Cleveland Theater Collective

The Cleveland Theater Collective announced that its fifth annual Danny Morris Equity Contract Award has been granted to The Beck Center for the Arts for use in its June 2006 production of A Man of No Importance. The Collective also granted a stipend to bolster the acting ensemble for Charenton Theater Company's spring project, which is to be announced.

The Danny Morris Equity Contract, an award of $2,500, covers the cost of a contract for a member of Actors Equity Association, the union for professional stage actors and stage managers. The award enables The Beck Center for the Arts to employ an Equity member in its production of A Man of No Importance, a chamber musical by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens (the duo responsible for Ragtime and Once on this Island). Based on a movie by Albert Finney, the musical focuses on a bus driver and amateur actor who discovers that the theater is not a place to hide. The production will be directed by Beck's artistic director Scott Spence.

Charenton Theater Company's stipend is a matching grant of $400 that enables the company to augment compensation for experienced non-equity actors in its upcoming spring project, which has been designated as a production that will focus on the talents of women performers.

The Danny Morris Equity Contract and the Non-Equity Stipend are awards created by the Cleveland Theater Collective in order to promote the use of local professional talent in productions at mid- to smaller sized Cleveland theaters. Member theaters of the Cleveland Theater Collective were invited to apply for the awards, and a committee consisting of representatives of the Actors Equity Association, non-competing theaters, and the Cleveland Theater Collective made the selection.

The Danny Morris Equity Contract

Named in memory of actor Danny Morris, a well-loved Cleveland actor and committed union member, the Danny Morris Equity Contract will award the funds for hiring an additional equity actor to a Cleveland theater during the 2004-2005 season. The Theater and the actor who receive the award will then be required to serve on the committee the following year. The appplication deadline is October 28th, 2005

The Non-Equity Stipend is awarded to a local professional theater, in order pay a performer a higher wage than the theater would be able to, or to hire another actor. This award must be spent on an actor's salary. There is no seperate application for this award. Award winners are selected from the DMEC contract applications.

The Danny Morris Equity Contract and the Non-Equity Stipend are awards created by the Cleveland Theater Collective in order to promote the use of local professional talent in productions at mid- to smaller sized Cleveland theaters. Theaters were invited to apply for the awards in August, and a committee consisting of representatives of the Actors Equity Association, non-competing theaters, and the Cleveland Theater Collective made the selection.

Funds for the Danny Morris Equity Contract and Non-Equity Stipend are raised at the Cleveland Theater Collective’s annual benefit. The Cleveland Theater Collective was formed in 2000 as a support group to promote the professional development of Cleveland area theater artists. The Equity Contract award is named after Cleveland actor Danny Morris, who was an active member of the Actors Equity Association, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, and the Screen Actors Guild and who died in September 1998. In addition to launching the award, the Collective has organized workshops, discussion forums, a newsletter, and a website ( Funding for the Collective’s programs comes from The Cleveland Foundation, The George Gund Foundation, and the Ohio Arts Council. Great Lakes Theater Festival serves as the Collective’s fiscal agent, and the Cleveland Play House donates space for workshops and other events.

The deadline to apply for the DMEC and the non-equity stipend is October 1st of each year.