SACRAMENTO, CALIF. -- Sacramento's big three Equity companies -- California Musical Theatre, Sacramento Theatre Company, and Theatre for Children -- have become a quintet, with Capital Stage and the Studio Theatre signing Actors' Equity Association contracts within the past two years.
For Capital Stage artistic director Stephanie Gularte and Studio Theatre producer Jacqueline Schultz, their companies' transition to Equity status has been about the fulfillment of artistic dreams and professional objectives.
"It's really been the goal all along in terms of my commitment to the Sacramento region as an artist," says Schultz, whose 89-seat Studio Theatre became an Equity house in March with the regional premiere of Nathan Sanders' The Sugar Bean Sisters. She says the success of the theatre's long-running production of Six Women With Brain Death enabled it to take the step.
"For our part, it was an inevitable evolution," says Gularte, whose 115-seat Capital Stage became Equity in spring 2004 and nonprofit in January 2006 after some five years operating as the Delta King Theatre. "It was always there in my mind as a goal, but one you don't want to say out loud because it doesn't seem realistic," adds Gularte, who is also an actor and joined the union herself in 2001.
"There's such a mystique about Equity," says Schultz. "Most [local producers] don't understand it and I didn't either, but it's not that difficult. They're very, very good to work with."
"When a theatre approaches Actors' Equity and says they want to join, we work with the theatre company to find the right kind of contract," says union spokesperson Maria Somma. "We're very cognizant how difficult it is for theatres to get grants for funding, monetary support. We want to enter into a contract that will allow for growth and stability."
Both Capital Stage and the Studio Theatre are operating under Small Professional Theatre contracts, with Capital Stage considered a Tier 2 company and the Studio Theatre a Tier 1 company. The biggest difference: Tier 2 allows for four more hours of weekly rehearsal for an Equity stage manager and two Equity actors.
"They want us to succeed," says Capital Stage's managing director, Peter Mohrmann, of Equity. "They weren't going to force us into something we can't do. They understand we want to move up so we can have more than 26 hours a week of rehearsal, because it's killing us -- we're on a quick timeline here."
Not everything about being an Equity theatre has been smooth, Gularte and Schultz say. "One of the adjustments I had to make," says Schultz, "was being told as a director that I have X number of hours of rehearsal before going into overtime. That's been extremely irritating." They also say they're careful in counting the number of roles they cast with union actors above their Equity-mandated minimum -- even though neither house was built for large-ensemble musicals.
"It's an intimate space," says Gularte of her stage, which is on a docked riverboat called the Delta King. "We really can't have that many people on stage, so cast size is definitely a consideration for multiple reasons."
If going union has meant keeping a closer eye at the rehearsal clock and ledger sheet, Sacramento's two newest Equity houses also have easier access to union actors. "When it comes to casting, we have a greater range of options," Gularte says. "When you don't have to make as many compromises in casting, half your job is done."
Schultz and Gularte say they're uncertain whether audiences connect the dots between union and nonunion theatres or casts, but they are using their companies' Equity status in their marketing efforts. "We haven't done any kind of survey with our audience," says Mohrmann. "[But] it's important we present something where they'll say, 'Wow!' "