This piece uses voices of New York actors, casting directors, and the head of auditions at Actors Equity to tell the story of Equity Principle Auditions. This is the story of people doing irrational things in pursuit of their passion. Host Intro: Most mornings, scattered around Midtown Manhattan, just as the coffee-and-donut peddlers in their compact silver carts are setting up shop on various street corners and before Times Square has become clogged with trucks, taxis, and tourists, lines of people are forming. At first glance, they might be the homeless waiting for a soup kitchen to open or early-risers in line for the DMV or a travel visa. But they’re not. They’re actors. What they have in common is an Actors Equity card – they belong to the union of actors, directors and stage managers who work in the theater – and they’re waiting in line to audition. With just under twenty thousand members in and around New York City, the odds that they’ll get work are against them. Yet rain or shine, hot or cold, there they are. Eevin Hartsough explores why.

This piece uses voices of New York actors, casting directors, and the head of auditions at Actors Equity to tell the story of Equity Principle Auditions. This is the story of people doing irrational things in pursuit of their passion. Host Intro: Most mornings, scattered around Midtown Manhattan, just as the coffee-and-donut peddlers in their compact silver carts are setting up shop on various street corners and before Times Square has become clogged with trucks, taxis, and tourists, lines of people are forming. At first glance, they might be the homeless waiting for a soup kitchen to open or early-risers in line for the DMV or a travel visa. But they’re not. They’re actors. What they have in common is an Actors Equity card – they belong to the union of actors, directors and stage managers who work in the theater – and they’re waiting in line to audition. With just under twenty thousand members in and around New York City, the odds that they’ll get work are against them. Yet rain or shine, hot or cold, there they are. Eevin Hartsough explores why.