DALLAS, TX – The national actors union has approved Theatre Three’s proposal to mount a live outdoor production of The Music Man, the first such permission granted to a North Texas theater company under strict rules meant to protect union members from COVID-19.
Actors’ Equity Association has been stingy giving its blessing to theaters that use Equity performers, frustrating companies hoping to get back on the boards after the long pandemic layoff.
Dallas Theater Center recently gave up filming a production of the play Tiny Beautiful Things for streaming when it couldn’t reach an agreement over safety measures, says managing director Jeffrey Woodward. Actors in the show publicly lashed out at their own union. The Theater Center is now applying to produce Working: A Musical at Strauss Square in the Arts District in July.
In the meantime, Theatre Three plans to tour The Music Man, first produced on Broadway in 1957, to three outdoor venues from June 3 to the Fourth of July. Audience size will be limited.
The Uptown-based group just raised $30,000 toward the show budget during a weeklong fundraising drive that included a video of director Joel Ferrell getting inebriated and working blue. He’s discussing his love for composer Meredith Willson’s story of a traveling con man who fleeces small-town Iowans by promising to create a boys marching band.
Equity member Kyle Igneczi stars as the title character. A fully vaccinated cast and crew, weekly testing and outdoor rehearsals are among the safety measures agreed to, according to artistic director Jeffrey Schmidt. Earlier in the pandemic, Theatre Three received permission for filmed productions by having the actors shoot their own scenes at home.
