All in the Family
Ravinia has a new staff member with a last name already quite familiar to the festival’s em-ployees and audiences: Mervon Mehta, son of Ravinia executive director Zarin Mehta, has just come on board as a talent coordinator with a particular focus on pop music. He re-places Ron Pateras, who had been booking the festival’s pop and jazz events since 1988. Needless to say, Ravinia is trying to play down the appearance of nepotism. Notes Zarin Mehta: “Mervon was the candidate with the most diversified background. The position requires a wide knowledge of the performing arts.” He said Mervon will book acts in consultation with members of the artistic staff and marketing department, with the executive director reserving final approval.
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Mervon Mehta and his wife have lived in Chicago for about a year. During that time he’s worked primarily as an actor, appearing in Court Theatre’s recent production of Once in a Lifetime and last season’s Touchstone Theatre revival of The Seagull. Before moving to Chicago, while living in the Toronto area, he appeared at the Stratford Festival and produced some jazz shows. His wife, Sandra Caldwell, is a jazz singer.
Bookmakers Seek Better Odds
Illinois book publishers are uniting to form the Illinois Book Publishers Association, a new not-for-profit trade group. Nicholas Weir-Williams, director of Northwestern University Press and the association’s first president, describes the new organization as a consciousness-raising effort. “I think people elsewhere think of Chicago as a publishing center, but people who are here in the business don’t necessarily think of it as one. Chicago is in fact a center for education, religious, legal, and financial publishing.” Weir-Williams estimates the entire book-publishing business could be generating $1 billion or more in annual sales in Illinois, but among the first things the new trade group will do is pull together some hard numbers.
