Broadway may be headed toward its first Actors’ Equity strike since 1968, as more than 1,000 performers have signed onto a union pledge of solidarity while negotiations with producers stall.
Actors’ Equity Association, which represents stage actors and managers, has been in talks with the Broadway League since late August. Their three-year contract expired September 28, and though additional bargaining sessions and mediation are scheduled for next week, union members have already authorized a strike that could shutter 32 productions if a deal is not reached.
At the center of the conflict are rising health care costs. Equity is calling for producers to boost their contributions by roughly $4 million—a figure the union says equates to just 0.21 percent of a show’s weekly grosses. The demand is one of three central points in Equity’s letter to producers, alongside calls for more humane scheduling with appropriate time off and safe staffing levels backstage.
“This is a last resort, but Broadway producers who are bringing in billions must pay a fair contribution for health care benefits,” Equity executive director Al Vincent Jr. said in a statement. “What we’re asking for is exceedingly reasonable. If they can’t pay their fair share, instead of performing in the theater, we may be walking on picket lines outside the theater.”
The push for a stronger contract comes after Broadway posted its most lucrative season ever in 2023–24, grossing nearly $1.9 billion. Union leaders argue that record revenues show the industry can afford improved worker protections. The Broadway League, however, has countered that rising production costs are squeezing margins. “We always prefer to negotiate with our union partners at the bargaining table rather than in the press,” the trade group said in a statement, adding it aims to reach a deal that “benefits both sides and sustains Broadway as a destination for millions of people from around the world.”
High-profile performers including Darren Criss, Brandon Uranowitz, Philippa Soo, Adrienne Warren, Michael Urie, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, and Sean Astin—who also serves as president of SAG-AFTRA—have signed on in support of the Equity position. The strike would also mark the first major test of leadership for Brooke Shields, who was elected Equity president earlier this year.
While Broadway hasn’t faced an Equity walkout in 57 years, other labor unions have taken to the picket line in more recent memory. The musicians’ union struck in 2003, closing theaters for several days, while stagehands represented by IATSE staged a 19-day strike in 2007.
With new mediation sessions scheduled ahead of an October 8 bargaining meeting, the clock is ticking on whether Broadway will soon dim its lights in a labor dispute unseen for generations.
