How to Join Actors’ Equity: Paths, Costs, and When It Makes Sense

Someone in the dressing room says it like a rite of passage: “You should just get your card.” You’ve done a few paid shows, maybe one at a theater that hires a mix of union and non-union actors, and now the question keeps coming up. Can you join? Should you? And what happened to the points system everyone used to talk about?

A lot of older advice still describes the points system. That route, earning points by working at participating theaters, is over, and the way in is now simpler than the old points system. The harder question is no longer how to join. It’s when.

The short version: if you’ve been paid to act or stage manage in professional theater in the United States, you can probably apply now through Equity’s Open Access policy, once any non-Equity contract you’re on has ended. Joining costs an $1,800 initiation fee, $176 a year in basic dues, and 2.5% of what you earn on Equity contracts. After you join, you generally can’t take non-Equity stage work. So join when your market and your next offers say union work is where your career is, not because it feels like the next badge.

What Actors’ Equity actually is

Actors’ Equity Association is the American union for professional stage actors and stage managers. Theaters that hire its members do so under Equity contracts, and the union runs its own auditions for that work.

Two names get mixed up with it. SAG-AFTRA is a separate union, for screen and recorded work, with its own rules on non-union work. Equity in the UK is a separate British union. This guide is about the American one.

For a stage actor, the practical meaning of Equity is simple: union contracts, union auditions, and a rule that once you’re in, you generally work on union terms.

How you join now: Open Access

In July 2021, Equity opened its membership to working theater artists who had never held an Equity contract. American Theatre reported that actors and stage managers who could show professional work within Equity’s jurisdiction could join without first being hired under a union contract. In February 2023, Equity made Open Access permanent.

“Professional” here means paid. Backstage’s guide on how to join Actors’ Equity explains that there is no minimum amount and that you’ll need proof of payment, such as a pay stub, a W-2, or a 1099. The work has to be as an actor or stage manager on a theater production in the United States.

One rule catches people out. Equity asks applicants to complete any non-Equity contracts before joining. If you’re halfway through a non-union run, finish it first, then apply.

Joining with an Equity contract

The other way in is to be hired on an Equity contract. Backstage’s guide to when to join notes that the decision usually comes with that first Equity offer, and Equity’s dues instructions for producers cover how a new member’s initiation fee comes out of weekly pay on the contract. More on both below.

What happened to EMC points

For years, the Equity Membership Candidate program let non-union actors earn points by working at participating theaters until they qualified. That program is gone. When Equity made Open Access permanent, it also began phasing out the EMC program. According to Broadway News, new EMC applications stopped in May 2023.

The last piece took effect on May 8, 2026: Equity’s EMC page says EMCs are no longer recognized for priority audition access and are seen like other non-Equity actors. If you paid EMC fees in the past, Equity applies them to your initiation fee. So if you were an EMC, check what you’ve already paid before you budget for the rest.

What joining costs

Three numbers matter, and all three are set in Equity’s Constitution and By-Laws:

• Initiation fee: $1,800, effective January 1, 2022.
• Basic dues: $176 a year, effective April 1, 2021, paid in two halves, in May and November.
• Working dues: 2.5% of your gross earnings within Equity’s jurisdiction, taken weekly. Minimum out-of-town expense money and per diem are left out of the base.

If you join while working an Equity contract, you may not need to find $1,800 on day one. Equity’s dues instructions for producers describe how initiation fees and working dues can come out of a member’s weekly paycheck through payroll deduction. If you’re joining through Open Access without a contract, ask the membership department how payment works before you apply.

Here’s what the working dues mean in practice. On a contract that pays $1,000 a week, 2.5% is $25 a week. Over a ten-week run that’s $250, on top of the basic dues you already pay twice a year. The constitution also says dues and initiation fees can only rise through a secret-ballot vote of members, so the numbers don’t change overnight.

What changes the day you join

The fee is the easy part. The bigger cost is the work you give up.

