Patti Lupone: ‘they Don’t Know Who I Am’!

Is this perhaps Patti LuPone’s last curtain call on Broadway?

She told the Actors’ Equity Association on Monday that she was departing (AEA). The 73-year-old American Horror Story actor confesses to PEOPLE why she is leaving the “worst marriage” she has ever been a part of.

PEOPLE’s request for comment to AEA was not immediately returned.

The three-time Tony winner, who most recently completed a run in the production of Stephen Sondheim’s Company, says, “They accepted my resignation and warned me that if I ever wanted to rejoin, I’d have to be approved.”

“It’s why I decided to leave Equity, and it’s the best possible explanation for my decision. For the past half-century, I have been a member of Equity, yet they have little to no idea who I am “As before, LuPone keeps talking.

“They basically said, ‘Okay, but we’re going to have to approve you if you want to rejoin.’ “

With her name being brought up regularly over the past week when Hadestown singer Lillias White “reprimanded” a hearing-impaired audience member who indicated White had mistaken her captioning device for a recording device, she announced her retirement from AEA on Twitter

(Both Hadestown’s creators and Jujamcyn, owner of the Walter Kerr Theater, have since issued apologies.)

In the past, LuPone has criticized audience members for their lack of manners and decorum at the theater.

The past week has been “quite a week on Broadway, hearing my name being thrown about,” LuPone wrote on Monday. “I canceled my Equity membership; the circus can go home now. Find a solution.”
When asked by PEOPLE, LuPone claims that AEA “actors,” adding, “They’re just not good. I just didn’t feel right about giving them any more cash.”

“My initial reaction was, “This is crazy.” And I have no idea when I will be performing again “Moreover, she says. “Of course, the fact that you may act without being a part of Equity is the best-kept secret of all. Since no one else is aware of this, I have stopped using their products and services. Thus, I have resigned from Equity.”

Although only members of the Actors’ Equity Association are allowed to work on Broadway, guest contracts are sometimes made available. LuPone would still be allowed to perform in concerts and cabarets if she left AEA because certain regional and touring companies use “non-Equity” contracts.

The star of “Evita” explains why she is putting more effort into the film and television industries: “I doubt that I will ever return to my previous schedule of eight shows per week. It’s not that I can’t; rather, that is my purpose in life. No, thank you.”

Despite LuPone’s “wondering what’s going to happen” next in her career, she appears to have quite a bit on her plate, with a role in The School for Good and Evil premiering on Netflix on October 19 and her return to American Horror Story with season 11’s NYC premiering on FX that same night at 10 p.m. ET.