Jane Alexander

The Actors Center Journal Vol. 2, No. 3, July 2010
The Actor’s Voice

The Actor’s Voice section in this issue is being devoted to a letter we received early last spring from Jane Alexander, legendary actress and former Chairperson of the National Endowment for the Arts. Her letter greatly influenced the continued development of our national theatre/major acting company proposal, which follows her gracious and encouraging remarks.

I was spawned in the regional theatres of the Untied States and continue to perform in them to this day. Back in the ’60s when the NEA was born and then within a decade when theatres began to spring up everywhere, there was talk that “now was the moment for a National Theatre”. The Kennedy Center seemed the obvious choice but there was the actual “National Theatre” in DC, an old house which booked pre and post Broadway shows. And there was also resistance to the idea of one “National Theatre” from the burgeoning regional theatres and their body of alliance the Theatre Communications Group headed by Peter Zeisler. Peter felt strongly that the resident/regional theatres were our “national theatres” and that there was no need to designate just one as such.

The idea of a National Theatre is one to which I have always espoused. I felt that public and private monies could rally behind such a theatre and that actors, directors and designers would also love to be a part of it. It has always been my dream to be part of such a company of players.

Now to your plan: I applaud your enthusiasm and agree with much of what you say. I think it is a mistake however to assume that our regional theatres have failed in any way because their audiences are declining. When people are surfeited today with all kinds of entertainment, most at their fingertips on the Internet, the number of times a person will attend a live performance is bound to decline as well. I do not think the failure can be laid at the feet of the acting, directing or playwriting. In fact the caliber of the acting I see in most regional theatres I visit is quite high and there are no well known actors performing.

While I understand your feeling that actors at the center of a theatre will heighten the creativity I don’t think that translates per se into great theatre. For every Steppenwolf company there are dozens that don’t get it all together in the same remarkable way. Most actors I know want to follow a director, and they want the comfort of knowing a producer will be there to take care of everything. Most actors I know just want to act.

I do agree with you though that a real company working together day in and day out can often come up with extraordinary theatre. We did it at Arena Stage for three years from 1965-68, a company of 30 playing in repertory every night. It was very exciting. The problem was we became a victim of our own success. We did a big play called The Great White Hope and it went to Broadway and ran for two years taking many of the company with it. James Earl and I did the movie and though I tried to “go home” to Arena after that, the realm of movies and TV was too alluring both creatively and financially.
If the National Theatre could be flexible with a base company in residence all the time and others coming and going as they need to to other media—something along the lines of England’s national theatre—I think it might work.

The National Endowment for the Arts could oversee your Board of Registry but could not finance such an undertaking as I am sure you know. They must meet the needs of all the arts in the nation and Congress is not about to raise the budget much more in the coming years. There are only a few theatres in the USA which could fulfill the contracts you envision: The Guthrie in Minneapolis, Lincoln Center Theatres in New York, and the Kennedy Center or The Shakespeare Theatres in DC are the ones that come to mind. I like your idea of paying a hefty $100,000 to the actors; that will be a big mindset change for the producers! Actors will leap at the chance to be in such a company, particularly the younger ones, and perhaps the older ones like myself, although moving from my New York home base would probably not work for me. It also might be tough for stars from LA or NY to make such a decisive move.
This is an idea worth pursuing. Thanks for bringing the subject up and for your exciting ideas. I hope my thoughts help.

Warm regards, Jane