Return of the Ivanhoe
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For the past five years Bragan, who has been busy producing theater for high school audiences and the Off-Off Loop Theater Festival, has leased his theater to Michael Leavitt and Fox Theatricals, who changed the name to the Wellington Theater and have had mixed success there. Now that he is about to regain control of the building, Bragan intends to add a 200-seat second stage and offer a four-show subscription for $63. First up on the 500-seat main stage in August is a nonunion Pegasus Players production of the classic Gershwin musical Strike Up the Band, which Bragan plans to run for ten weeks with a $29 top ticket price. Appropriately enough, the first production on the second stage this fall will be Geoff Callaway’s new adaptation of Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe. Also under consideration for the subscription season are a new musical about famed cartoonist Rube Goldberg, a musical from New Tuners Theatre, The Glass Menagerie, and Othello.
Tad Currie, regional director for Actors’ Equity, sounded a note of distress about Bragan’s arrangement with Pegasus but said Equity’s regional governing board would have the final say on the matter. “This could be a concern because it moves Pegasus into a large theater where it will compete directly against theater companies that do employ union actors,” says Currie. “If Pegasus wishes to up its profile, we will have to decide what is the appropriate action to take.” Equity has been trying unsuccessfully to get Pegasus to employ union actors for six to eight months.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photo/Nathan Mandell.
