Equity Delays Decision on ‘99-Seat Plans’ for 3 Theaters : Stage: Union wants further investigation of bid by Orange County theaters to join in ‘showcasing’ professional actors.

A four-month-old proposal to extend the “showcasing” of union-professional actors to three amateur theater companies in Orange County has been stalled by the Actors’ Equity Assn.

Despite a positive recommendation by one of its own committees, the union’s Western regional advisory board decided Friday at a meeting in Los Angeles to toss the proposal back to another committee for further investigation before making a final determination.

“The board members feel it was premature to come to them without a prospective contract worked out for these three theaters down the line,” Equity official Michael Van Duzer said by telephone after the closed meeting.

In December, in a bid to cast shows from the ranks of Equity performers, the Alternative Repertory Theatre (ART), the Way Off Broadway Playhouse (WOB) and the Backstage Theatre jointly asked the union to extend its “99-Seat Plan” to each of their small venues on a one-year trial basis. The plan in Los Angeles entitles theaters with 99 seats or fewer to hire union members for between $5 and $14 per performance.

ART and WOB, both in Santa Ana and both in their fifth seasons, have 61 and 50 seats, respectively. The 2-year-old Backstage in Costa Mesa has 42 seats. All three theaters have said they hope to expand by offering professional shows and thus attracting larger audiences.

Van Duzer, the union’s 99-Seat Plan administrator, said the union would set up a meeting between its Developing Theater Committee and officials of the three Orange County theaters “to show them what the possibilities are as far as (union) contracts go.”

The theaters would have to decide whether they could “step up to a contract following the one-year trial period that they’ve proposed,” Van Duzer said.

When the union’s 99-Seat Plan Review Committee recommended implementing the non-contractual 99-Seat Plan for the three theaters, Van Duzer said, “it did not consider what would happen after the trial period.” Nor had the committee asked to see any budgetary figures.

“The board feels that the 99-Seat Plan is a tool for growth,” Van Duzer said. “But what comes next? It is prepared for a next step. It just wants to make sure the theaters are prepared too.”

ART artistic director Patricia L. Terry, who wrote the joint proposal for the three theaters, said Friday she was “not in the least bit discouraged” by the action.

“It makes sense for the union to explore all their options,” she said in an interview. “They’re in the business to protect actors. Frankly, I didn’t expect a thing to happen. It’s moving slowly, which means at least it’s moving. It’s not a ‘no.’ ”

Terry said, however, that she regretted opening up the issue of a trial period in the proposal. Theaters operating under the 99-Seat Plan in Los Angeles do not have a trial period and are not required to work toward a contract.

“I didn’t expect them to say anything about that to us,” she said. “We’d like to work toward a contract, but it’s not going to happen in a year.”

At WOB, artistic director Tony Reverditto, who initiated the idea for the proposal, also reacted with measured optimism. “They didn’t turn us down point-blank, so there’s reason to hope this will happen,” he said.

Backstage’s artistic director Al Valletta concurred, but added: “They’ll cry when they see my budget figures.”

No date has been set for their next meeting with the union.