STAGE NOTES : Event Raises $2,850 for Bradac’s Shakespeare Troupe

Shakespeare Orange County, a recently formed professional troupe at Chapman University in Orange, raised $2,850 on Sunday at a lecture it sponsored by Charles Vere, Earl of Burford, who claims that his ancestor is the real author of Shakespeare’s plays.

SOC artistic director Thomas F. Bradac said half of the money was earned through a silent auction of drawings of the Bard, solicited from celebrated actors, and signed lithographs of a cartoon by Los Angeles Times political cartoonist Paul Conrad depicting former President Richard M. Nixon as Shakespearean characters.

The “Shakespeare squiggles” donated by Whoopi Goldberg, Patrick Stewart, Glenda Jackson and Mark Linn-Baker drew bids of $300, $150, $100 and $120, respectively, Bradac said, and the two Conrad lithographs of Nixon as Richard II and Hamlet went for $475 and $375.

About 120 people attended the lecture.

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A decision by Actors’ Equity on whether to extend the union’s 99-Seat Plan to three small amateur theaters in Orange County will be made May 8, union official Michael Van Duzer said Monday. If approved, the theaters would be allowed to hire union professionals at token wages during a one-year trial period.

A union review committee for the 99-Seat Plan will meet Wednesday to go over the joint proposal by the Alternative Repertory Theatre and the Way Off Broadway Playhouse, both in Santa Ana, and the Backstage Theatre in Costa Mesa, Van Duzer said.

“I would be surprised if approval is given,” he added, “but less surprised than I would have been when the proposal was first made. I didn’t think it would get this far.”

Van Duzer said two other amateur theaters in Orange County have contacted the union to put in “me-too” requests but have yet to submit them in writing. He could not recall the names of the theaters, he said.

Kevin Aratari, producer of the new Vanguard Theatre Ensemble in Fullerton, said Monday that he had spoken with Van Duzer and that the Vanguard will submit a written proposal to the union in time for the committee meeting.

Jan Herman’s Theater column resumes next week.