Showcase Spotlights Acting Community's Range

After years of exploitation and hand-to-mouth wages, actors joined together in 1913 to form the union Actors’ Equity Association. It was brought into the American Federation of Labor in 1919. The union is as strong as ever and includes around 160 Kansas Citians. This week, local Equity members open a production whose variety of styles and talents is intended as both entertainment and advertisement.

by Steve Walker

Within the Actors' Equity union guidelines dictating how theaters should treat actors and stage managers, there is something called the Members' Project Code. It allows its members to, in a sense, produce and cast themselves.

For the fifth summer running, the Actors' Equity Showcase finds the theater community gathered to stage six short plays, world premieres all. As much as anything, the purpose is to spotlight the acting community's range of talent, a wide berth that may not have been tapped yet.

Actors' Equity Association Fifth Annual Showcase, July 31 - August 17 in Studio 116, in the Performing Arts Center on the campus of UMKC, 4949 Cherry, Kansas City, Missouri.

For a complete listing of plays, check here.

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