From SAG upheavals to scam bills galore, it's been an exciting year for West Coast actors. The following is a condensed version of many of the stories Back Stage West covered over the year, as part of its ongoing mission to keep our readers up-to-date on everything that concerns the actor-from runaway production to network whitewashing.
I'm Just a Bill
In March, personal managers, concerned that a bill introduced recently in the California state legislature would over-regulate their profession, received some good news from the measure's sponsor, who said that she was "leaning toward" narrowing its scope (BSW, 3/18/99). The legislation, sponsored by Assemblywoman Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica), was proposed by the Los Angeles City Attorney's office to deal with fraudulent, fly-by-night managers who take advantage of actors by charging up-front fees but do nothing to advance their clients' careers. The bill, which Kuehl introduced to the California Legislature on Feb. 26, 1999, would have required personal managers to obtain licenses from the state labor commissioner and would have imposed fines of up to $50,000 and up to one year in jail for each incident of illegal solicitation or procurement of employment.
In April, Kuehl told a room full of entertainment lawyers and other Hollywood executives that they should not expect to see any legislation on the matter of regulating the profession of personal managers for at least a year (BSW, 4/29/99). She added that unless the Hollywood community could present a unified voice as to why managers should be regulated, she planned for the bill to focus solely on protecting child actors and other Hollywood innocents from the clutches of immoral representatives.
Kuehl's revised bill (AB 884) set out to protect artists, including child actors and their parents, from predators in the industry, and passed the California Assembly by a vote of 68-11. The bill imposes strict regulations on advance-fee talent services by requiring such businesses to post a $10,000 bond and to use contracts that notify customers of their right to obtain a refund. The bill also prohibits advance-fee talent services from fee-splitting, false advertising, and charging fees for classes and photographers under the guise of a talent or management contract. In October, AB 884 was signed by Gov. Davis (BSW, 10/21/99).
Incidentally, Gov. Davis also signed Senate Bill 1162 this year, which revises California's "Coogan's Law" by requiring all employers of child actors to place a minimum of 15 percent of the child's earnings into a trust account, regardless of whether the employer's contract has been approved by a court of law (BSW, 10/21/99).
Of course, actors need protection in this life and the next. Accordingly, a measure designed to arm heirs of deceased celebrities with tools to crack down on unauthorized uses of their famous loved ones' images was passed by the Assembly Judiciary Committee by an 11-1 vote, with three members abstaining. Senate Bill 209, nicknamed the "Astaire Bill" after Fred Astaire, places the burden of proof on those using the celebrity images, forcing them to show that their use is protected by the First Amendment. (BSW, 7/1/99). The Motion Picture Association of America opposed the bill's original language because it would have required filmmakers to obtain approval from a deceased person's heirs every time they altered the person's image digitally. The Screen Actors Guild and the MPAA reached an 11th-hour compromise on Senate Bill 209. An amendment was made and the bill moved on to the California Assembly (BSW, 9/2/99).
Canada, Ho!
Runaway production was the topic of the year for L.A. actors. However, two California Bills-AB 358 and 484-designed to curb runaway film and television production suffered a fatal blow when they failed to make it out of the Senate Appropriations Committee after Gov. Davis told legislators there was not enough money in the state's budget to pay for the tax breaks contained in the bills (BSW, 9/9/99). Less than a month earlier, more than 5,000 industry workers had gathered at a rally on Hollywood Boulevard to protest runaway production and gather support for the bills (BSW, 8/19/99).
Gov. Davis did however sign AB 848 this fall, a bill that facilitates the process for obtaining a coastal permit to film along California's coastline (BSW, 10/7/99). And the Los Angeles City Council agreed to study creating a loan fund for film and television projects to help stem the exodus of productions from Hollywood to Canada and other areas (BSW, 11/4/99).
Still, little seemed to really get accomplished in terms of stemming the tide, as Representative Jerry Weller (R-Ill.) ended attempts to get the runaway production measure added to the minimum-wage legislation this fall, while promising to reintroduce the tax-credit measure next year (BSW, 11/18/99).
