Yesterday I read an article on Ocean State Theatre Company's new space in Warwick.
Obviously, there's a lot of excitement at the prospect of a new 425-seat space opening that promises to add more opportunities for people to see professional theater.
Then I got to this section of the article:
"Because the theater will be an Actor’s Equity, or union theater, Turner"--Artistic Director Aimee Turner--"expects to hire out-of-state actors. Housing them will be an issue she’ll tackle in the future, though she said she hopes to bring permanent residents to the state."
Admittedly, I was a little taken aback.
Now, before I go any further I should say the following things:
First, I'm not ignorant to how Equity houses work. I realize that Equity houses have to use Equity actors, but I'm sure there are some Equity actors living in the state who might not be working at the moment because of the obvious lack of Equity jobs in the area.
Secondly, depending on what type of Equity the new theater ends up being, it is possible that they would be able to hire non-Equity actors, in which case, one would hope they'd prefer hiring local people--not just to be nice, but also because ultimately I'd imagine it would have to make more fiscal sense.
OSTC's current home is Theatre by the Sea, where local actors do, occasionally, get used. From what I can tell, however, most get pulled from out of state.
More than a few of my friends called or e-mailed me after seeing the article to express their disappointment over what they read. Some pointed out that it seems wrong for a theater to get grants meant to support local theaters if they're not planning to use local talent.
I try not to feed into lynch mob mentality, nor do I have any interest in raking a theater over the coals that hasn't even opened yet, but I do think the frustration people feel comes from a bigger problem that needs addressing.
The opportunities for local talent to perform on a professional stage in this state are slim, to say the least. The state is lucky enough to currently host a wealth of artistic people, but many of them are feeling stagnant and dejected. I've written other blogs about what I call "the mass exodus of artists from Rhode Island"--mainly about friends and colleagues in the theater community.
Now, I'm not sure there's ever been a time in any artistic community when anything but the minority was getting work, but what concerns me is the lack of interest most theaters seem to have in using local talent and the lack of insistence coming from the audiences (and the talent themselves) that they be utilized.
In a tough economy, people get very impassioned about supporting local communities, and yet when it comes to art, it seems the de facto response to go to New York or Boston to get what you're looking for. Ultimately, I do subscribe to that fifth grade high school play aphorism that the best person for the role should get it, but I find it hard to believe the best person to bring a tea tray on and say five lines has to come from Manhattan.
I think what's really going on is that we're all easily Music Man-ed into believing outside talent is better talent. I once worked at a theater where they brought in a girl from New York to play the lead, spent a huge chunk of the budget paying her, and then found out she had virtually no experience. In other words, she was living in New York and not working in New York. Even when that was pointed out to the people at the theater, they didn't seem to care. They just wanted to slap the words "New York talent" on her, because they knew the local press and the old ladies at the matinee would bite.
They bit all right, but nobody seemed to impressed with her. And she certainly didn't put as many people in the seats as someone locally might have. After all, people go see people they know, especially people within a given community of artists. We're all pretty good at showing each other support. It would be nice if more theaters in the area starting doing the same.
Obviously, there's a lot of excitement at the prospect of a new 425-seat space opening that promises to add more opportunities for people to see professional theater.
Then I got to this section of the article:
"Because the theater will be an Actor’s Equity, or union theater, Turner"--Artistic Director Aimee Turner--"expects to hire out-of-state actors. Housing them will be an issue she’ll tackle in the future, though she said she hopes to bring permanent residents to the state."
Admittedly, I was a little taken aback.
Now, before I go any further I should say the following things:
First, I'm not ignorant to how Equity houses work. I realize that Equity houses have to use Equity actors, but I'm sure there are some Equity actors living in the state who might not be working at the moment because of the obvious lack of Equity jobs in the area.
Secondly, depending on what type of Equity the new theater ends up being, it is possible that they would be able to hire non-Equity actors, in which case, one would hope they'd prefer hiring local people--not just to be nice, but also because ultimately I'd imagine it would have to make more fiscal sense.
OSTC's current home is Theatre by the Sea, where local actors do, occasionally, get used. From what I can tell, however, most get pulled from out of state.
More than a few of my friends called or e-mailed me after seeing the article to express their disappointment over what they read. Some pointed out that it seems wrong for a theater to get grants meant to support local theaters if they're not planning to use local talent.
I try not to feed into lynch mob mentality, nor do I have any interest in raking a theater over the coals that hasn't even opened yet, but I do think the frustration people feel comes from a bigger problem that needs addressing.
The opportunities for local talent to perform on a professional stage in this state are slim, to say the least. The state is lucky enough to currently host a wealth of artistic people, but many of them are feeling stagnant and dejected. I've written other blogs about what I call "the mass exodus of artists from Rhode Island"--mainly about friends and colleagues in the theater community.
Now, I'm not sure there's ever been a time in any artistic community when anything but the minority was getting work, but what concerns me is the lack of interest most theaters seem to have in using local talent and the lack of insistence coming from the audiences (and the talent themselves) that they be utilized.
In a tough economy, people get very impassioned about supporting local communities, and yet when it comes to art, it seems the de facto response to go to New York or Boston to get what you're looking for. Ultimately, I do subscribe to that fifth grade high school play aphorism that the best person for the role should get it, but I find it hard to believe the best person to bring a tea tray on and say five lines has to come from Manhattan.
I think what's really going on is that we're all easily Music Man-ed into believing outside talent is better talent. I once worked at a theater where they brought in a girl from New York to play the lead, spent a huge chunk of the budget paying her, and then found out she had virtually no experience. In other words, she was living in New York and not working in New York. Even when that was pointed out to the people at the theater, they didn't seem to care. They just wanted to slap the words "New York talent" on her, because they knew the local press and the old ladies at the matinee would bite.
They bit all right, but nobody seemed to impressed with her. And she certainly didn't put as many people in the seats as someone locally might have. After all, people go see people they know, especially people within a given community of artists. We're all pretty good at showing each other support. It would be nice if more theaters in the area starting doing the same.
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