Out of Sight, Out of Mind
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“How much time you got?” league board member and Goodman Theatre resident director Chuck Smith wondered when we called to ask him what happened. Back in the 80s, African-American actors weren’t getting much play in Chicago theater, Smith says. In 1984 he and three colleagues founded the Chicago Theatre Company, and in 1985, when they attended their first League of Chicago Theatres retreat, they voiced the complaint that black actors weren’t getting their share of jobs. A fiery discussion followed, and led to a survey the following year by Actors’ Equity that proved what Smith already knew. In 1986 the league and Actors’ Equity sponsored the first “nontraditional auditions” as a showcase for minority actors. It was a huge success. “All the artistic directors and casting directors from the major companies came,” Smith says. “People were being hired as they walked off the stage.” It was great for three or four years, he continues, and then, “because of political correctness, we had to add seniors, the handicapped, and interest started to fade.” It didn’t seem as focused anymore: fewer experienced actors were signing up, and Equity dropped out as a sponsor.
League board member and TimeLine Theatre artistic director P.J. Powers says the bigger companies weren’t showing up either, and that resulted in a loss of interest on the part of seasoned actors. “I use the Unifieds every year,” Powers says, “but it needs to be reenvisioned.” To make it work the bigger companies must be there, he says, and it would be good to invite some regional companies as well. On the other hand, “Maybe the Unified has seen its day. I don’t want to sit through another five days of it as it was.” While Smith is convinced that the auditions will be back–though he’d like to see some other organization take responsibility for them–Powers argues that trying to look suitable for companies as diverse as children’s theaters and, say, Steppenwolf in the same couple of minutes doesn’t make a lot of sense: “Maybe smaller group auditions for three or four companies with similar needs would be more appropriate.”
They’ll Need All Nine Lives
