
Friday on the TOC Blog, Christopher posted about some changes being planned by the Jeff committee—most notably, to us, the retirement of the "Citations." The year's two award ceremonies will now be known as the Equity Jeff Awards and the Non-Equity Jeff Awards.
We thought this was a great move, but the first comment we got on the post was a hysterical accusation that the Jeff committee was "disrespecting" the "professional" theater companies by giving non-Equity awards with the same name. "There is nothing you can write that will convince me The Goodman Theatre efforts should be considered in the same playing field as (ex) Lifeline," the commenter wrote, and furthermore, "They should have done the exact opposite-more to separate the professional and non-professional theatres in this city."
While we've discussed this here before, it seems to bear revisiting. There's clearly a contingent out there that fervently believes all non-Equity theater companies might as well be community theater, as these same folks often fan the flames of this argument in the comments at The Theater Loop as well. I can't for the life of me figure out who these people are. I have a hard time believing they're theater artists. In some other city, maybe (and when non-Equity tours of Broadway musicals come through town charging Equity-tour prices [*cough*Rent*cough*], I hope Equity pickets those shows). But as far as our homegrown theater, Chicago is different. Equity even acknowledges that by the existence of Chicago Area Theatre contracts.
As I mentioned in the comments at TOC, the "brand audit" on which basis the Jeffs are making these changes was based on interviews with managing and artistic directors at theaters both Equity and non. In other words, this is based on what the theaters indicated they thought should happen.
And as I also said there, I have to believe that the people getting so hung up on "professional" and "non-professional" have a limited understanding of the way theater actually works in Chicago. The Equity and non-Equity designations are only an indication of the theater's status with the actors' union. Let's not forget that there are directors and designers in the mix as well. Take Dolly West's Kitchen at TimeLine, since I was at that premiere last night. The cast is all non-Equity, and the show will go in the Non-Equity wing of the Jeffs, but the production staff includes director Kimberly Senior, scenic designer Brian Bembridge, costume designer Christine Conley, lighting designer Charles Cooper, and sound designer Tamara Roberts, all of whom work regularly on both sides of the Equity divide. (Consider also that PJ Powers told Nina Metz in the Trib two years ago that TimeLine's budget had reached half a million dollars. Does that sound like community theater?)
Then there's the range of CAT contracts. Many companies that are in the Equity wing of the Jeffs (and that our commenter would presumably consider "professional") run under contracts like the CAT-N, and can have casts with the likes of one Equity actor to 15 non-Equity (to name one show I saw not too long ago). That's why non-Equity performers often get nominated for Equity Jeff Awards already, as with Sara Sevigny's win at last fall's ceremony for Porchlight's Assassins.
And of course don't forget that big theaters like the Goodman and Steppenwolf provide day jobs for untold numbers of young artists who are running their own non-Equity companies by night. It's not simply a dichotomy of "professional" and "non-professional" in Chicago; happily, there's so much more interplay among all the levels than folks like our commenter seem to realize.
So you see why I find it hard to imagine our artists having this vitriolic attitude towards non-Equity companies. Which leads back to the question: Who are these misguided people zealously defending the Goodman's honor? Where are they getting their ideas, and who's encouraging them to think this way?
Also of note this week: My story from Wednesday's issue on PJ Paparelli's bold plans for American Theater Company was enhanced by Friday's announcement of ATC's next season. "Bold plans" starts to look like an understatement.
Recent Comments