Be it the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Moscow Art Theatre or our own Steppenwolf Theatre, most famous troupes seem to have one main thing in common — a resident company of actors. But over the past couple of decades, some regional theaters have done away with their resident ensembles, arguing that constantly drawing from the same pool of actors leads to aesthetic stagnation, with performers cast in inappropriate roles just so contractual obligations can be fulfilled.
Charles Newell of Court Theatre disagrees. At Court, one of Newell’s most interesting innovations for Chicago theater has been the establishment of a resident company of actors, which includes Barbara Robertson, Hollis Resnik, John Reeger and Craig Spidle. Court has also been producing at least two shows a year in rotating repertory since 1993, usually relying on this group of resident performers for the major roles.
Opening on Sunday is the rather bizarre combination of Lillian Hellman’s throbbing drama “The Little Foxes” and David Hirson’s farce “La Bete.” Robertson and Resnik have lead roles in both shows, with Reeger and Spidle each in one of the plays.
So how are Newell’s ideas working out?
Court audiences certainly seem to be enjoying the rotating rep concept (it’s possible to see both shows in the same day, if you wish). Although the logistics are more complex for the producing theater, the rep approach creates a much longer total rehearsal period (seven weeks) and, consequently, a more palpable sense of ensemble. “If you are working with the same group of people on more than one play,” Newell says, “things tend to germinate much more deeply.”
The creation of the resident company has also helped provide steady Chicago work for a group of this city’s more mature and accomplished performers (they get a stipend for the season in addition to a paycheck for each performance they are in). And it provides Newell with colleagues who can offer him feedback on his theater’s creative activities.
“We make a commitment to these actors for at least a year,” Newell says. “Many of them are working only for us from January through May. And in many cases, that’s the longest period of consecutive time they’ve ever been employed in Chicago.”
“When you are working with people with whom you are familiar there’s a higher level of trust,” says Robertson, a Chicago actor for some 20 years. “It’s more exciting and more engaging. And at least some of the work gets done more quickly.”
Unlike some theaters, though, the Court can change its ensemble every year, and it does not feel obligated to cast its troupe in every show. And when they are not cast in Hyde Park, the performers can and do work elsewhere. All in all, it looks like a winning situation for everyone.
“Theater,” says Robertson, who clearly cherishes her time at the Court, “has to be a very social and cooperative art in order for it to work out well.”
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Come June, life at the Shubert Theatre will be a true cabaret (old chum), but only if you are seated in the first few rows of the orchestra.
The touring version of the Roundabout Theatre’s smash Broadway revival of the Kander and Ebb musical is currently playing at the Wilshire Theatre in Los Angeles and will be coming to Chicago this summer. Especially for “Cabaret,” the Wilshire ripped out all of its orchestra seats and replaced them with tables and cocktail service. This replicated the original New York ambience of the Henry Miller Theatre (a.k.a. the Kit Kat Klub). So will that happen with “Cabaret” here?
Not exactly. Shubert Theatre marketing director Jill Hurwitz says that the venerable downtown house will be able to take out only the first two or three rows to make room for tables. In New York, those cabaret-style spots were the coolest place for celebrities such as Mike Nichols or Emma Thompson to hang out. So how will you get one here?
Most people won’t. “The tables will go to the subscribers who happen to be usually sitting in the rows from which the seats have been removed,” Hurwitz says.
And yes, you will be permitted to sip decadent cocktails as star Teri Hatcher warbles in your face. But only if you’re one of those favored few.
“Drinks won’t be allowed elsewhere in the theater,” Hurwitz says.
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The New York-based League of American Theatres and Producers will next week release the first major study of the composition of the audience for touring productions of Broadway theater. We took an advance peep at the report, which was based on surveys filled out by audiences across the country (including at the Shubert Theatre). Unsurprisingly, the conclusions are that the typical viewer of a touring theatrical show is middle-aged, far more affluent than America as a whole and far more likely to be Caucasian. The survey also notes that the audience for theater is disproportionately female. And by tracking who makes the actual decision to purchase tickets, it finds that the reason that most of the men in the audience are there at all is that a woman made them go.
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One of the little tricks that producers love to play on audiences is to disguise that a show is in town for an open run. If you tell people that it’ll be here indefinitely, the thinking goes, folks never get around to buying a ticket. So to no one’s surprise, “The Irish . . . And How They Got That Way” announced an extension last week at the Mercury Theatre, barely before the ink was dry on the slick revue’s generally positive overnight reviews. Such blarney. The new end date is just as meaningless as the one that initially appeared in the Tribune review. Like “Art,” “Blue Man Group” or “Forever Plaid,” these particular Irish will stick around for precisely as long as they are selling enough tickets to stay in the green.
