Confessions Of A Non-Equity Actor In The 2024 Audition Season
My name is Wendolyn Marie Hannum, I am 24 years old, and in 2022 I graduated from Stella Adler Studio of Acting’s Professional Conservatory here in NYC. I moved to the city in 2019, and have been auditioning steadily ever since. I am also Non-Union, meaning I do not belong to the Actors’ Equity Association.
This means that while I am able to audition for, and even work Equity jobs, it isn’t guaranteed and the process is a little different. While there are always total open calls, non-equity appointments, and eco casts via Actors Access, a lot of the “big” auditions in NYC for regional theaters and Broadway take place via ECC or EPA. Because I am not a member of the Union, and unable to sign up for an audition slot prior, the best way to get seen is by showing up, and signing the unofficial list, and hanging around hoping that the Monitor accepts our (the non-union girliesTM) list, and then hoping casting decides to/has time to see us. I want to preface everything that follows by saying that this is all just my personal experience, and I’m sure that other people experience it differently.
This process is crazy! I personally have never been a huge fan of going to Pearl or Ripley Grier at all hours of the morning/night to sign up, but for the shows I truly believe I am right for, I will do it. However, I’ve noticed that this part of the procedure has gotten incredibly out of hand as of late. Whereas in 2019 and early 2020 I could show up around 8 or 9am for a 10 o’clock call, and I would say that the majority of the time I would get seen, nowadays, it feels like unless I get my name on the list at 5am or earlier, the chances are so so much slimmer. Prior to the holiday break this year, a lot of lists were even starting the night prior! While we are an ungoverned and unregulated body, this just feels incredibly wrong and inconsiderate of one another. Not to mention, being out that late can be unsafe or just not possible for a lot of people. That combined with the fact that, to my perception, lists are getting thrown out or not accepted a lot more frequently, has truthfully been very discouraging and sort of forced myself to change the way I approach an Equity open call.
One small shift that I do feel like is starting to happen is that as non-union people, we’re starting to agree to scrap the old list and start a new one, if we arrive at the time the building is actually open, which is 8am. While I do have some personal guilt around this happening to people who got up really early to sign up, it does feel like a more fair solution. If I’m in the room at 8 and wait there the entire time, I do feel like I should be seen before someone who strolls in the afternoon after signing up the night prior. That being said, I do understand that we all have our own unique circumstances and jobs and lives, and we’re all just doing our best to audition and get seen and move our careers forward.
I will say that what I am speaking about above is primarily the process as it occurs at Pearl or Ripley Grier Studios (and occasionally Open Jar). There is also the Actors’ Equity building! This is a sort of different process! At the Equity building, they do not accept lists made outside the building at all, but the building opens at 6am. At the time the building opens,non-equity actors are welcome to come in, sign up on the non-union list, and that is usually the only list made for that day. So what usually happens there, is that people start to arrive between 5-6am, and form a line outside waiting to be let in. Usually I try to aim for arriving around 5:45, knowing I will not be first in line. Usually I’m anywhere from #15-35, depending on the call and the day. I feel like going to the equity building is such a catch 22- the space feels safe and secure, the staff are kind, and there’s a ~little~ more regulation going on so it feels a bit more “fair”. However, as of today, I am 0/6 on luck at getting seen at the Equity Building this winter.
On the flip side, I have had slightly better luck at Ripley and Pearl! So far this year I have been seen at 4/9 call’s I’ve been to. Two were EPA’s, one of which was for a new Broadway show and the other was a Regional Theater’s season, and the other two were ECC’s. The tricky thing here is, other than one of these successful auditions (successful meaning that I was seen) I actually showed up at 8am or later! One of the ECC’s was even a type out to decide who was seen in the room, so the time I arrived ended up not mattering. Which I do think proves that we do not need to be waking up in the middle of the night and venturing to 8th Ave or Times Square in order to be seen.
Another factor at play here, is that as a non-union actor, we are sort of at the mercy of the Monitor, the Casting Team, and how many Equity show up that day! And this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Something I do try to keep in mind for myself, and remind my friends when we are commiserating, is that these are technically equity spaces, and therefore not “built” for us. That’s not to say that there isn’t space there for us, and that we don’t deserve respect while we’re there; just that us getting seen and auditioning at ECC’s and EPA’s is an extra bonus, not a given. And with open access to the union, there are a lot more people in Equity who need to be seen before they open it up to non-union folk. It’s frustrating, sure, but it is the reality.
