It's Open Season for Actors

You see them on the streets of New York, huddling together in a line, clutching their plastic-lidded double paper cups of hot coffee to ward of the early morning chill like a Walker Percy photo of a Depression-Era soup kitchen. Driven by dreams-not for food, but for something less tangible, stardom-they get up at dawn and stumble out into the cold to fight for a chance to strut their stuff.

It's open season for actors-audition season, that is. Every year between mid-February and mid-April, actors flock to New York for the most concentrated schedule of auditions all year. Ambitious actors who might go to three or five auditions per week can find that many in a day. This is the time when Broadway looks for new talent for upcoming shows as well as possible replacements for current shows and national tours.

Regional theaters look to fill their requirements for summer stock. Producers from all over the country take advantage of the actor-rich environment in New York to cast shows from Florida to Los Angeles. Their presence is a temporary boon to the New York economy.

You mostly see them stuffed within a few blocks around Times Square. They're recognizable from their overstuffed backpacks or wheeled pilot cases full of sheet music, monologues and audition clothes, as they walk hurriedly from one audition to the next.

Audition centers such as those within the Actor's Equity Building, Ripley-Grier, and Nola Studios are at full capacity.

There, actor wannabes are busy stapling resumes to their headshots, mumbling monologues to themselves, warming up their singing voices and changing out of street clothes.

Women remove bulky overcoats, pull dresses on over their heads, then remove jeans, change into pumps, and put on heavy makeup. Dancers have it a bit easier: Nylons and leotards fit easily under jeans and a T-shirt or winter wear, and you don't need a lot of makeup if you plan to dance up a sweat. Men rarely feel the need to dress up.

Equity Holds All the Cards

They fly in from all over the world with suitcases full of hope to any couch where they can crash. Most come from the East Coast, but many come in from points beyond, including Los Angeles. Those who belong to the Actors' Equity Association, the union for professional theater actors, constitute the elite. Non-Equity actors (optimistically referred to as "future members") must arrive much earlier for the chance to audition-only if a union actor misses his or her appointment time or if auditions move so quickly that there's extra time to fill.

There are open auditions that allow everyone to sign up and level the playing field, but these are comparatively few and producers always have the option of choosing to audition union actors only.

AEA members are protected by strict rules that govern auditions. Theaters that hire union actors are often required to hold auditions at defined intervals throughout the year, even if they aren't really looking to hire anyone. An Equity actor or two must usually be hired by the producers holding the audition to act as a monitor. Union actors self-police the audition line based on time of arrival. Six actors are allotted for every 20 minutes.

Once an actor is called to audition, the monitor collects the headshots and resumes. Actors sing a brief song, 16 bars of two contracting songs or maybe recite a brief monologue. Sometimes sides (short scenes from the play) are available just prior to the audition for the actors to read during the audition. The producers might be present, but usually it's a casting director.

For an open call, all actors must sign a list and are seen in that order. Actors line up early in the morning to sign an "unofficial list" the first actor tapes up on a wall outside the audition building. You must belong to AEA if you want to perform on Broadway or in most major productions. Union buttons proudly proclaim, "If it isn't Equity, it isn't Broadway." Even the restroom at the AEA audition center is off limits to non-union actors.

Equity staged a nationwide protest several years ago against a completely non-union tour of "The Music Man," but the production made money and pleased audiences, and the number of non-union tours and productions has continued to increase. This at a time when, thanks to other alternatives offered by movies, DVDs, computer games and the Internet, fewer and fewer people are going out to see live theater of any kind.

A Star in Europe, Nameless in New York

To make matters harder for union actors, with the exception of Broadway and union-sanctioned tours, most regional theaters limit themselves to hiring only a couple of union actors. It is not unusual for a cast of 20 or more to offer only one or two union contracts. One dancer-actress, who asked not to be named, said, "That's why I refuse to join the union. I'm not making as much money, but I'm working all the time. I've had the chance to join Equity several times, but unless I get offered a good role in a Broadway show, I'd rather keep working."

Many union actors are starting to complain about the union's apparent inadequacy in negotiations that may have contributed to an increase in non-union work. Producers of non-union shows generally claim they tried to deal with AEA, but the union was "inflexible."

Of course, there are those who can't wait to join the union, no matter what the cost. Non-union actors are occasionally hired directly into Broadway shows, but it's rare-and Broadway is the goal of most theater actors.

Arianna (who uses no last name professionally) has been successful without being a member of AEA, yet she can't wait to join the union. She got her start in professional musical theater in Michigan when she was only 16 playing the female lead, Mabel, in The Pirates of Penzance. Arianna has studied opera by invitation in Milan. She's starred in musical-theater productions in the United States, Europe and Asia. Her musical recordings generate online digital sales and she has a strong Internet presence .

Here in New York, she's on line-the same long snake-like line as every other hopeful.

"I've been working professionally since I was 16, but I've never had the chance to be offered an Equity contract, even though I performed in shows with Equity actors," she said. "I just moved here from Los Angeles because if you want to perform on Broadway, New York is where you have to be." Arianna is lucky: Her agent can get her private auditions for some roles because of her experience. But union actors still have the edge.

Perhaps veteran actor Joseph Tatner (star of the History Channel's popular special on Nostradamus) summed it up best: "You have to do this job because you love it. If you add up all the cost of years of acting classes, singing lessons, dance classes, photography sessions, headshot printing, resumes, and all the time you spend going from audition to audition or just working on your craft at home, you're probably never going to make as much money as you pour into your career even if you get really successful.

Whether you're union or not, it's a struggle. Everyone has their own story and their own career path and their own sacrifices they make for their art. You can only stay in this business if you have a great passion for it."

As long as Broadway remains the crown jewel of American theater, New York will continue to attract actors. Some will be cast in regional theaters, some will make it to the Great White Way, and some will abandon their dreams and seek "regular" jobs. The next time you see some young person studying sheet music on the subway, tell 'em to break a leg! They just might be the next Robert Preston or Bernadette Peters. Or they might be serving your steak at the local diner that night.