... For
theatre tours, it's not really necessary to have an
IATSE card when you start out, and by the time you get to the better tours where you do need one, you'll have one. Most entry-level touring jobs frequently hire non-union stagehands, and if the tour is or turns into a union tour, the non-union guys will just
pick up ACT cards - basically like an
IATSE card that doesn't have any connection to a specific local, allowing you to tour. Some old, hardened stagehands look down on the ACT card ("Anyone Can Tour"), but it is a route that many take when starting their careers. One progression that I've heard of many people doing is to start touring with companies like NETworks and Troika and move your way up until you're touring with the 1st Nationals, which are usually PE'd/PS'd and designed by the same guys who did the Broadway versions of those shows. Then you just keep impressing those bosses until you decide to
settle down in New York, and hopefully they like you enough to start giving you jobs on the Broadway shows. ...