I'm looking for thoughts, input on an issue that I feel strongly impacts Oklahoma City's efforts to attract business, commerce, and fights national perception of OKC as a "backwater" destination.

At this time, Oklahoma is one of only FOUR states that do not have a professional resident theatre company (the others being North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming). To truly understand the distinction being made between professional and non-professional, a little information is necessary. We are not necessarily discussing "quality" of the art when discussing "professional" theatre. Both nationally and internationally, the definition of a professional theatre artist is membership in Actors' Equity, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States. With some specific exceptions, members of Actors' Equity are barred from appearing without the benefit of an Actors' Equity contract. Although it is possible for non-professional theatre organizations to obtain Actors' Equity contracts for their productions, this may only happen in very specific and limited occassions.

So, professional theatre artists in the United States are not able (with the exception of Lyric Theatre, which only does musicals) to appear in Oklahoma. Or, that was the case until the inception of Oklahoma City Repertory Theatre (CityRep) in 2002. CityRep was founded by a group of OCU alumni who, recognizing the renaissance of downtown OKC in the past decade, decided that it was BEYOND time for OKC to join the rest of the nation in enjoying this artistic resource.

An additional point, agents and organizations that lease performance rights for theatre pieces restrict new works to "professional" productions for a substantial period of time, then release it for academic and community theatre productions. What this means is, OKC has not been able to provide theatre programming that reflects what is being offered in metropolitan communities across the country.

For a state and city that enjoys a national reputation for training professional theatre artists, this lack of an acceptable local venue to showcase our own local and locally-trained theatre artists and to enjoy theatre programming that is current seems an odd and unnecessary disconnect.

CityRep is entering its 6th year of producing, and is now being asked to justify its existence. Your thoughts on this subject will be greatly appreciated.