Mergers No More
The biggest union-related news this year was Screen Actors Guild members' rejection of the proposed merger with the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (BSW, 2/4/99). AFTRA's members had already approved the merger by a two-to-one margin, but the big shocker was that more than 50 percent of SAG's ballots voted against the merger. The defeat was a major setback for SAG's leadership, which had campaigned hard to persuade the guild's members to vote for the merger. Union leaders predicted that the merger's defeat would result in a jurisdictional war over actors employed on television shows and commercials, with unions competing against one another to gain turf by offering producers a spiraling cycle of sweeter and sweeter deals. A series of summit meetings was called to head off disputes (Mar. 12, Apr. 14, and May 14), and while leaders declined to discuss the details of the talks until the end of the summit process, officials on both sides were hopeful that the unions would continue to cooperate as they have in past years (BSW, 5/20/99).
This disappointment didn't seem to slow down AFTRA's leadership, of course. In June, AFTRA signed its first agreement with the L.A.-based Paxson Television, Inc., known as PAX-TV, the nation's largest owner-operator of broadcast television facilities. AFTRA has also reached agreements with other cable producers, covering programming on the Disney Channel, the Fox Family Channel, FX, Nickelodeon, E!, Comedy Central, HBO, TNN, and the recently launched Style channel (BSW, 6/17/99). And AFTRA struck a three-year agreement with Spanish-language network Telemundo that covers all videotaped programming produced by Llamame Loco Prods., the network's production arm in the United States. The agreement marked the beginning of a move to increase U.S.-based programming for Telemundo (BSW, 7/1/99).
Of course, things weren't always so easy in AFTRA negotiations this year. In August, AFTRA comics began boycott of Comic View, a Black Entertainment Television show that moved its production from L.A. to Atlanta after facing an active organizing drive (BSW, 9/2/99). Over 100 comedians, including Jay Leno, Tim Allen, and Richard Pryor, signed an open letter to Robert Johnson, founder and CEO of BET, denouncing the substandard treatment of standups on Comic View (BSW, 9/16/99). AFTRA later reached a labor agreement covering on-air talent for BET's new talk show, BET Live From LA, the first of its kind for a show airing on BET (BSW, 9/30/99).
In August, Boston-based newscaster Shelby Scott was re-elected without opposition to an unprecedented fourth term as national president of AFTRA (BSW, 8/12/99).
You Say You Want a Revolution?
Things were not so stable over at SAG this year. In September, actor William Daniels announced his intention to run for SAG's national presidency on the Performers' Alliance slate. Daniels said he wanted to change the direction of SAG: "The rank-and-file members are really suffering, and I'd like to refocus the union on them" (BSW, 9/9/99). Later that month, SAG board member Angeltompkins announced that she was making a run for the SAG presidency-her fourth-as well (BSW, 9/30/99).
Things got heated pretty quickly. ProAct, an activist group supporting SAG president Richard Masur, accused the Performers' Alliance in October of spreading lies about Masur-that he took kickbacks from producers, refused to allow a strike against commercial producers, ran a scam selling vouchers, and planned not to complete his term, but rather run for public office. However, Chuck Sloan, a member of the Performers Alliance, answered, "This is how ProAct have been running their campaign. They make up stories and then pretend someone else said it" (BSW, 10/7/99).
Later that month, the AFL-CIO told Masur that contributions made to help finance the campaigns of SAG presidential candidates are not tax-deductible. Masur asked the AFL-CIO for an opinion after William Daniels told SAG members that contributions to his campaign are tax-deductible. Daniels apologized (BSW, 10/21/99).
