How I Got My Equity Card - By Martin Sheen
http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/BWW_SPECIAL_FEATURE_How_I_Got_My_Equity_Card_By_Martin_Sheen_20010101
January 9, 2010
"I began my acting career working for two of the most remarkable
people in the American theatre: husband and wife team Julian Beck and
Judith Malina, co-founders of The Living Theatre. The Becks, as they
were affectionately known, were radical Jewish intellectual artists
and pacifists deeply committed to peace and social justice through
non-violent political activism and The Living Theatre was a clear
reflection of their ideals for which they paid dearly with frequent
arrests, incarcerations and fines.
I was 19 and fresh from Ohio when I joined this wonderful avant-garde
company in December 1959 as a stage hand and general understudy
(non-union at the start). Earlier that year Judith had directed their
first huge hit, THE CONNECTION by Jack Gelber, which ran in repertory
with TONIGHT WE IMPROVISE by L. Pirandello and there was plenty of
other activity in the four story building that housed the theatre on
6th Avenue at 14th Street.
On Monday evenings when the theatre was dark, the Becks would present
special programs of music, dance, poetry and unrehearsed readings of
classic plays as well as full productions of one-act plays. It was
quite common on any given Monday to see Allen Ginsberg reading his
poetry, John Gage in concert or Merce Cunningham presenting a dance
recital. I made my professional acting debut on one such Monday in
1960 appearing in PURGATORY, a one-act play by W.B. Yeats. By popular
demand, it would seem, the play returned for four consecutive Monday
evenings and I received $5.00 per performance (worth every penny I
hasten to add, but still non-union).
The following year, The Living Theatre received a stunning request
from the U.S. State department: an invitation to represent the United
States as our country's official entry in the Theatre of Nations
Festival in Paris. The Becks accepted the challenge and decided to
take the full company with three plays in repertory and tour Europe
culminating at the Festival in Paris. But, in order to do so, the
entire company would have to join Actors' Equity under a special
arrangement - and so it came to pass that I signed my first Equity
contract in the spring of 1961 and made the first historic European
tour with The Living Theatre. In addition to rave reviews and
widespread acclaim across Europe, The Living Theatre won the Grand
Prix in Paris and returned to New York in triumph!
I can never overstate the influence Julian and Judith have had on my
formation as an actor and activist and my gratitude is deep and
eternal. Sadly Julian passed in September of 1985. Judith then
married Hanon Reznikow and courageously they have kept The Living
Theatre alive to this at their new location, 428 West 49th Street. I
am still a proud member of Actors' Equity thanks to the Becks."
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