Broadway Terms: please help!?

Question

Can anyone tell me what these mean!? I was looking for open-casting calls and all of these words were there:

-equity

-non-equity

-union musical

-nonunion musical

Answer 1

Actor's Equity is a labor union of stage performers, frequently shortened to "Equity." There's a guaranteed minimum payment for performing in an Equity production, as well as minimum standards for work conditions, most of them health- and safety-related. Non-equity work pays whatever the actors are willing to take, including nothing but experience and something to put on a resume. Work conditions can be brutal and even unsafe, such as an outdoor performance that continues when there's lightning, or temperatures over 100.

A union musical would be a musical using actors who are Equity members.

Answer 2

The ones you need to concern yourself the most with is "equity" -- the actors' union.  Without your Equity card, you cannot get into an equity audition.  Broadway houses and London's West End theatres are equity houses.  Sometimes a company will have a non-equity call AND an equity call.  In this case, you can go to the non-equity audition and possibly get your equity card by being in a play with other equity actors but this is rare.  "Equity" is the same thing as "union"

Answer 3

from your question i know you're not a union/equity member, therefore you will only be able to go to auditions labeled "non-equity" or "non-union".  those are the "open" casting calls you want.