I'm a member of the musicians' union (I haven't gotten a barrage of e-mails asking me to boycott the Blues, but I'm pretty confident that they're in on it too). I play union shows, I play non-union shows. The union has a few small perks, but really, when it comes down to it, it's pretty darn useless.
I'm playing a couple of shows in Toronto next month, so I'm off to see if I can find any "Blue Man Group" t-shirts that I can wear to show my support...
Well said Marco! who gives a shit if it's union or not, it's a great show. The union does need to get a life and spend more time worrying about the lack of production in Canada and do something about it (yeah right...)
Muggsy
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