A week later, an error of omission on SAG's New York website led to only Richard Masur being listed on a sample ballot. (The actual ballots sent out contained all the names of the candidates.) The problem was corrected as soon as it was brought to the attention of SAG New York (BSW, 10/28/99). Despite this computer snafu, William Daniels was elected SAG president in November, along with all but two of his 20 running mates on the Performers' Alliance slate, marking one of the biggest routs in the history of SAG politics (BSW, 11/11/99). With the taking of the office came words of reconciliation from Daniels, who urged a new unity within SAG and called for the disbanding of the Performers' Alliance (BSW, 11/18/99).
Nevertheless, party lines were still apparent when the the Performers' Alliance solidified its victory in the SAG elections in November by securing the appointment of four more of its members to the guild's Hollywood board of directors. Two Performers' Alliance members newly appointed to the board immediately showed how tough they wanted SAG to be by proposing that the guild get rid of its longstanding "no strike clause," which prevents SAG from calling "sympathy strikes" when other unions go on strike during the term of SAG's contract. The motion was shelved (BSW, 11/25/99).
Tamper Trouble
Before the election, controversy reigned at SAG over the ballot miscount of 1998. In January, three SAG staffers suspected of tampering with an internal election put the guild on notice that they may hold it legally responsible for any damage to their reputations and careers stemming from the still-unproved allegations (BSW, 1/21/99). The staffers-Katherine Moore, SAG's director of communications; Catherine York, SAG's director of government relations, and Judy Carpenter, administrative assistant to SAG's Hollywood executive director-also maintained that members of the Performers' Alliance leaked confidential documents to reporters. SAG's national board later decided to drop any further investigation of the miscounting of ballots. However, on Feb. 1, 1999, SAG's Hollywood board of directors, upset with the guild's decision to drop the probe, voted to publish (in SAG's Hollywood newsletter, Call Sheet) the text of a resolution adopted by the national board and to identify how each Hollywood member voted on that resolution (BSW, 2/18/99).
Come election time, supporters of Richard Masur posted a theory on their website that purported that last year's controversial miscounting of ballots in SAG's National Executive Committee election was the result of human error, not fraud. The theory stood in contrast to a report made by former California Supreme Court Judge Joseph Grodin, who had been hired by SAG to investigate the miscount. Grodin concluded that the miscount was probably the result of intentional wrongdoing on the part of one or more of three SAG staffers who had done the counting. But the report failed to specifically prove wrongdoing on any one person's part (BSW, 10/21/99). New SAG president William Daniels said he would not revive the investigation into the possible fraud in the election ballot miscount. (BSW, 11/18/99).
Other Union News
Despite upheavals and investigations, there was still much business as usual for both unions thoughout most of 1999. In June, the SAG national board approved a new dues formula that will see the union's take of 1.5 percent of member earnings increase to 1.85 percent and, for the first time in 13 years, an increase in base dues-from $85 to $100 dollars (BSW, 7/1/99). Nearly 64 percent of SAG's voting members approved the guild's dues increase in September (BSW, 9/23/99).
AFTRA's new uniform national dues schedule became effective Nov. 1. Under the new system, members earning the same will now pay the same, no matter where they live and work (BSW, 11/18/99). And earlier in the year, AFTRA pension trustees approved a more flexible pension plan that provides for quicker vesting, allows members to begin receiving full retirement benefits at age 55, and permits access to funds in "hardship" cases (BSW, 7/1/99).
SAG balanced its dues increases by increasing it own vigilance in recovering monies owed to its members. In August, a SAG probe uncovered a pattern of widespread underreporting of actors' residuals by the TV advertising industry. SAG recovered more than $500,000-mostly from producers of Spanish-language commercials-and filed claims for arbitrations against the producers of 15 English-language commercials (BSW, 9/2/99). However, John McGuinn, chief negotiator for TV advertisers and ad agencies in the contract talks with SAG, called the union's claim that advertisers are stealing from actors by underreporting residuals "ludicrous, inflammatory, and defamatory." And SAG president Richard Masur apologized and said SAG did not say that advertisers "were actually stealing anything from anybody" (BSW, 9/9/99).
