I spent Labor Day Weekend in Connecticut at the conspicuously lavish wedding of my nephew (string trio, reggae duo and an eight-piece orchestra, black tie, engagement ring in excess of one carat, appetizers of duck crepes, sushi and carved roast beef followed by a six-course sit-down dinner, etc.) and, waiting at the Hartford airport for my flight back, I casually thumbed through a magazine called Preview Connecticut. I was surprised to find the Neo-Futurists there, under a sub-heading dubbed “Up-Tempo Theater.” Touted as an Off-Broadway success (true enough), the troupe is bringing Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind to the Wesleyan University (Middletown, CT) Center for the Arts, Sept. 16-17. “Hello,” I said to myself, “so the Neo-Futurists have a touring unit, just like Second City. I didn’t know that.” Did you?

Reached by phone, Neo-Futurist managing director Andra Velis Simon confessed all. The ensemble troupe does, indeed, tour and gig beyond the confines of its Andersonville mortuary home. She described a “tour” as one or more performances requiring an overnight stay, and “gigs” as off-site local jobs that don’t require an overnight stay. “Sometimes we even do weddings,” she added.

However, there is no touring unit per se. Tours and gigs are staffed by current ensemble members and by a few ensemble alumni who remain on call. Ensemble members and alums are offered gigs and tours on a rotating schedule so that everyone has an opportunity. The ensemble currently has 15 members (“the largest it’s been, and a good thing right now,” Simon says) because the away shows require a cast of five or six, while the home shows each weekend are performed by five to eight players.

This month, virtually the entire ensemble is doing Too Much Light somewhere: in addition to the Chicago and Connecticut performances, there is an upcoming two-week stand in Louisville, the longest touring stop the troupe has done yet.

With only three or four tour bookings a year, and 8-15 gigs, the extra performances do not produce major income for the Neo-Futurists, at least not yet. “It’s largely about an income stream for our artists,” Simon explains, with 90 percent of all gig income going to the artists. They receive a smaller percentage of touring income because the costs are higher. Both gigs and tours are generated in-house, with ensemble member Noelle Krimm doubling as booking coordinator.

FYI: Although the Neo-Futurists remains a non-Equity company, the troupe pays its full ensemble members a cash stipend towards health insurance, a nice benefit for an Off-Loop theatre and perhaps a unique one among non-union companies.

Veteran Chicago actor Ernest Perry, Jr. has been nominated for a Barrymore Award—the Jeffs of Philadelphia—for his lead performance in Fences at the Arden Theatre Company. The Barrymores, presented by the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia, will be bestowed on Oct. 10.

With the passing Aug. 28 of Ray Nordstrand, longtime president and general manager of WFMT, the performing arts in Chicago lost a true and stalwart friend. Ray received hundreds of accolades for his support of folk music and Chicago-style comedy, and his tremendous innovations in the international dissemination of serious music (with Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as primary beneficiaries). Little-noted, however, was his love of theatre and support for the growth and development of the Chicago industry. I could tell personal stories, as could others around town, but let’s simply give official recognition to the fact that Ray Nordstrand was a member of the Chicago Theatre Group (Goodman) board of trustees 1984-1988.

Speaking of the Goodman Theatre, the troupe has honored Roche Edward Schulfer on the occasion of his 25th anniversary as managing director/executive director of the Goodman, not to mention his total of 32 years as a Goodman employee. The Chicago Tribune named Schulfer arts leader of the year in 2000; Chicago Magazine has named him a Chicagoan of the Year; he’s received awards for his numerous contributions to professional theatre from the American Arts Alliance and Lifeline Theater, among others.

But he’s never received a Joseph Jefferson Special Award. Isn’t it about time? Isn’t it long, long past due? I’ve set this down in print so many times I’ve lost count. Yet the Jeff Committee—which solicits Special Awards nominations from non-Committee members of the industry—never, never gets the message. Hello? Anybody home this year? It’s time to do the right thing. The name is ROCHE E. SCHULFER.

It’s good news for the Aguijón Theater Company, the vest-pocket Northwest Side Latino troupe that presents much of its work in Spanish. The company will be sole United States representative at two Latin American theatre festivals: I Encuentro Internacional de Teatro, in San Miguel, Argentina, Sept. 28-Oct. 2; and VI Festival Latinoamericano de Teatro Qosqo, in Cuzco, Peru, Oct. 4–8. Aguijón will participate with a production of Federico Garcia Lorca’s La Casa de Bernarda Alba, directed by Marcela Muñoz in the original Spanish. The theme of the Argentine festival is the women of Lorca, so the selection of Bernarda Alba is particularly apt. Aguijon first staged the Lorca’s well-known drama in May, 2002 and brought it to the Goodman Theatre’s first Latin American Theater Festival in 2003. Aguijon will tune up for South America with Sept. 23-25 performances at their home space, 2707 N. Laramie. Aguijón Theater’s participation in the two festivals is partially supported by The Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum, the Illinois Arts Council, the Department of Cultural Affairs and The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation.

Speaking of festivals, the men and women—if you can tell the difference—of GayCo Productions returned in triumph from the New York International Fringe Festival, having copped the Best Ensemble award at the Aug. 28 closing ceremonies. Their show, the ever-popular Weddings of Mass Destruction was presented at the Lucille Lortel Theatre.

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