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Show dictionary · Production Management

IATSE

Also: the IA · the union

IATSE (the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts) is the labor union representing stagehands and entertainment technicians across the United States and Canada, organized into local chapters ("locals") by city and craft.

In practice

For live events, the operative structure is the local: a venue under an IATSE contract staffs its calls through the local’s dispatch, with rules on call minimums, breaks, meal penalties, and which work belongs to which department. Knowing the local’s working rules is part of any competent advance into a union house.

Touring intersects the union through crew calls in each city and through "yellow card" tours, productions formally carried under IATSE’s touring agreement. The specifics (steward roles, crew sizes, what traveling crew may touch) vary by local and contract, which is exactly why production managers ask early.

How you’ll hear it

"It is an IA house; the local’s steward wants the department heads at the dock at 5:45."

Related resources

Part of the eventools.io Show Dictionary, a free glossary of live event production terminology.