PRODUCTION — PLAY
Exit Strategy — Jackalope Theatre Company
The Jungle — Oracle Productions
Men Should Weep — Griffin Theatre Company
Monstrous Regiment — Lifeline Theatre
Ruined — Eclipse Theatre Company
UPDATED Saturday, April 25: In a turn of events that underlines the arbitrary parameters of arts awards in general, the Hypocrites, who had led the nominations for the 2015 Non-Equity Joseph Jefferson Awards announced late on the night of Thursday, April 23, have removed themselves from the nominations due to professed confusion over the company's Equity status and eligibility. With the Hypocrites' 15 nominations withdrawn, the Jeff committee released a revised list of nominees that includes several new additions.
Hypocrites founding artistic director Sean Graney, who officially returned to the company's leadership last fall after a three-year absence, took responsibility for the company's having submitted the past season's productions under the non-Equity wing; he reportedly reached out to the Jeff committee Friday morning.
Both the Jeff committee and Graney were aware the Hypocrites had cast Equity actors, but both claim to have been under the impression the company was non-Equity and employing Equity actors under Guest Artist contracts, when in fact the Hypocrites had moved onto an Equity CAT-N contract, the entry-level tier under Equity's Chicago Area Theaters agreement.
Graney issued the following statement Saturday afternoon:
"As I only returned as Artistic Director in November, I recently found out that we have been operating as an Equity company under a CAT N agreement for our entire 2014/15 season. I had wrongfully assumed that all of our Equity contracts for the season were Guest Artist contracts and that we were still a non-Equity company. I regret that we did not inform the Jeff Committee of this transition so we were considered as a non-equity company. As soon as we were nominated I realized The Hypocrites made this terrible mistake and I wanted to rectify it as quickly as possible in order to have transparency and decency. Therefore I contacted the Jeff Committee and informed them of our error. I am glad of the Jeff Committee’s decision and only wish that we were more communicative when we made the decision to become Equity. I apologize to all of wonderful artists who worked so hard for us and deserve their nominations but will no longer be considered a candidate. That is what breaks my heart the most about the course of events."
The three Hypocrites productions whose nominations were rescinded today, All Our Tragic, H.M.S. Pinafore and Endgame, will now become eligible for this fall's Equity Jeff Awards.
With the recalculation of the Jeff committee's nominations, Griffin Theatre Company and Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre each pick up an additional nod to tie for the lead at 15, followed by Bailiwick Chicago with 11. With the ten nominations for All Our Tragic discounted, Bailiwick's The Wild Party now has the most of any single production with nine.
The complete list of nominations follows, with today's new additions highlighted in red. The 2015 Non-Equity Jeff Awards will be presented Monday, June 8 at Park West.