Once you’re a member, you generally can’t rehearse or perform in a non-Equity stage production without the union’s permission. Backstage’s pros and cons of joining lays this out and notes exceptions such as Equity’s showcase rules. In a city where most of the theater you’d do is non-union, that rule can empty your calendar.

Equity also keeps a Do Not Work list of producers whose non-Equity productions members may not work on in any job. Breaking it can lead to discipline, up to losing your membership. Check that page before you sign anything as a member.

You may also hear about “Global Rule One.” That is SAG-AFTRA’s rule against working without a union contract anywhere in the world. It isn’t an Equity rule, though Equity has its own restrictions on non-union stage work, described above. If you’re working toward a SAG-AFTRA card too, see our guide on how to become SAG-AFTRA eligible.

When joining makes sense, and when to wait

There’s no right age or number of credits. There’s your market, your money, and the offers in front of you.

Where you live matters a lot. In New York, Backstage’s pros-and-cons guide suggests actors should strongly consider joining. In Chicago, where storefront and non-union theater are a big part of the scene, the same guide warns that an Equity card can make you harder to cast there. If the non-union companies in your city are where you’re doing your best work, joining can cut you off from them.

A real offer is a good trigger. Backstage’s piece on waiting to join if you have a non-Equity gig lined up makes the practical point: if there’s a non-union job you want, take it first and join afterward. The big decision usually arrives with your first Equity offer.

Be honest about the money. Membership doesn’t create work. The pros-and-cons guide cites Equity’s own season report: most members earn less than $10,000 a year from Equity contracts. The dues are small; a calendar with no work you’re allowed to take is not.

Before you apply, answer these on paper:

1. Where did my paid work come from last year? If it was mostly non-union theater in your city, count how much of it you’d have to give up.
2. Who is calling me in? If union theaters already audition and cast you, joining may cost you little and open a lot.
3. Do I have a non-Equity contract to finish? Equity asks you to complete it before you join.
4. Can I cover $176 a year in basic dues during a slow year? Those are owed every year.
5. Am I planning to move? A card that limits you in Chicago may be exactly what you need in New York.

Getting the most out of union auditions

Membership matters most in the audition room. Producers post Equity Principal Auditions and chorus calls on Equity’s Casting Call board, and members sign up for EPA appointments through the member portal. Our round-up of the best casting sites for actors covers it alongside the other places to find work. Under Equity’s appointment procedures, non-members are seen only when no members are waiting and casting agrees to see them.

Have your audition material ready before a notice goes up. Keep two contrasting pieces prepared; our guide on how to choose contrasting monologues helps you pick them, and the monologue library is a good place to start looking. Time each piece with the free monologue timer so you know it fits the length a notice asks for.

Know the room’s rules too. Our guide to audition room etiquette covers check-in, the monitor, and what happens if you’re late for an Equity appointment.

Your first union contract: arrive ready

When the offer comes, you’ll want to spend rehearsal on staging and character, so it pays to arrive knowing your lines well.

That’s where Offbook helps. Upload the script, pick your role, and realistic voices read every other character while Offbook listens through your microphone and plays the next cue when you finish your line. You can hide your own lines for the final run-throughs, so you’re testing your memory and not just reading the page.

Then walk into your first union rehearsal with the words already in your body, and spend those hours on the work.

Questions actors ask

Do I have to pay the whole $1,800 before I can join?

Not necessarily if you’re working an Equity contract: Equity’s dues instructions describe initiation fees being taken through weekly payroll deduction. Otherwise, ask Equity’s membership department for the schedule that applies to you before you apply.

Can I audition for Equity shows if I’m not a member?

Sometimes. At Equity Principal Auditions, non-members are seen only when no members are waiting and casting agrees to see them. Since May 8, 2026, former EMCs no longer get priority and wait with other non-Equity actors, so expect to wait.

Is Equity the same as SAG-AFTRA?

No. Actors’ Equity covers stage actors and stage managers. SAG-AFTRA is a separate union for screen and recorded work, with its own membership.

I’m in the UK. Does any of this apply?

No. Equity in the UK is a separate union. Everything in this guide is about the American Actors’ Equity Association.