In addition, SAG also collected a pool of residuals to on- and off-camera performers who appeared in certain Coca-Cola commercials from the 1950s through the '80s. The Coca-Cola company, after attempting and failing to locate over 180 actors, asked the guild to take the money and continue the search. Performers were invited to contact SAG/ NY to claim their payment (BSW, 8/19/99).
So Sue Me
For better or worse, lawyers continued to prosper in 1999, as lawsuits-most admittedly protecting actors-were a major part of our news year yet again. In January, Livent Inc. co-founders Garth Drabinsky and Myron Gottlieb were accused of federal fraud charges (BSW, 1/21/99) for manipulating financial records to conceal substantial revenue losses. Livent, which was taken over in June of 1998 by a group led by Hollywood power broker Michael Ovitz, was best known for its Broadway musical productions of Ragtime and Fosse.
More clearly in the wrong, Beverly Hills-based West Coast Talent Ltd., Inc. was convicted of grand theft in February in connection with a scheme in which parents were enticed to pay thousands of dollars for promotional materials and acting classes for their children (BSW, 2/4/99). The company pled no contest to the charges. A total of 22 victims were identified in the criminal complaint and another 76 had come forward since then as a result of news accounts about the case. The case grew out of a Los Angeles County Department of Consumer Affairs investigation which was triggered by two consumer complaints made to that agency and to the Better Business Bureau about the West Coast Talent operation.
In other scam news, Matthew Leo Fredrickson, who did business as Premier Casting-among other business names-and his company, CMECA Inc., were found guilty by a Los Angeles Municipal Court jury of grand theft and other crimes in connection with a Hollywood-based movie and television casting swindle in which victims were charged fees and promised acting jobs they never received (BSW, 3/18/99). Fredrickson was sentenced to 90 days in jail and his company was ordered to pay $21,600 in fines and penalty assessments (BSW, 4/8/99).
In March, a U.S. District Court judge ordered Stephen Rodriguez to pay Breakdown Services, Ltd. $197,280 in "damages and profits," plus attorney's fees and court costs, for what Breakdown owner Gary Marsh alleged was a six-year conspiracy by Rodriguez and partners to steal his copyrighted casting information and sell it to actors (BSW, 3/18/99). Marsh's firm is given scripts and other information by casting directors about available roles; from these sources, Marsh's staff of writers "break down" role descriptions, which Breakdown then distributes-copyright warnings duly attached-to a subscriber list of guild-franchised agents and legitimate personal managers who represent actors, who in turn use the breakdowns to submit and suggest their clients for roles.
Even SAG got in on the courtroom drama. In July, SAG cited a "substantial deficit" in a fiduciary trust account at the 25-year-old commercial talent agency J. Michael Bloom & Associates (BSW, 7/15/99). The guild responded by taking possession of all checks the bicoastal agency receives on behalf of its clients who are members of both SAG and AFTRA, and delivering them directly to the actors. Later in July, Bloom president Ron Stanford announced that the agency had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. SAG and Bloom's legal counsels worked out an "extraordinary agreement" on performers' payments, which insured that actors' 90 percent payment checks would be valid and properly distributed (BSW, 7/29/99).
Whitewashing
This was a year in which network television in America was asked to answer for its lack of diversity. In January, a SAG survey titled "Casting the American Scene" found that America's poor and underprivileged were "virtually invisible" on primetime dramas and daytime soaps, while "foreigners" and mentally ill characters were more likely to be portrayed as villains. Americans with physical disabilities also remained virtually non-existent in the world of dramatic television (BSW, 1/7/99).
Formation of a national coalition to address the lack of diversity in TV was announced at a press conference on Sept. 10. The coalition includeed the NAACP, the National Latino Media Coalition, and American Indians in Film and Television. Asian-American artists and community activists joined forces with these groups and together released a petition to end the "whitewashing" of network television (BSW, 9/23/99).
In December, at the NAACP hearing on diversity on television, Leslie Moonves of CBS was the only network president to attend. The executives representing the other networks were scheduled to speak much later than Moonves, and left before their time. Kweisi Mfume, president of the NAACP, said, "It's a matter of see us now or see us later, but they will see us" (BSW, 12/2/99).
