This past November, the Actor’s Equity Association (AEA) released their second Diversity Report, detailing the demographics of the union’s members, as well as how much they were paid for their work. AEA is the American union for stage actors as well as theatrical stage managers. The union helps to regulate working conditions, hours, and salaries for theatrical performers and stage managers across the country, and since 2015 they’ve been collecting data on their active membership. You can find the 2020 Diversity Report here.
a few notes about the report…
It is important to note that the Diversity Report tracks the number of contracts given to any number of people. For example, data stating that 20 contracts were given to women could mean that 20 contracts were given to 1 woman, or that 20 contracts were given to 20 separate women. So, the data in the report does not signify how many people Equity gave contracts to, just how many contracts were given out and how those contracts were allotted according to the demographics of its members. The report focuses on five job categories in the industry: principal actor in a play, principal actor in a musical, chorus actor, stage manager, and assistant stage manager.
AEA chose to organize their data into two major sections. The first section analyzes data at the national level. That data is then broken down into Equity’s two most prominent contracts: the Production Contract, used on Broadway and certain national tours, and the LORT Contract, used at major regional theatres. The second part looks at regional data from Eastern, Central, and Western United States. All data is further organized by gender, race and ethnicity, as well as age and ability. For the purposes of this post, I will be talking exclusively about the National Data.
age and ability…
I appreciate that Equity includes data on members’ age as well as whether or not they have a disability. These statistics often get overlooked in many studies, but they are especially important to look at in the performing arts. As I wrote about in my previous post, theatre is very exclusive to able-bodied people, both on and off the stage. We often do not think about a crafting our art in a manner that invites older and disabled people into the rehearsal room. Unfortunately, the AEA Diversity Report reflects these sentiments, with just below 30% of contracts going to individuals aged 45-64, and only 4.77% of contracts going to individuals with a disability. Interestingly, both of these numbers increase from the overall National Average when just accounting for Principal contracts for plays (non-musicals). In all stage management contracts, there are less older people, but slightly more differently abled individuals. It is important to note that the data provided on disability is taken from a significantly smaller portion of contracts where members chose to self-identify; members who did not answer the question about disabilities were not included in this portion of the study. The percentages given under the section on abilities is only about 13.5% of the total contracts for the entire study.
Related: 2021: Can We Afford to Go Back to ‘Normal’?
trans status…
The Diversity Report includes a separate section on trans status in the Equity membership. Similar to the above situation, only 13.5% of members chose to self-identify for this section, so the statistics are taken from a very small population. This part of the study showed that over 98% of these members were cisgendered, and that only 0.65% of Equity contracts were given to trans individuals. What we are really looking for in these statistics given by AEA is how they compare to the population of the United States: Equity’s members are a subset of the American population and, therefore, should ideally reflect the American population to a certain extent. As they put it in the study, “if that subset seems to differ strongly from the general population, it means that an external force is creating that change.”
A report done in 2016 by the Williams Institute estimates that around 0.6% of the U.S. population is made of trans individuals. Using this study may suggest that the Equity membership is on par with the national average. However, many would agree that the number of trans individuals is actually higher, and that discrimination and violence against trans folks keeps these individuals from publicly identify as trans. Another study from GLAAD done in 2017 actually suggests that the trans population is more likely around 3%, and that the number is likely to grow as younger people more often identify outside of traditional binaries. That being said, it is safe to assume that Equity’s membership does not reflect the true population of trans individuals in the United States. However, since they have chosen to document these demographics and release them publicly, it is easy for us to track Equity’s progress (or lack of) going forward. Ultimately, it will be up to theatre makers to push for Equity, as well as non-union institutions, to offer equal employment opportunities to all members of the theatre community, including trans individuals.
race & ethnicity…
This section is definitely the most interesting on the report because, while most of the numbers were not surprising (hint: Broadway is extremely white), there were some statistics that seemed unexpected to me. For instance, it looks like principal musical performers of Indigenous Hawaiian heritage made an average of $500 over the average contract in that category. I’ll admit, I am no Broadway buff, so if there is a certain show whose casting may account for this difference, I do not know about it. Similarly, Indigenous North Americans and Asian Americans seemed to have surpassed the average contract salary in several categories. That being said, though, these groups are of the least represented in the contracts given by Equity. As you can guess, the majority of Equity contracts across the board were given to white individuals, with the worst disparity being in the stage management categories. Over 70% of all stage management contracts went to white members, which is significant considering that stage manager’s contracts are often higher paying than performance contracts, according to the average salaries listed in the study.
However, race saw one of the most significant increases from the prior report: contracts going to BIPOC went from 15.3% in the previous study, to 23.3% in the 2020 report. However, Equity acknowledges that this increase is probably due to various productions and tours of Hamilton, a show intended for an almost entirely BIPOC cast. Still, even with this increase, the Equity membership does not reflect the American population, where almost 40% of individuals are BIPOC. As reflected in the data, increases to contracts given to BIPOC are not consistent across all categories. Chorus roles tend to be more diverse and saw a better increase in contracts given to BIPOC, whereas stage management categories are more resistant to change and have the worst racial disparities across all national data.
gender…
While the other sections of this report were pretty uniform across the board, gender statistics were the most inconsistent contract to contract. This is also the section where I look deeper into stage management contracts, because those show even more variance between categories. For all Equity contracts at the national level, 56.42% were given to men, and 44.91% were given to women (a very small increase from the 2017 report). Contracts given to non-binary or third-gender individuals made up 0.24% of the total, and 0.11% went to individuals who preferred to self-identify. National contracts given to men increased in Principal and Chorus contracts to 57% (musical), 56.38% (play), and 54.8% (chorus). However, these statistics completely flip when we get to stage management contracts: 65.49% of stage management contracts and 63.62% of assistant stage management contracts went to women. This comes at no surprise as stage management continues to be one of very few female-dominated occupations in the performing arts industry, that is until you get to Equity’s highest paying contract: the Production Contract. The percentage of stage management contracts given to women drops down to 40.79%, below the national average. In fact, men dominate in all categories of Production Contracts except for the assistant stage management category, where they hold a 40.48% minority. But don’t worry, in all stage management contracts, men out-earn women in average salaries. Transgender, non-binary or non-gender-conforming individuals earn even less than their cis-gender peers on any given contract across all data sets.
in summary
- The Equity Membership is made up of a younger group of people, with people aged 25-44 making up about half of Equity’s membership.
- The union offers almost no contracts to those who have a disability or to individuals who identify as trans, non-binary, or gender non-conforming.
- Most higher paying contracts go to white men. Period.
While these statistics may not be encouraging to most, they give us concrete evidence, and that is what will help us move forward in the fight for equality within the theatre community. It is hard to identify and fix a problem if you don’t have evidence. As I talk about in some of my other posts, it is hard to discuss disparities within the theatre industry when there just isn’t the research to back up your claims. AEA’s Diversity and Inclusion report is a huge step in gaining the the tools and evidence we need to fight for true equity within the performing arts industry.