Striking
stagehands and Broadway producers are going back to the
bargaining table, less than a week before the start of the
lucrative Thanksgiving holiday weekend when most plays
and musicals experience a box office bonanza.
Negotiations will
resume this weekend ''at an undisclosed place and
time,'' the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage
Employees and the League of American Theatres and
Producers said Wednesday. ''No interviews or comment
from either organization will be issued until further
notice,'' both sides said in a joint statement.
Was there
pressure to return to the talks before Thanksgiving, when
the city is filled with visitors here for the Macy's
Thanksgiving Day Parade and the start of the Christmas
shopping season?
''It was a
factor,'' said Norman Samnick, an entertainment lawyer who
specializes in labor relations for Bryan Cave LLP. ''It
doesn't surprise me that this is happening. What the
end-all will be, I have no idea. But somebody is going
to give a little; somebody is going to take a little.''
The announcement
''is a very important step forward,'' said Mayor Michael
Bloomberg, who reiterated his willingness ''to help resolve
these disagreements and let the shows go on.''
The stagehands
walked off the job Saturday, shutting down 27 Broadway
plays and musicals.
All week the mood
along Broadway has been one of resignation and gloom --
with stagehands picketing in front of padlocked theaters,
actors unable to perform, and press agents, whose
union supports the stagehands, told not to promote
their struck shows.
On Thursday cast
members and the producers of The Seafarer,
Conor McPherson's Irish drama, will have dinner together at
an undisclosed restaurant. It was to have been the show's
opening night.
Aaron Sorkin's
The Farnsworth Invention missed its
Wednesday opening, which has not yet been scheduled. The
play, about the birth of television, stars Hank
Azaria.
Also shut down in
preview performances were August: Osage County, Tracy
Letts's family drama from Chicago's Steppenwolf
Theatre Company; Is He Dead? an adaptation by
David Ives of a comedy by Mark Twain; and Disney's
The Little Mermaid. Their openings too
remain uncertain.
The contract
dispute has focused on how many stagehands are required to
open a Broadway show and keep it running. Stagehands move
scenery, lights, sound systems, and props into the
theater; install the set and make sure it works; and
keep everything functioning well for the life of the
production.
The existing
contract requires theaters to use at least four stagehands
for plays: a carpenter, a property master, an electrician,
and a fourth who is either a sound technician, a
flyman, or another stagehand. A musical also requires
four stagehands, and mandates a flyman -- the person
in charge of raising and lowering not only the curtain
but anything else, such as scenery that moves up or
down, or from offstage.
The league wants
to have flexibility in how many stagehands are hired for
shows and does not want to use four if all are not needed.
(AP)