Will Summer Theater Go On Amid the Strike?

In November 2007, when the Writers Guild of America (WGA) went on strike, the results were instantaneous and obvious. Can the same be said today?

For the four months in 2007-08 that writers walked out of their offices, network television, the primary form of TV long before anyone used the word “streaming,” went completely dark. Big-ratings hits simply went off the air. During that long winter, Thursday night viewers of “Grey’s Anatomy” had to… pick up a book.  Now 16 years later, as a new writers' strike goes on, the ramifications are perhaps less disruptive to the public, regardless of the increased media attention and awareness. Streaming platforms like Netflix, Amazon, and Disney+ are still releasing a library's worth of new series filmed in advance, even if the writers — and now the actors — can’t promote them. On a local level, there is the question: if the stars in Los Angeles and New York are holding picket signs, how can any actors appear in regional summer stock this year?

As of the writing of this article, WGA is continuing the strike that began on May 2, effectively shutting down productions that relied on writers' rooms — from scripted series to late-night talk shows — following an ongoing labor dispute with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). A major source of tension has been establishing a minimum wage income and residual payment for writers working on shows contracted by a streaming platform as well as stipulations over the use of artificial intelligence programs.

Joining the writers' strike on July 14, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) in turn publicly launched its complaints with AMPTP. In June, Rolling Stone reported it had obtained a letter from SAG declaring intentions to strike if negotiations could not be settled, which was signed by over three hundred actors, including Salisbury, Conn., residents Meryl Streep and Laura Linney. In a bulletin released on July 17, when the strike had officially moved forward, SAG-AFTRA declared, “Here’s the simple truth: We’re up against a system where those in charge of multibillion-dollar media conglomerates are rewarded for exploiting workers.”

The dissonance between what's streaming and what's happening in real-time can seem strange. On Friday, July 14, as SAG-AFTRA officially went on strike, the second season of Amazon's series "The Summer I Turned Pretty," co-starring Sharon, Conn., resident and actress Kyra Sedgwick, was released to stream. Instead of promoting the show, four days later on Tuesday, July 18, Sedgwick was with her husband, actor Kevin Bacon, sign in hand at the picket line in New York. "I'm happy [the strike is] happening because I think it's been a long time coming," Sedgwick said to Deadline.

Professional theatrical actors, like those on the stages of Broadway and contracted by smaller theaters in The Berkshires for the summer season, operate under a different union from SAG-AFTRA — the Actors’ Equity Association (AEA). Notably, per the strike rules issued by SAG-AFTRA in an official bulletin, while actors in the union are prohibited from attending film premieres, awards shows, film festivals, or promoting their work through interviews with the press or social media posts, actors best known for their film/television work can continue to honor their AEA contracts with theater productions, from Broadway to summer stock. For now, at least, the shows go on.