Report From the Jeffs: Eclipse Rising
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Eclipse mounted Xenogenesis in conjunction with Chilany Pictures, a production company formed by longtime local casting director Jane Alderman, who also is vice president of Eclipse’s board of directors and the organization’s den mother: she taught seven of the nine core ensemble members at the DePaul University Theatre School. Notes Alderman: “When they were getting started I told the founding members of Eclipse I didn’t want them to be just another dinky theater company in town putting on stupid plays.”
Though it may have more production savvy than some budding theater companies, Eclipse has faced the funding difficulties that affect just about all arts groups. “Every source of money is drying up,” says Mohler, who is in charge of writing grant proposals for the new company. Because Eclipse opted to start up employing union actors and stage managers, a substantial portion of its production budget goes to Equity contracts–about $3,600 for every $10,000 they raise to do a show. To date the company has relied heavily on fund-raising events and the generosity of board members. In the future it hopes to earn some money subletting its cozy home at 2074 N. Leavitt when it’s not producing something there. Mohler says the company briefly toyed with renting the gallery theater in the highly visible Royal George Theatre Center at 1641 N. Halsted, but finally chose the much less familiar and accessible Bucktown space instead to lower overhead. “What we would have paid for a week at the Gallery we pay for a month on North Leavitt,” says Mohler.
Playwright/director David Dillon’s gay sexual romp Party, now being independently revived at the Theatre Building after its long run as part of Bailiwick’s Gay Pride series, has spawned three new shows that the recently incorporated Party Productions will present over the next several months as commercial ventures. Considering how much money it made for Bailiwick, Dillon and executive producer Kellum Lewis had long considered doing a commercial production of the show. Lewis says a group of investors contributed a “five-figure” amount to produce the revival plus the three spin-offs. First up in mid-December will be a variety show called The Whole Shebang; the content will change every six weeks. Around Valentine’s Day, look for a lesbian variation on Party called Girl Party. Yet to be scheduled is an untitled sequel to the original. Lewis says he’s noticed more straight couples in Party’s audience lately, but he thinks it’s still strictly a nighttime-crowd kind of show. “We tried matinees a couple of times,” explains Lewis, “and Party just didn’t attract an afternoon audience.”
