Longtime Actors’ Equity Leader Alan Eisenberg Dies at 88

Caitlin Huston
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Alan Eisenberg, the former longtime executive director of Actors’ Equity, died Oct. 7 in Rhinebeck, New York. He was 88.

Eisenberg oversaw the union for actors and stage managers from 1981 to 2006, during which time he grew membership numbers, dealt with controversies such as the Miss Saigon casting and guided membership through the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001. His death was announced by the union Monday. No cause of death was disclosed.

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Eisenberg was raised in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn and attended the University of Michigan as an English major. He later attended and graduated from New York University Law School and took jobs in labor law, initially representing the employers and then later turning to representing unions, first as a staff attorney for the National Labor Relations Board and then as a senior partner at Spelman, Eisenberg, Paul and Wagner.

During his time at Actor’s Equity, Eisenberg grew membership numbers from 28,678 to 46,000 at the time of his retirement and the number of workweeks increase by more than 70,000 weeks annually, alongside wage increases and a growth in Equity investments. He also helped institute the creation of the Experimental Touring Program in the Production Contract, which created new tiers of touring contracts with correlated tiers of wage minimums meant to cut down on the number of non-union tours.

Eisenberg also guided the union through a number of conflicts, including the 2003 Broadway musicians’ strike, and stabilizing the health plan through negotiations with the Broadway League in 2003, when it was facing $16 million in debt. Eisenberg also helped include domestic partners in those benefits during the AIDS crisis.

In 1990, when the British production of Miss Saigon wanted to cast white actors in Asian roles, Eisenberg fought against the decision, particularly against the casting of white actor Jonathan Pryce as a lead Vietnamese character. The union initially denied permission for Pryce to transfer to Broadway with the London production, leading the producer to cancel the production. The production was later reinstated with Pryce at the helm and a limitation on the number of non-Asian American actors that could appear in the production.

Eisenberg was made a life member of Actors’ Equity and also served as vice president of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and of Theatre Authority and as a board member for the Actors’ Equity Foundation. He taught at the Yale School of Drama as a visiting professor, as well as at the University of Michigan Theatre Department. In 2007, an annual award at Michigan was created in his name to recognize outstanding graduating seniors and has been been awarded to students who have gont on to star on Broadway, such as Erika Henningsen (Mean Girls) and Isabelle McCalla (The Prom).

He is survived by his wife, Claire Copley, and his daughters, Mollie Copley Eisenberg and Emma Copley Eisenberg.

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