The premiere of freeFAll Theatre Company's The Wild Party at The Studio@620 is unprecedented in that 13 of the show's 15 actors are members of the Actor's Equity union. Usually – though not always – Equity actors are those with more experience and, arguably, more talent. But most smaller theaters can't afford the minimum salaries that Equity demands for its artists. So it's common to find one or two Equity actors in the smaller theaters, while the rest are non-union. Outside of Broadway tours, it's unusual to find even six or seven Equity actors in a show. (For that matter, it's rare these days to find 15 actors of any sort in a show: much easier on any budget are the six-or-fewer-actors shows that you find so often on national stages.)
I asked freeFAll's artistic director, Eric Davis, a fine actor himself, how he was able to afford so many union actors. He told me that most theaters only make 60% of their income from ticket sales, and that he's reconciled to the idea that the rest will have to come from elsewhere. So he's found funds from various sources, and one – a campaign asking for one dollar from each contributor – has already raised about $20,000. He added: "One of our main values is, you know, theater in America is largely subsidized by actors not really getting paid. And so we don't think that that's where the money to do theater should come from, by not paying the actors. With this particular show, we decided that we wanted to show what can happen when we do put resources into something."
What can happen – what is still happening at the Studio for another few days – is a terrific show. FreeFall couldn't have had a better premiere.
This article appears in Sep 17-23, 2008.