Broadway Demolition Ban

In the ongoing effort to preserve Broadway’s 44 legitimate theatres, the Mayor’s Theatre Advisory Council has approved a series of zoning proposals and incentives aimed at strengthening the Broadway theatre district. The provisions in the 84-page report would prohibit demolition of a theatre unless it is deemed unsafe; provide for the transfer of air rights above a theatre; and recommend the establishment of a New York City Theatre Trust to subsidize failing productions and facilitate the production of serious or experimental drama-seen by the council as the most endangered aspect of the Broadway theatre.

The report also recommends that theatre owners voluntarily sign a covenant binding them and their successors not to demolish the building and to use it as a legitimate theatre, and that the Planning Commission find ways to keep large-scale development out of the theatre district.

In order to become law, the document has yet to be approved by the Planning Commission and the Board of Estimate.

Contract Changes

The League of Resident Theatres and Actors’ Equity Association have mutually agreed to extend their contract (which was to have expired June 30) for a 14-month period and give actors and stage managers a 4.5 percent cost-of-living increase. The contract extension marks the first time since LORT/AEA negotiations began in 1965 that the two parties have failed to reach agreement on a new contract.

Under the terms of the contract extension, new weekly minimums for actors working in LORT theatres are $382 in “A” theatres, $347 in “B” theatres, $335 in “C” theatres and $306 in “D” theatres.

Welfare payments, under the 4.5 percent increase, will be $28.90 per actor per week. Stage managers’ salaries under the new agreement will range from $572 in “A” theatres to $349 in the “D” category. Per diems increase $2 to $49. The extension is in effect through Sept. 1, 1985.