Actors’ Equity Pushes for Added Tony Awards Categories

The Actors’ Equity Association is pushing the Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing to add two new awards categories for the 2019 Tony Awards (covering the 2018-2019 season): Best Chorus in a Play or Musical and Best Ensemble in a Play or Musical.

The group has started its campaign with the website EveryoneOnStage.com, which includes a petition of that supporters can sign.

From the website:

[box type=”shadow” align=”” class=”” width=””]Chorus and ensemble performers add richness and depth to Broadway productions. Their tireless efforts are vital to making a good show great, and creating those full-company, show-stopping moments we know and love. In some ensemble-driven shows, the way the ensemble interacts is the show.

Many chorus and ensemble performers spend their entire careers in these critically important roles, and are never eligible for the level of recognition that a Tony Award brings.

The chorus and ensemble members in Broadway productions have always been an indispensable part of your favorite Broadway shows. The time is long overdue to recognize their contributions publicly. Join us as we work to bring to life two new Tony Award categories in 2019: Best Chorus in a Play or Musical and Best Ensemble in a Play or Musical.[/box]

This year’s Tony nominations will be announced May 1st and the 72nd Tony Awards will be televised live on CBS June 10th.

Actors’ Equity was founded in 1913 and is the U.S. labor union that represents more than 51,000 professional actors and stage managers. Equity endeavors to advance the careers of its members by negotiating wages, improving working conditions and providing a wide range of benefits (health and pension included). Member: AFL-CIO, FIA.

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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