Playbill Launches At This Playbill to Credit Understudies, Standbys, Alternates

As first reported in Playbill, paper slips listing understudies are being phased out across Broadway. But do not worry, Playbill is here to help with the launch of At This Playbill, a new website and platform that lists standbys, alternatives, and understudies for each performance.

Soft launching last year with three Broadway shows (Oh, Mary!; Stranger Things: The First Shadow; Wicked), the platform now serves Buena Vista Social Club, Chess, Hadestown, MJ: The Musical, Moulin Rouge!, and Operation Mincemeat. Starting February 2, & Juliet and Chicago will join the platform. Later in February, The Great Gatsby and Maybe Happy Ending will follow.

Previously, it was standard for audiences to open their programs and see a piece of paper listing if any understudies, standbys, or alternates were on for that performance. But following negotiations between the Broadway League and Actors’ Equity Association for a new work contract, the actors and stage managers unions will now mandate producers to list understudies in two of four ways: a verbal announcement, slips in the Playbill, a callboard on display in the lobby, or a QR code printed in the Playbill.

Under the new contract, the QR code needs to be placed on the cast page in the Playbill and lead to a site where each cast change entry can be displayed for 30 days.

“After hearing rumblings about this possibility, my team began work on a platform that would become a digital solution; this allowed us to act quickly once the ruling became public,” says Alex Birsh, Playbill’s Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President. “We sought to build a helpful tool for productions to use ‘on the go’ to make their lives easier, while creating a very clear public interface that follows the letter of the rules in the new agreement.”

If there are understudies for any performance, that information will go live on AtThisPlaybill.com/[Name-of-Show] up to an hour before showtime. Each entry will also be printable, so theatre fans can print them out and put them in their programs to document their night on Broadway. If there are mid-show switch-outs, that information will be available after the performance.

Active Broadway shows:

Shows joining the initiative February 2:

Shows joining the initiative later in February:

Information for AtThisPlaybill.com is provided by the stage managers for every Broadway show in this initiative, who are normally in charge of printing out the understudy slips and ensuring they’re hand-stuffed into every Playbill. The At This Playbill initiative is shepherded by Jon Goldman, Playbill’s Chief Technology Officer, who was a stage manager for many years prior to joining the company.

“When this rule change became real, it felt like an opportunity,” said Goldman. “I didn’t want to just recreate the slip digitally, although I see the ecological benefit to just that part. I wanted to see how I could help reduce friction and workload for the stage managers, house managers, and ushers. This project let me give something back to the profession that was a large part of me for many years.”

As mentioned, shows can still elect to print understudy slips or do an understudy announcement at every show. As such, not every Broadway show will be listed in AtThisPlaybill.com. Playbill expects more shows to opt into our service in the coming weeks.

For those who do choose to list their understudies with Playbill, they will be part of a database celebrating some of Broadway’s unsung heroes.