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Last month Brooke Shields declared her candidacy to be president of Actors’ Equity, the theater actors and stage managers union equivalent of SAG. In my coverage of her announcement video, I confessed to being wholly distracted by the dessert-themed piece of art on display behind her. What were Brooke’s campaign platforms? As far as I could tell, pies. But guess what? A majority of 51,000 actors and stage managers (people who regularly self-tape auditions), saw that dimly-lit video with its confectionery background and said, “That’s our president!” Yes, Brooke won her race, even with going up against two current Actors’ Equity employees. The news came out on Friday, with Brooke’s term beginning effective immediately. May I present, Madame President:
Brooke Shields has been elected president of the Actors’ Equity Association, the union that represents about 51,000 actors and stage managers on Broadway and nationwide.
Shields prevailed over stage manager Erin Maureen Koster, a stage manager and third vice president at Actors’ Equity and Wydetta Carter, an actor who had been serving as Equity’s first vice president. Her four-year term begins effective immediately.
After the news was announced, Shields posted on Instagram saying she was “honored and grateful” to have been elected.
“I promise to lead with strength and compassion, and I will stand up for you and command the respect that we deserve as an acting community,” Shields wrote. “Also to those who ran, I did not run against you, I ran with you and for you. I look forward to listening to you.”
Kate Shindle had served as president since 2015, but decided to step down after her term ended May 23.
In a video announcing her candidacy, Shields said she wanted to be able to use her star power, as well as her experience on Broadway, to expand the profile of being an Equity member.
“I want Equity to be in the position to command the respect that we deserve, whether it’s at the bargaining table or in DC or in every state house and city hall across the country, where we want to lobby for arts funding. I want to use all of the goodwill, and the advantages tha tI have built up in my career over the years, to be able to grow the value of being an Equity member,” she said.
Shields has five Broadway credits as a replacement star, which include playing Morticia Addams during the run of The Addams Family in 2011, Sally Bowles in 2001 during the run of Cabaret, and Roxie Hart in Chicago in 2005. Her first role was as Betty Rizzo in Grease in 1994.
The former model has also continued to have an active film career, recently starring in and serving as executive producer of Mother of the Bride on Netflix.
She is one of the highest profile presidents for Actors’ Equity — though Shindle was a former Miss America. Ellen Burstyn held the role from 1982 to 1985 and Ron Silver was president from 1991 to 2000.
Distracting cake artwork aside, I was surprised by this move from Brooke. It seemed really out of left field for her to throw her hat into this race where she’s a relative outsider to the Broadway community (she has a few theater credits under her belt, but doesn’t tread the boards as regularly as, say, David Hyde Pierce or Audra McDonald). Voting union members who I spoke with (who did not vote for Brooke) said she didn’t really put forth any agenda or platforms, so I stand by my earlier assertion that her platform is pies.
But what really perplexed me was why Brooke would want to take on this job when she’s been gearing up for the launch of her lifestyle brand for women over 40, the not-fantastically-named Beginning Is Now. My first thought was, did something fall through there? And for a brief period the Beginning Is Now website (really just a landing page to sign up for news on more to come) was down entirely. But no, that project didn’t fall through. It’s been renamed Commence (not perfect but a vast improvement) and promises to have “built something new that will land this Summer.” Some of that “something new” includes… a hair care line coming in June!
We’re all thinking it so I’m just gonna say it: she traded votes for hair products, right?
Photos credit Sasidis Sasisakulporn/Netflix, TheNews2/Cover Images, Getty and via Instagram
I can kind of see it. She may have wanted to do something substantive in addition to having some commercial irons in the fire.
And having been in the business in a variety of ways since a young age and, I’m guessing, had others profiting off her image and work since she was a pre-teen, and had periods of success and struggle professionally, she may have a valuable perspective when advocating for performers’ interests, including use of their likenesses, work, and pay over time as the works they contributed to continue to generate income for someone, some corporation somewhere.
It needn’t be bad that Brooke is somewhat of an outsider.
Sometimes it can be beneficial for established organisations to have someone come in with fresh ideas, an unconventional viewpoint, or just as someone with lots of business contacts.
And Brooke’s name recognition could be a bargaining chip too. That said, I doubt that the person at the helm is much more than a figurehead, so if she has a good team, all should continue to run smoothly.
Came here to say this!! Yeah, sometimes it helps not to be in it too much, you can be more objective. Good luck to her, I believe she will do good!
Yeah, Brooke’s visible profile & contacts might indeed be helpful for lobbying $$ for the National Endowment for the Arts. NEA funding is appropriated by Congress annually & always in danger of being cut or eliminated. Plenty of local theatre companies across the US rely on those grants – ticket sales alone don’t cover the cost of running the show.
Her platform was pie! Hilarious!
I’m thinking as the President she’s the most visible representative of the organization. So her name recognition can help, IF she’s a level-headed person who will listen to the experienced people around her. Seems like she is.
Brooke is a well-educated woman, my former High School English teacher was in the same sorority as Brooke at Princeton. She loved her and said she was down to earth and wicked smart.
I don’t think this is some vanity title. I believe she will take the role seriously and her name recognition will bring light to their issues. More so than someone behind the scenes. That’s just how the media rolls.
I get it’s funny to be dismissive of her with her pie platform. But she threw her hat into the ring and won. Good for her. Let’s see what she does with it.
there are worse platforms to run on than one devoted to baked goods. i am a fan of brooke’s and admire her staying power. and i do think her heart’s in the right place.
She always comes over as level headed and intelligent, so good for her going for this position.
I wish her well.
Am I reading this wrong? “… and stage managers (people who regularly self-tape auditions),” That’s…not what stage managers do.
I think it’s awkwardly worded, but after reading that sentence three times I believe it was saying that people who regularly self tape auditions for their positions are both actors and stage managers. (So Brooke, as a person who probably regularly did this, should have had a better execution of the video). I have no idea how true it is that stage managers audition for a spots, let alone self tape a video for consideration.
She’s been appearing on stage for literally decades. Just because she’s not on stage every other year, she is no less a theatre actor than anyone else.