Actors’ Equity will hand out leaflets outside a workshop of the Broadway-bound Smash musical this week, “warning of the possibility of a strike” in light of ongoing negotiations with the Broadway League regarding compensation for work on shows in development.
Equity President Kate Shindle is expected to be in attendance when the union leaflets the Smash developmental workshop Thursday morning and Friday afternoon outside the Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
The union’s Development Agreement with Broadway League producers covers the development of new works, usually prior to an intended Broadway engagement. Equity and the Broadway League have been in negotiations since January 22, 2024. The current agreement expired on Sunday, February 11.
Last week, the union, which represents more than 51,000 professional actors and stage managers in live theater, voted to authorize a strike against The Broadway League if ongoing negotiations fail. Equity is currently in the process of scheduling its next meeting with the producers’ trade organization.
In announcing the strike authorization last weekend, Equity Executive Director and Lead Negotiator Al Vincent, Jr. said, “We know that show development is work. This development work hopefully leads to successful shows, some of which have long lives with many iterations, that can make a lot of money for producers. We know there is no revenue from the development sessions themselves, but it’s still work, and that doesn’t change whether there’s revenue today or whether it’s an investment producers are making against future profits. And that work must be appropriately compensated.”
Jason Laks, General Counsel and Executive Vice President of Labor Relations at The Broadway League, responded, “We have been engaged in good faith negotiations with Actors’ Equity regarding development work. These negotiations have no impact on any Broadway or touring productions. The contract we are negotiating covers only short-term employment in the early stages of development work on projects that may or may not ever become fully-realized productions. As the Union itself has acknowledged, this work does not generate revenue for the producers. We look forward to returning to the bargaining table and continuing our efforts towards reaching an agreement.”
The League did not have additional comment today. Deadline has also reached out to a spokesperson for the Smash production and will update this post with any comments.
Equity members went on strike in 2019 over Development Agreement, then called the Lab Agreement, a 33-day strike that was the union’s first in 50 years. Any potential strike would target only projects in development for full-scale productions.
Broadway plans for Smash were announced last spring, with the musical – based on the 2012 NBC series – expected for the 2024-25 season. The lead producing team is Robert Greenblatt, Neil Meron and Steven Spielberg, with Susan Stroman directing. Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman are composing the music, and Rick Elice and Bob Martin are writing the book.
The TV series debuted on NBC in February 2012 and built a following that has continued to grow since its cancelation by NBC after just two seasons. In June 2015, a charity benefit concert of songs from Bombshell, the show-within-the-show, sold out Broadway’s Minskoff Theatre just 15 minutes after sales began.
The current six-week workshop was announced by producers last month, with the cast including Brooks Ashmanskas, Alex Brightman, Robyn Hurder, Kristine Nielsen, Krysta Rodriguez, Yvette Nicole Brown, Bella Coppola, Nihar Duvvuri, Casey Garvin and Jonalyn Saxer.
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