Audition season is in full swing in New York Metropolis, and non-union performer Sierra Lai Barnett has provide you with an answer to one of many greatest challenges — the unofficial sign-up listing.
Non-union performers attend Fairness Refrain Calls (ECCs) and Fairness Principal Auditions (EPAs) in hopes that when Fairness performers get seen, there’ll nonetheless be time for casting to see non-union, during which case they are going to get seen within the sign-up listing order. Image this: performers exhibiting up in Midtown Manhattan on the morning time, generally as early as 5am, hoping to be one of many first to get their title written on the listing. For years, non-union dancers, actors and singers have handled the chaos of lists at auditions. Lately, although, issues have began to alter. Folks started taping up items of paper on the skin of the audition buildings at midnight deciding that’s the begin of the listing. That means, once they come again to the audition round 10am, they’ll say they had been first on the listing, versus individuals who confirmed as much as the audition a couple of hours prior. It was a complicated, irritating free-for-all, one of many downsides of being Non-Union.
The NUU Listing, a digital sign-up platform, was born in February 2025. Barnett noticed the issue and determined to repair it. “I used to be uninterested in ready for another person to do it,” she says. Based on an announcement from the NUU Listing on Instagram about this problem, “Those that are afforded extra versatile working hours, or have exterior monetary assist programs, could also be extra readily capable of alter their schedules and spend hours ready outdoors within the chilly within the coronary heart of Manhattan, with out driving themselves to the purpose of exhaustion and risking their well being, a privilege not afforded to these performers who stay hand-to-mouth, counting on survival jobs or parallel careers to stay.” The digital listing additionally prevents individuals from signing up a number of individuals without delay on account of one sign-up per e-mail. Prior, individuals would rotate who confirmed up in midtown Manhattan early within the morning to signal names on the listing, typically teams of pals’ names at a time.
Whereas individuals need to see this modification occur and there was a constructive response to the digital listing, there’s a gray space, and each the digital listing and bodily listing exist. When you surprise why bodily lists are nonetheless getting chosen within the room after this new digital type, Barnett says, “On the finish of the day, performers will select no matter path will get them on the Official Non-Member Signal-Up Listing, as a result of that’s the one listing that basically issues when it comes all the way down to getting seen at an ECC or EPA.” Barnett provides that when the digital listing is chosen over the bodily listing, “it’s a success not solely due to the apparent win for a digital system, however as a result of this determination was made collectively. And after we as a group select to maneuver ahead on this means, we’re selecting to place the well being and security of one another over the precedence of getting seen first, and that may be a big cultural win for our group.”
For clarification, which listing is chosen for use at every audition comes all the way down to the performers within the holding room and a majority vote. It’s lower than the AEA displays to determine which listing to make use of since they’ll’t present partiality for one listing over one other. Barnett is a non-union performer herself, so she is aware of how vital equity is. When requested if there’s a battle together with her utilizing the NUU Listing because the creator herself, she replies with, “After creating the lists for the week, I simply attempt to use it like anybody else.” With ready and buffering via the hyperlink, sign-ups create a little bit of a lottery system, making certain nobody has an unfair benefit.
With the expansion and recognition of the NUU Listing, there are upcoming plans to launch a brand new, streamlined platform. Barnett has discovered assist from working actors who’ve skills as software program engineers and different skilled expertise to help with this new model. Group is and can proceed to be a very powerful takeaway and Barnett’s focus.
Creating the NUU Listing from a need for change, she ends our dialog by saying, “Working as a NU actor shouldn’t really feel like you’re the backside of the barrel, scraping previous each other to get seen. We’re a obligatory a part of theater all throughout the nation. We’re a viable and priceless choice for filling phases with nice performances. We’re a group that’s making an attempt to evolve and alter, and I’m actually completely happy to be part of all that.”
Be taught extra concerning the NUU Listing on Instagram: @thenuulist.
By Abby DeReamer of Dance Informa.
*Because the publication of this text, the AEA has made an announcement that non-Union lists are not allowed at auditions, inflicting the NUU Listing to halt their digital sign-ups for the remainder of audition season.
