Patti LuPone on Actors' Union: "I Just Didn't Want to Give Them Any More Money"

Patti LuPone has further explained her decision to give up her membership in Actors' Equity, the union representing professional actors and stage managers: "They're just not good. And I just didn't want to give them any more money," she told People in an exclusive interview.

As previously reported, LuPone announced yesterday on Twitter that she had given up her Equity card and was "no longer part of that circus."

As she explained to People, "They accepted my resignation and told me that if I ever wanted to rejoin, I'd have to be approved…Fifty years to this year…I've been a card-carrying member of Equity, and they don't know who I am basically."

While Broadway is technically a "closed shop," meaning you must be a member of the union to appear in a Broadway show, special exceptions have been made for guest artists. "The best kept secret is that you can perform without being a member of Equity," LuPone claimed.

On the subject of her ever taking advantage of that loophole, she said, "I don't think I will be doing eight shows a week ever again. Not that I can't, because that's what I'm built for. I don't want to."

LuPone is scheduled to appear December 20-January 8 at 54 Below in her cabaret show, Patti LuPone: Songs From a Hat, which will perform a sensible fiive times a week.