Some L.A. actors don't want payment for labor of love

The country's largest stage actors union votes on a plan Tuesday that would force tiny theaters to pay L.A. members California's minimum wage. Many performers say getting a raise will do them more harm than good, reports CBS News correspondent John Blackstone.

For the actors rehearsing at the Theatre of Note in Los Angeles, it's a labor of love. They get paid nothing for rehearsals at the 50-seat theater and as little as $7 for each performance.

"We do it for the chance to work on shows like this," Actor's Equity member Justin Okin said.

That union which represents some 6,500 stage performers in L.A. is pushing for its members to be paid $9 an hour. But many actors say they don't want the money. They fear getting paid will mean "curtians" for many of L.A.'s small theaters.

"It's not a choice of $9 an hour or acting for free, it's a choice of acting or not acting in a space like this," Okin said.

The union's governing body will vote on a plan to end a decades-old waiver that allows L.A. theaters with fewer than 99 seats to pay actors only a small stipend.

"It's unethical to create a business model based on free labor," Actor's Equity union member Perry Ojeda said. "There are instances in the 99-seat theater plan where everyone else is paid except for the actors,"

But actor-producer Noah Wyle who is staging the play "Sons of the Prophet" said big profits are impossible in a theater with fewer than 100 seats.

"You're cutting into what is no-profit margin anyway. You couldn't open your doors," Wyle said.

Working in 99-seat theaters opened doors for "Criminal Minds" actress Kirsten Vangsness.

"I did this well before I had that job," Vangsness said. "And I made very little doing this. It's the very thing that got me the job that I have now and it's the very thing that keeps me having that job."