However, in an ironic twist, the NAACP revealed that its annual Image Awards in February will honor the same TV shows that it is threatening to boycott. President Mfume said that a boycott is just one of the option that the NAACP is considering, but acknowledged the irony (BSW, 12/9/99).
This is a topic we will no doubt here more about in 2000.
On the Boards
Lest we forget the "stage" in Back Stage West, 1999 had its share of theatre news as well. In May, artistic director of Los Angeles' Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum Gordon Davidson and Cleo Parker Robinson, founder, artistic director, and choreographer of Denver's Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Theatre, were appointed by President Clinton to serve on the National Council on the Arts until 2004 (BSW, 5/13/99).
Moreover, the West Coast proved a hospitable host to a number of tours and conventions in '99. The Berliner Ensemble, founded by Bertolt Brecht and his wife Helene Weigel in 1949, made its inaugural-and final-bow in the United States in July with performances of Brecht's 1941 allegory about fascism, The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui at UC Berkeley's Zellerbach Hall and at UCLA's Freud Theatre. The company subsequently disbanded and Claus Peymann, director of the Vienna Burgtheater, took the reins to lead the company in a new direction (BSW, 7/1/99).
Also, the Theatre Communications Group-the New York-based national organization for nonprofit theatre-held its 12th biennial conference in San Francisco. This was also the first time that the conference was held in a non-East Coast location, and it proved to be the most well-attended conference ever, with 550-600 participants. Emceed by TCG executive director Ben Cameron, the conference presented speakers Sir Peter Hall, David Henry Hwang, NEA head Bill Ivey, and attempted to address the needs of younger artists and emerging organizations (BSW, 7/8/99).
Due to the success of Framework '98, the Oasis Theatre Company brought the Saratoga International Theatre Institute back to L.A. for Framework '99 in July, a two-week workshop in Viewpoints and Suzuki methods for 100 local artists, taught by Anne Bogart. One of the most influential avant-garde directors of her generation, Bogart is credited as the woman who brought Suzuki training to America (BSW, 7/8/99).
Also this summer, the fifth annual RAT (Regional Alternative Theatre or Room and Transportation) conference, the first of its kind in L.A., drew attendees from small theatres across the national for a weekend of free panels and performances, and featured a panel with TCG executive director Ben Cameron, RAT founder/playwright Eric Ehn, Theatre LA president Lars Hansen, and RAT member Nick Fracaro of Brooklyn's Thieves Theatre, who discussed the challenges of creating a spiritually alive, radical theatre, despite-or due to-a lack of funding (BSW, 7/29/99).
More recently, the Edge of the World Theater Festival offered 49 shows in 20 venues throughout Los Angeles, Nov. 7-14. The first of its kind, the festival allowed audiences to sample the unique and vibrant theatre scene in L.A. at a greatly reduced cost (BSW, 11/4/99).
Speaking of reduced, lawmakers left the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) with $98 million in next year's budget, it was announced in November. The fiscal 2000 monies equal last year's amount, despite an attempt by the Senate to increase the federal arts budget. In conference committee earlier in November, House leaders stood their ground, stymieing the NEA from garnering over $100 million (BSW, 11/26/99).
And closer to home, L.A.'s Equity 99-Seat Plan got a makeover. The new code's payment plan offers an increase-from $5-14 against box office gross in the old version to a new $7-15 rate, with the gross only factoring in after the 12th week of the run. Other changes included a new section requiring producers to provide parking to actors during rehearsals and performance, and another requiring producers to give free tickets to Equity members in the cast (BSW, 10/14/99).
And the Winner Is...
