8-1-08
No More Multiple Awards at Non-Equity Jeffs
The Jeff Committee is making changes. And they’re rolling them out one at a time. Earlier this year, the committee announced that they were jettisoning “Citation” in favor of “Non-Equity Jeffs.” The first just Non-Equity Jeff Awards were given out in June.
Now the Non-Equity Jeff Awards will be even more like their Equity counterparts: They’ll be competitive for the first time ever.
In other words, there will be only one winner per category.
“The aspect of having the non-Equity awards being competitive was a very strong request from the theatre community,” said Jeffs spokesman Jeffrey M. Marks. The request came from a comprehensive brand study the Jeffs have taken up in the last two years, and they’ve been followed by extensive contact with affected theatres, producers and past recipients.
“We always react and listen to the theatre community,” said Marks.
The exceptions to the new competitive rules will be the New Work and New Adaptation categories. And the competitive rules are in effect for the current non-Equity season, which started April 1.
Marks said the Jeffs are expecting to roll out their next change in about a month. They are tiering the Equity Jeff Awards by theatre budget, so that, say, Bailiwick (which is doing Hunchback under an Equity contract) doesn’t have to compete with Steppenwolf or Chicago Shakespeare. There will only be two tiers, but Marks said the demarcation line hadn’t yet been finalized.