Writing this all out is actually so crazy. I think we all know this process is a little weird and so so broken, but putting it all on paper is wild. The system is extremely broken and ironically un-equitable. It’s so tricky, and I don’t know what the right answer is to fix it. My “best case scenario” is probably different than yours. One shining light and community within this community this year, has been Spencer over at Limelight (look them up on tiktok and instagram!) and the meetings we have been having around attempting to solve the issue of the non union list. I really encourage everyone, union and non-union, to check out a meeting, or the notes regarding the movement linked on their instagram. Knowing other people care as deeply about this as I do has been so positive and reassuring.
Something I have noticed this audition season is that a certain amount of etiquette and patience has flown out the window on the part of the auditioning actors. This is a generalization, but these are things I’ve noticed happening with an alarming frequency. The first is starting with the actual sign up! If I could address the crowd of young non-equity actors: Please do not sign up yourself and ten of your friends on the list if you are not all already there! This is just objectively wrong and unfair. Now, I’m not talking about someone signing up one friend, and tag teaming with them throughout the day to make the audition experience more positive. I actually think that is great, if that is something you can do! The second is being kind to the Equity monitor and staff in the studios. I don’t know why this seems to have ramped up more this season, but the number of actors I’ve seen borderline harassing monitors and staff who are just doing their job is crazy. I think we need to take a step back and remember that what we do is important, but not that serious, and being kind will get us further than any anger or irritation. Not to mention, it’s just the right thing to do! The last big thing is etiquette in the holding rooms. While I know that these rooms are often too small to hold all the equity members, let alone them plus fifty extra non-union actors, we can still all be spatially aware of the room, other people, and their belongings.
My personal experience this season, truthfully, hasn't been the most positive one. Not getting seen, the list situation being so unpredictable and out of control, other actors being rude or unkind, and also just that it seems like casting teams are far less likely to decide to see non-union or even take drop offs this year. I’m also 24 and have been at this for a minute; I’ve done my time waking up at 4am and waiting until 6pm and had that experience. It wasn’t always a bad one, truthfully. But I am an adult with 5 jobs, and a life outside performing and I have just made the decision this year that I am limiting myself to one, maybe two open calls a week. Just for my sanity! This combined with work, commitments to friends, and also just getting a good night's sleep multiple times a week, and any other audition appointments and self tapes, is still shaping up to be plenty to fill my schedule and my time.
I’ve just really leaned into the idea that what is meant for me will not pass me by, and that putting my own physical and mental health first is more important than proving that I “want it enough” to go to every single call or wake up at 3am. I definitely still have fomo about not going to a call and then hearing that my friends got seen, or deciding that work is more important that day. But that is a part of my personal path and I’m really trying to stick to that. I also acknowledge that while showing up to 15 ECC’s and EPA’s this year doesn’t feel like a lot to me sometimes, it is! Some people cannot go to any. I’m privileged enough that I am frequently able to build my own work schedule, or bring my laptop and work from a holding room. I know not everyone is that lucky and that taking off work and sitting in midtown for hours multiple days a week isn’t possible for most of us. I personally have tag teamed with a buddy or two, and worked as a team to take turns waiting throughout the day, bring each other coffee, and keep each other updated if someone needs to go to work. I think this is how it should be! This industry is yes, an industry but it’s also a community. Art really can only thrive when it is fostered and cared for by the community, and I think in theatre’s case, this begins in the audition process. Teamwork really does make the dream work!
All in all, auditioning is wild.
This industry is such a strange one that works in such weird ways, if you step out of it and think of it from an outside perspective. It’s also a broken process, but in the meantime, it is the process we have. I think the more we all (meaning both equity and non equity actors) look out for each other, and take care of one another, the more positive this will be. I think trying to be self aware, and aware of the other people around me, is all I can really do. Putting myself first, while also striving to be a kind human to everyone I encounter in our spaces. I really hope other people keep doing the same.
Wendolyn Marie Hannum is an NYC based actor and creative, originally from West Point, IA! She has been dancing since age 3 and frequently jokes that she doesn’t remember life “pre-tutu”. She is a graduate of Stella Adler Studio of Acting’s Professional Conservatory, and has worked both in and out of NYC. She worked her first contract as a performer in 2019 at Cedar Point Theme Park in Ohio, and Her most proud experience as an actor thus far has been tackling the role of Hermia in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. She is currently on tour with CoComelon Party Time, and can’t wait to see what this industry has in store for her next!