Whether it be Hollywood or Broadway, actors are required to be a part of a union in order to work.
On October 17, three time Tony Award winning actress Patti LuPone turned in her Actors’ Equity card; essentially ending her career on the Broadway stage with the exception of non-union events.
LuPone broke the news via Twitter saying, “quite a week on Broadway, seeing my name being bandied about. Gave up my Equity car; no longer part of the circus. Figure it out.”
During a recent performance of “Hadestown” a cast member reprimanded a member of the audience for allegedly filming the performance when the person was actually using a captioning device used by people with a hearing disability.
LuPone herself has previously reprimanded a member of the audience during a performance for using flash photography. In the case of the audience member using a mobile phone during a performance, LuPone took the phone from the person.
When asked for further elaboration, LuPone said, “when the run of ‘Company’ ended this past July, I knew I wouldn’t be on stage for a very long time. And at that point I made the decision to resign from Equity.” Her management company noted that there would be no further information on the subject.
LuPone earned her Tony Awards for performances in “Evita”, “Gypsy”, and “Company”. Her long career also includes appearances in “Working, Oliver!”, “Anything Goes”, “Noises Off”, “Sweeney Todd”, “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown”, and “War Paint”.
feature photo credit: Patti Lupone AICP Social Media New York 2014.jpg