美国国家公共电台 NPR Casting Directors On Broadway Seek To Unionize

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

One of the ingredients a successful Broadway show needs is a talented cast. That starts with talented casting directors, the people who can see a Tony-winning star in the making, say, when a performer walks into an audition¹ as a college student named Audra McDonald.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSICAL, "CAROUSEL")

AUDRA MCDONALD: (Singing) His name is Mister Snow, and an upstanding man is he.

SHAPIRO: Casting directors are essential to New York's theater industry. They are not represented by a union or guild², though. Jeff Lunden reports they are trying to change that, and producers are pushing back.

JEFF LUNDEN, BYLINE³: Cindy Tolan has been working in New York and Hollywood for three decades, and she says it's time for Broadway producers to give a little back.

CINDY TOLAN: Broadway grossed $1.5 billion last year, and it's the highest in history. And we are 40 casting directors, 40 people who want health insurance and a pension. And you know, one week's benefits for a casting director is significantly less than the price of one Broadway premium⁴ ticket.

LUNDEN: So Broadway is casting directors approached the Teamsters union to help them organize. And on a recent Monday morning, the buildings in Times Square reverberated⁵ with the sounds of dozens of members of the Broadway community.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: Fairness for casting, fairness for casting, fairness for casting...

LUNDEN: The casting directors were joined by some of their already unionized colleagues like actor Michael Malanga.

MICHAEL MALANGA: Many of my friends and teachers and the people that have helped me get a start in my career in the casting profession - so I think it's only fair that I support them when they need it in a time like this when they're striving to get equal wages and healthcare benefits and things like that.

LUNDEN: But the Broadway League sees it differently. The League represents producers and theater owners and refused to speak with NPR. In a statement, they said the casting directors are independent contractors⁶ who work on more than one show at a time. Casting directors counter that that's exactly what lighting⁷ designers and set designers do. They all work on multiple shows, and they're unionized. Twelve years ago, casting directors joined up with the Teamsters to organize their film and TV work. Cindy Tolan says they faced the same pushback from producers.

TOLAN: The same argument that we were independent contractors, yet the same people who have a presence on Broadway - Disney, Fox Theatricals⁸ - recognize us in one medium but are refusing to do so in another.

LUNDEN: Tolan says the threat of a strike helped TV and film producers change their minds. Thomas O'Donnell was part of those negotiations⁹. He's president of Teamsters Local 817, and he says the Broadway League won't even sit down with him.

THOMAS O'DONNELL: Right now we're trying to do it as friendly and as nice as possible. But the last campaign took us a year and a half. So we're 14 months in now. I'm not fazed by it, you know? We'll do whatever it takes.

LUNDEN: The Broadway League says it's encouraged the Teamsters to take their arguments to the National Labor¹⁰ Relations Board, or NLRB, and will abide¹¹ by its ruling. But Cindy Tolan points out the board's members are appointed by the president.

TOLAN: Currently the President of the United States, of our country, is Donald Trump¹². Yes, of course they want to put it in front of the NLRB board - obviously know what the outcome will be.

LUNDEN: So for now, Broadway's casting directors are getting the word out through rallies and social media and hoping that it doesn't come to any sort of job action. For NPR News, I'm Jeff Lunden in New York.

(SOUNDBITE OF JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE SONG, "WHAT GOES AROUND... COMES AROUND")

1 audition   

n.(对志愿艺人等的)面试(指试读、试唱等)

参考例句：

• I'm going to the audition but I don't expect I'll get a part.我去试音，可并不指望会给我个角色演出。
• At first,they said he was too young,but later they called him for an audition.起初，他们说他太小，但后来他们叫他去试听。

2 guild   

n.行会，同业公会，协会

参考例句：

• He used to be a member of the Writers' Guild of America.他曾是美国作家协会的一员。
• You had better incorporate the firm into your guild.你最好把这个公司并入你的行业协会。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 premium   

n.加付款；赠品；adj.高级的；售价高的

参考例句：

• You have to pay a premium for express delivery.寄快递你得付额外费用。
• Fresh water was at a premium after the reservoir was contaminated.在水库被污染之后，清水便因稀而贵了。

5 reverberated   

回响，回荡( reverberate的过去式和过去分词 )； 使反响，使回荡，使反射

参考例句：

• Her voice reverberated around the hall. 她的声音在大厅里回荡。
• The roar of guns reverberated in the valley. 炮声响彻山谷。

6 contractors   

n.（建筑、监造中的）承包人( contractor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Contractors winning construction jobs had to kick back 2 per cent of the contract price to the mafia. 赢得建筑工作的承包商得抽出合同价格的百分之二的回扣给黑手党。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。

8 theatricals   

n.（业余性的）戏剧演出，舞台表演艺术；职业演员；戏剧的( theatrical的名词复数 )；剧场的；炫耀的；戏剧性的

参考例句：

• His success in amateur theatricals led him on to think he could tread the boards for a living. 他业余演戏很成功，他因此觉得自己可以以演戏为生。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I'm to be in the Thanksgiving theatricals. 我要参加感恩节的演出。 来自辞典例句

9 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

10 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

11 abide   

vi.遵守；坚持；vt.忍受

参考例句：

• You must abide by the results of your mistakes.你必须承担你的错误所造成的后果。
• If you join the club,you have to abide by its rules.如果你参加俱乐部，你就得遵守它的规章。

12 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。