The Villain Makes His Exit
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Korn–who’s gone back home to Kentucky and admits he bounced some checks–was a stranger to most of the Illuzzio company before he showed up in Chicago this spring, script in hand and ready to do a show. “I tried to check out his background early on and it looked legit,” says actor Ross Boehringer, who’d responded to a call for auditions in PerformInk. “He had a theater company in Cincinnati. He was a Northwestern grad. Pay was $300 a week–a good wage for a non-Equity contract. You try to protect yourself from this stuff, but I haven’t really figured out how you do that.” It’s especially aggravating, Dyrkacz adds, because prior to Illuzzio’s opening, Chopin’s resident company, Roadworks Productions, tried to buy some of Korn’s time slot so they could extend their own sold-out production of The Book of Liz. “I tried to tell him 11 weeks is a lot in Chicago–can’t you do this like other companies, 7, 8 weeks?” To make matters worse, Dyrkacz says, Korn barely advertised. “I can’t believe someone with experience would think one or two reviews without promotion would bring people to the theater.” He says he told Korn he’d settle for 50 percent of what’s owed. But Hammond says she plans on “seeing it through to the bitter end. For some of us it’s not just the money, it’s the principle of the thing.”
Not Ready for Prime Time