At this year's Tonys, the tightest race was between the stars of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman and Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh for the Best Actor trophy. The battling salesmen-Brian Dennehy as Willy Loman in the Miller work and Kevin Spacey from the O'Neill four-hour marathon-split the spoils of earlier pre-Tony Awards, with Dennehy taking the Drama Desk and Spacey the Outer Critics Circle prize. To show their camaraderie, the loser of each award presented the prize to the winner. Dennehy emerged triumphant on Tony night, but acknowledged Spacey's contribution to the season in his acceptance speech (BSW, 6/24/99).
Back home, the 10th Annual Theatre LA Ovation awards, held at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts on Nov. 8, proved to be high on Reefer, as the musical Reefer Madness! won statuettes in five categories (BSW, 11/11/99).
Even closer to home, as part of The Hollywood Reporter's YoungStar awards, Back Stage West recognized Will Rothhaar of The Cryptogram (Geffen Playhouse) and Megan Drew of Jane Eyre (La Jolla Playhouse) for best stage performance by a young actor and actress, respectively (BSW, 11/11/99).
And kicking off the year's festivities, Back Stage West celebrated its second annual Garland Awards on Jan. 25, 1999 at the Geffen Playhouse in Westwood (BSW, 1/28/99). BSW presented around 150 awards to artists in the West Coast theatre community. Presenters included Carol Burnett (who also was a Garland honoree); Michael Winters, who handed out awards to two of his West Coast homes, Oregon Shakespeare Festival and A Noise Within, after being recognized for his own excellent work in The Cider House Rules; Chris Wells; Star Trek's George Takei; The Practice's LisaGay Hamilton, and Alan Blumenfeld. Other top awards went to the Cornerstone/Actors' Gang production of Medea/ Macbeth/Cinderella, East West Players Pacific Overtures, and The Last Session at the Tiffany Theatre.
In addition, Back Stage West celebrated its fifth anniversary ActorFest at the Universal Hilton in April (BSW, 4/22/99). For the first time, Back Stage West offered actors what they've been clamoring for in the past: up-close and personal sessions with casting directors. Participating CDs included John Levey, Sheila Manning, and Beth Hymson-Ayer, to name a few. In the larger seminars, actors like Doris Roberts, Partrika Darbo, Susan Egan, Joanna Gleason, Wayne Brady, Alan Rachins, Susan Sullivan, and Mimi Kennedy shared advice and experience with those attending.
Comings and Goings
After a four-year stay, Circus Theatricals, formerly known as the Hudson Guild, pulled up its stakes at its Hudson Theatre location in Hollywood to take up residency at the Odyssey Theatre in West Los Angeles (BSW, 5/20/99).
Glendale's classical repertory company, A Noise Within, moved from its Glendale home in a 144-seat former Masonic temple to the Luckman Fine Arts Complex on the campus of Cal State Los Angeles, which houses a 1,150-seat theatre (BSW, 6/3/99).
Berkeley Repertory Theatre began construction of a 600-seat proscenium theatre on Aug. 10, at the site of the theatre's new home in downtown Berkeley. The "Theatre Next Door," which will complement the Berkeley Rep's current 401-seat facility, is scheduled to be completed by Feb. 2001 (BSW, 8/5/99).
After closing the small Nosotros theatre at its Wilton Place location in Los Angeles last February, Ricardo Montalban and the Nosotros Foundation unveiled plans to acquire the 1,021-seat Doolittle Theatre in Hollywood and convert it into a theatrical complex which would give Latinos a stronger presence in the L.A. theatre scene (BSW, 8/12/99).
Moving Arts announced that it was moving its upcoming season from its Silverlake home to the Los Angeles Theatre Center in Downtown L.A. (BSW, 10/7/99).
The Pasadena Shakespeare Company, which has staged productions in the Plaza Pasadena mall for several years, found itself without a space, as the new Paseo Colorado planned to raze the building. Artistic director Gillian Bagwell vowed to mount her nest season, starting in February, either at the new Paseo Colorado or elsewhere (BSW, 11/18/99).
But people as well as companies were on the move this year. In March, Robert Schrock announced his resignation as producing artistic director of the Celebration Theatre, L.A.'s only gay-and-lesbian-oriented theatre company, which Schrock oversaw for six years (BSW, 3/4/99). Schrock left in April to prepare the runaway hit Naked Boys Singing! for a New York run and a probable world tour.
