Lions and Tigers and Picketers, Oh My!

A picket line paraded up and down the Yellow Brick Road over the weekend.

A handful of Actors’ Equity members carried signs and passed out fliers in front of the Raymond Theatre in Pasadena, where California Music Theatre was opening “The Wizard of Oz.”

“Tonight you will be seeing an amateur production,” read a statement in the flier, “even though . . . you may have been led to believe this was a professional company.”

Although the theater company is not a member of the League of Resident Theatres, it had been using a standard League contract with Equity, the stage actors’ union, which required a minimum of 20 Equity members per production. Earlier this year, the League of Resident Theatres and Equity agreed to extend their contract for another 18 months beyond a Sept. 1 expiration date.

But the California Music Theatre board chose not to go along with the extension. There was some sentiment on the board to ignore Equity altogether, said Gary Davis, the organization’s artistic director, “but I told them if this became a (permanent) non-union company, I wouldn’t work here any more.”

Earlier this month, Davis proposed that California Music Theatre move to an Equity contract that would allow the use of fewer union members. In the meantime, he asked to use three Equity members in “The Wizard of Oz” under a “guest artist” contract.

Equity refused. The union’s Western regional director, George Ives, called the California Music Theatre’s actions arrogant.