BY LUCIA MAURO
Although its name may suggest plays performed among the stacks, Equity Library Theatre Chicago (ELTC) has long moved out of such book-lined environs and into a variety of traditional and unconventional theatrical spaces–including the great outdoors.
For the past two years, under actor-director Frank Farrell’s term as president, ELTC has presented themed series centering on classic American playwrights–like Tennessee Williams and William Inge–at the North Lakeside Cultural Center.
In addition, Farrell inaugurated summer "theatre hikes" in which audiences traipsed along with Rosalind and Puck in the forest preserve-set productions of As You Like It and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The latter shows traveled to New York’s Central Park last year. Earlier this summer, ELTC opened Scott Lynch-Giddings’ Robyn Hood of Barnsdale Wood at the Chicago Botanic Gardens in Glencoe, then traveled to the Little Red Schoolhouse Nature Center in Willow Springs and then to White Pines Forest State Park in Mt. Morris, IL. Two remaining hikes take place at 11 a.m., Aug. 5 and 6, at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle.
"There’s a strong education component to ELTC," says Farrell. "We stress ongoing training of our Equity actor members through workshops and performing experience. The more environmental stagings have allowed us to stretch our limbs."
The all-volunteer ELTC’s main goal is to offer showcase opportunities for members of Actors’ Equity Association. The group, working around sporadic schedules, does not have a season carved in stone. But it performs quite regularly throughout the year and often does a commendable job of matching theatre artists’ strengths to challenging roles in American plays from the 20th century.
"We resurrect and revive works by great American playwrights," explains Farrell, "to give actors an opportunity to master them. But we really don’t do original scripts because we don’t want to abuse an actor’s rehearsal time. We have to be sensitive to the actors’ schedules."
While the artists do not get a salary for ELTC shows, they receive a stipend. They also have a chance to try their hand at directing, design, stage managing and publicity. While Farrell admits that it can be difficult to measure the success of these showcases, he notes that at least three actors recently got signed to agencies and are getting commercial work. One even landed a beer commercial.
So ELTC remains true to its original goals. Equity Library Theatre Chicago was founded in 1951 by Actors’ Equity Association member and Chicagoan Marge Dare to present a means by which local artists could be seen by talent buyers. At the time, summer stock companies in the Chicago area imported all their talent from New York.
The name Equity Library Theatre was borrowed from its now-defunct sister organization in New York City, founded in 1946. The New York-based Sam Jaffe of Actors’ Equity Association teamed up with George Freedley of the New York Public Library to showcase actors and provide low-cost theatre for audiences by touring performances throughout the public library system. Equity Library Theatre Chicago has remained a producing entity since its first production in 1952.
ELTC is still dedicated to creating potential employment opportunities for professional Chicago actors by showcasing them in productions presented to the general public and inviting talent employers as guests to every performance–making resumes and contact information readily available at the door to legitimate employers.
Board members of ELTC have always functioned as key staff members, producing plays themselves and soliciting volunteers from the general union membership to mount showcase productions for the benefit of themselves and their fellow actors. Income is derived from box office receipts, general ELTC membership dues, and contributions in the form of private donations and grants from the City of Chicago City arts programs.
Farrell reports that membership in the past has been as high as 200, while today there are about 25 ELTC members. At this point, ELTC is reevaluating its goals and structure. It is in the process of creating a brochure to be sent in the fall to Equity actors throughout the city to receive input about how ELTC can better serve the Equity community. There has been talk of arranging acting class discounts for members and more workshop opportunities. A benefit is being planned for November. And the next production will not go up until late January 2001. Farrell has tentatively scheduled an evening of Arthur Miller one acts.
On this subject, ELTC has experienced much success with its one acts. Since it is difficult to get casting agents and directors to come to every show and spend an evening sitting through an entire play, Farrell thinks the concept of shorter works allows for more flexibility. ELTC recently took its evocative one acts by Inge to the annual William Inge Theatre Festival in the playwright’s home town of Independence, Kansas.
Another option is to bring in directors closely associated with a well-known local theatre company to direct an ELTC showcase.
Farrell has even re-imagined the significance of the troupe’s studious-sounding name: "I’ve taken the word library to mean that we’re bringing back classic plays as if from the library shelves."
For more information, call the ELTC hotline at 773-743-0266.