In June, Richard Israel was named the new artistic director of the theatre. Israel had been the managing director of the West Coast Ensemble for five years, having directed and produced such award-winning shows as Company (1997) and Cabaret (1998). Jill Moore, founder and former artistic director of Chicago's Porchlight Theatre, was named managing director. They assumed their duties on Aug. 1, 1999 (BSW, 6/24/99).
Anne Hamburger, the founder and executive producer of New York City's En Garde Arts theatre company, was named the new artistic director of the La Jolla Playhouse, beginning in the 2000 season (BSW, 4/1/99). Hamburger will replace Michael Greif.
After only a year at the helm of the local theatre producers' consortium Theatre LA, executive director Alisa Fishbach resigned to pursue independent production and theatre management opportunities (BSW, 4/22/99). Fishbach had replaced Bill Freimuth, who led Theatre LA through five momentous years in which it launched a peer-judged theatre awards show, the Ovations, opened a same-day half-price ticket booth, Times Tix, and commissioned an in-depth Arts Action Research study of local theatre.
Soon after, Lars Hansen resigned his position as executive director of the Pasadena Playhouse to take on the new position as president and CEO of Theatre LA. Hansen had been with the Pasadena Playhouse for 11 years, during which he attracted numerous West Coast and world premieres, and brought award-winning theatre artist Sheldon Epps to the theatre as artistic director in 1997, when Epps became the first African-American artistic director at any major theatre company in Southern California. (BSW, 5/13/99). The Pasadena Playhouse announced that development director Lyla L. White was selected as interim executive director after the departure of Hansen (BSW, 12/9/99).
Coincidentally, executive director and producer of Performance Riverside and former Theatre LA executive director William Freimuth, announced his resignation and plan to take over as general manager of the Big Apple Circus in New York City (BSW, 10/14/99).
Further south, Kristen Brandt was named the new artistic director of Sledgehammer Theatre in San Diego, becoming the only other person to hold the post since co-founder Scott Feldsher, who helped shape the company into one of Southern California's prominent alternative theatre companies. Brandt has worked with the Sledgehammer since 1994, and has been its resident director since 1998 (BSW, 5/6/99).
Producing artistic director Diana Gibson left Hollywood's Cast Theatre after nine years, during which she helped turn Justin Tanner, a young playwright/director from Salinas, into an acclaimed L.A. fixture. The Cast was left in the hands of Tanner, who serves as literary manager, and Andy Daley, the managing director and in-house set designer, in what Daley characterized as an "artistic disagreement." After years as the de facto Justin Tanner Playhouse, under the new leadership, the theatre is open again to other artists and companies (BSW, 5/27/99).
Up north, Marin Theatre Company named James Kleinmann as managing director. Kleinmann had spent seven years with A Travelling Jewish Theatre, during which he created an $800,000 resident theatre company from a $300,000 touring company (BSW, 8/5/99).
And San Francisco's Eureka Theatre announced that executive producing director Bill Schwartz will leave the theatre and that an artistic triumvirate of local directors-Benny Ambush, Lane Nishikawa, and Andrea Gordon-will take over leadership of the theatre (BSW, 9/16/99).
Bartlett Sher was appointed artistic director of Seattle's Intiman Theatre with the exit of Warner Shook. Sher, who most recently served as associate artist at Idaho Shakespeare Festival, promised more revolutionary stagings of classics (BSW, 11/18/99).
Jack Shouse, assistant dean/artistic director for the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts at Allan Hancock College, announced that he will leave his administrative position this spring to return to working directly with students as a full-time faculty member (BSW, 11/25/99).
Finally, East West Players announced that Al Choy, associate director of the capital initiatives department at KCET and current CFO on the board of EWP, will become the company's managing director starting Jan. 4 (BSW, 12/2/99).
