How Do I Become an Actor?: September 2011

Sure. But you will likely have to join the appropriate union before or sometime after actually performing.

(see the following: http://www.aftra.org/HowToJoin.htm and http://www.sag.org/content/getting-started-actor-faq)

Any person who has performed or intends to perform professional work in any one of AFTRA's jurisdictions is eligible for membership. Contact your Local office for specific information about AFTRA membership and its benefits.
The SAG (Screen Actors Guild) collective bargaining agreements provide that membership in SAG is required, in most cases, either (a) 30 days after the first principal employment or (b) 30 days after a background actor has received his or her third voucher.
Keep in mind, you must be ready and willing to follow SAG’s rules and regulations and to accept ONLY union employment once you become a member of SAG.
Also, joining Screen Actors Guild, members also agree to abide by Rule 9, which states that members of one of the Four A performers' unions (SAG, AFTRA, Equity, AGVA, AGMA) will not accept non-union work in another union's jurisdiction.

Can a union actor do non-union work?

Not usually. There are some exceptions, so the actor should contact their union. If a union actor is caught performing in a non-union production - even in the jurisdiction of a union in which the actor is not a member, there could be serious financial consequences and/or loss of union membership.

How did acting (or theatre) begin?

Acting originated on Pelican island, which is an island in the middle of the Missouri river, north of St. Louis. It began there in the year 5003 BC.

Of course there was no written record of what play these first thespians produced, but the recent discovery of ancient drawings on the basement walls of Rudolph J. Penderbottom's quaint little Victorian home in Cahokia seems to indicate the first play (a musical) was a clever cross between Gilligans island and Promethius Bound. Odd as it may seem, this combination proved highly successful and toured up and down the Missouri river, playing to appreciative Native-American audiences. Eventually, the little troup hit the big-time, playing all the villages along the shores of the mighty Mississippi.

The theatre was built upon several, tethered rafts made of bulrushes and river mud. Torches were used for lighting the acting area. Lights were dimmed by various stage hands (raft hands as they were known back then) standing in front of the torches, thus blocking the full intensity of the lights at the appropriate moment. There is no record of what the raft hands were paid, but it is a good bet that union rules would have required extra allowance be paid for working with fire.

The play lasted three and one half days without intermissions. Audiences back then apparently had a lot more stamina then today's pampered play goers. Unfortunately, a mishap initiated by a disgruntled raft hand resulted in the entire production going up in flames somewhere between Hannible and the Lock and Dam near Saverton. The troup was devastated by the financial loss as insurance had not yet been conceived.

Times being as they were, it was impossible to find a financial backer willing to assume the risk. After several unsuccessful attempts to mount lesser productions on neighboring Cora island, the group disbanded. Acting fell into a deep, deep slumber. Upon the charred remains of the bulrush rafts, acting drifted down the Mississippi and out into the uncharted Gulf.

When acting awoke, it found itself in ancient Greece. But that's another chapter in AWOL's Condensed History of Acting.

There's no business like show business.

Can non-union actors do union work?