Analysis: Touring theater thrives in U.S.

NEW YORK, Dec. 23 (UPI) -- Two New York-based touring companies are keeping a great American theatrical tradition alive, bringing the classics and new works to audiences in cities across the nation, many without theater companies of their own.

The Acting Company, 31 years on the road, and the 11-year-old Aquila Theatre Company are the largest of the nation's touring companies, but there are several other companies associated with regional theaters that also tour on a more limited scale. The Acting Company is visiting 55 cities in its upcoming January-April tour, and the Aquila is visiting 72 in a rigorous tour that began last September and will continue to the end of next summer.

Both companies also stage their productions off-Broadway at the conclusion of their tours. This season they have been recipients of National Endowment for the Arts funds in connection with that federal organization's new Shakespeare in American Communities program. The Acting Company is presenting "Richard III" and Aquila is staging "Othello" both on tour and in New York.

The Acting Company's 13-actor troupe also is staging "Murder by Poe," Jeffrey Hatcher's adaptation of several of Edgar Allen Poe's short stories into a play, and Aquila, a company of 28 actors, is presenting Peter Meineck's adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's short story, "The Man Who Would Be King."

In addition Aquila ("eagle" in Latin) is producing Aeschylus' "Agamenon," starring Olympia Dukakis as Clytemnestra, in New York in February. Aquila is the only touring company that takes ancient Greek drama on the road and is the resident theater company of the Center for Ancient Studies at New York University.

"We present our two plays in repertory so that most -- but not all -- of the cities we visit get to see both our productions," Robert Hoyt, associate producing director of The Acting Company, told United Press International. "We travel with a full production staff by bus and the sets are trucked from venue to venue. We are primarily financed through fundraising and government and foundation grants."

Meineck, who is artistic director of Aquila, said the greater part of his company's $1.5-million annual budget is met by box-office receipts, the rest by the NEA, the Mid-Atlantic Arts Association, and private sources. The company tours from Maine to California by bus and railroad and its productions are seen by about 300,000 people every year.

"Most of out tour dates are in place before we start touring, but we do find ways of putting an additional city on the schedule," Hoyt said. "We're always being approached by new venues and we are able to add several every year."

Meineck also reported "attracting more cities every year," although Aquila generally visits the same cities each year or every other year, playing theaters of 1,000 to 2,000 seats but sometimes performing in echoing basketball courts and open-air theaters.

Both companies have extensive outreach programs available to the cities they visit. The Acting Company has a "Literacy Through Theater" program to educate school students about plays they will be seeing and then performs student matinees. Aquila puts on special hourlong performances for school children in the mornings and conducts community workshops.

The Acting Company was established in New York in 1972 by the first class that graduated from The Juilliard School's drama department headed by the late John Houseman. It has brought 100 productions to millions of people in 48 states and nine foreign countries. It is headquartered in midtown Manhattan and will be presenting its repertory program this year at the Acorn Theater on 42nd Street.

Aquila was originally a British company founded by Meineck, a former officer in the Royal Marines, but moved to Manhattan's Greenwich Village five years ago.

Its acting members include Americans, British, Canadians, Australians, and Jamaicans. It has a resident relationship with the 300-seat Baruch Performing Arts Center in the Gramercy Park neighborhood of Manhattan, but will be presenting "Agamenon" at the John Jay Theater near Lincoln Center.