Final Bows
The acting community lost a lot of friends in 1999, among them: Susan Strasberg, daughter of fabled acting coach Lee Strasberg, a close friend of Marilyn Monroe, and a talented actress in her own right (BSW, 2/4/99); Mercedes Shirley, veteran Broadway and television actress and noted acting coach (BSW, 2/11/99); Jos Quintero, best known as the director who awakened a world-wide revival of interest in the plays of Eugene O'Neill and one of the founders of Circle of the Square theatre in New York (BSW, 3/4/99); Del Close, an improvisational comedian who was the behind-the-scenes mentor to John Belushi, John Candy, and Bill Murray, and helped develop Second City and Improv-Olympic (BSW, 3/15/99); Lionel Bart, composer/lyricist/librettist, regarded by Andrew Lloyd Webber as "the father of the modern British musical," best known for his 1960 musical, Oliver!, for which he won a Tony for his score (BSW, 4/8/99); Gil Perkins, veteran stuntman, actor, and longtime Screen Actors Guild board member (BSW, 4/15/99); Ron Link, stage director best known for his sizzling productions of Bouncers at the Tiffany Theater, Melody Jones at Theatre/Theater, and Stand-Up Tragedy at the Mark Taper Forum (BSW, 6/10/99); Charles Pierce, female impressionist who had performed with over 300 stars, including Angela Lansbury, Sir John Gielgud, and Lauren Bacall (BSW, 6/17/99); Stanley Soble, casting director for 10 years with the Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre and Mark Taper Forum (BSW, 7/8/99); Allan Carr, stage and film producer, and manager famous for his outrageous parties-produced the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical La Cage aux Folles and the musical motion picture Grease (BSW, 7/8/99); Danielle Surrette, actress, writer, director, and co-founder of L.A.'s Sacred Fools Theater Company (BSW, 7/8/99); Bobs Watson, actor and Methodist minister, who after a 30-year career in the ministry, returned to acting, and earned an Ovation nomination for his role of Candy in the 1997 production of Of Mice and Men at the Egyptian Arena (BSW, 7/22/99); Edward Dmytryk, film director known for such classics as Murder, My Sweet, Mirage, and The Caine Mutiny, a member of the "Hollywood 10" who refused to name names to the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947, and was subsequently fined and imprisoned (BSW, 7/22/99); Ronny Graham, actor, writer, director, and longtime associate of Mel Brooks, with whom he wrote Tony Award-winning New Faces of 1952, and collaborated on Spaceballs and To Be or Not To Be (BSW, 7/22/99); Roberta Sherwood, torch singer known for accompanying herself with a battered cymbal, who appeared on TV with Ed Sullivan, Jackie Gleason, and Edward R. Murrow, and made dozens of hit recordings, including "You're Nobody "Til Somebody Loves You" and "Up a Lazy River" (BSW, 7/22/99); Bill Hillman, news broadcaster (KPIX-TV, San Francisco) and former AFTRA president (BSW, 8/19/99); Eliza Chugg, Bay Area costumer who supervised the costume shop at San Jos State University for many years and worked as a freelance designer for numerous colleges and smaller theatre companies, such as California Shakespeare Festival (BSW, 9/9/99); George C. Scott, who over the course of his 48-year career, received four Academy Award nominations, and, upon winning the Oscar in 1971 for Patton as the titular general, became the first person ever to refuse the award (BSW, 9/30/99); John Joseph Haran, actor and member of the Sacred Fools Theater Company of Hollywood (BSW, 10/14/99); actress Elaine Welton Hill, who was known for her work in the last five years with Actors Co-op (BSW, 11/25/99), and actress Madeline Kahn who received back-to-back Oscar noms for her work on Paper Moon and Blazing Saddles. Kahn won a Tony Award for her protrayal of Gorgeous Teitelbaum in Sisters Rosensweig, and was nominated for three other Tonys-for In the Boom Boom Room, On the 20th Century, and Born Yesterday (BSW, 12/9/99).