Ticket Too High? Look for the Union Label
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Executives at some of Chicago’s non-Equity theaters were alarmed last week by a short note about ticket prices at the end of Richard Christiansen’s generally positive review of Between Daylight and Boonville, a non-Equity show being presented by Edge Productions at the Halsted Theatre Centre. Christiansen, the Tribune’s entertainment editor, wrote that Boonville tickets priced at $18.50-$24.50 were “unusually high (though not unprecedented) for a small non-Equity production in Chicago,” a statement whose implications threw non-Equity execs into a tizzy. “Christiansen is saying that non-Equity theater is not professional and that we don’t deserve to charge those prices,” complains Jim Casey, who serves as publicist for Boonville and associate producer of Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, another Edge production. Charles Twichell, general manager of the non-Equity City Lit Theater Company, says, “I would like to think ticket pricing would be based on the quality of the production.” Even so, Twichell says his company lowered ticket prices this season after sensing some customer resistance last year. Though actors in non-Equity productions may be paid less than their Actors’ Equity union counterparts, producers argue that many other costs are similar. “Advertising isn’t any cheaper for non-Equity than it is for Equity shows,” points out David Dillon, managing director of Pegasus Players.
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