Actors Theatre receives $1.2 million grant

Actors Theatre of Louisville will receive a $1.2 million grant from The Roy Cockrum Foundation to support of its apprentice/intern company, the theater announced Tuesday.

"We've been looking to more substantially invest in this program and be able to help improve the quality of life for these participants. They are instrumental to what we do," said Jennifer Bielstein, the theater's managing director.

The funding will support grants of nearly $5,000 to each apprentice and intern for living expenses over the next 10 years and help underwrite year-round employment for the company's leadership. Staff that operating the company have traditionally been employed for only the nine-month term of the apprentice/intern program.

Bielstein added that The Roy Cockrum Foundation requires candidates for grants be invited to apply. That invitation came after the foundation's founder, Roy Cockrum, and its executive director visited the theater during the recent Humana Festival of New American Plays and got an overview of the apprentice/intern company.

Cockrum, who was an actor and stage manager after studying theater at Northwestern University before going on to a former calling as an Episcopal monk, received $153 million from a winning Powerball ticket he purchased last year. Soon after, Cockrum, who lives in Tennessee, announced he was establishing a foundation to support projects at nonprofit theaters.

Each year, Actors Theatre auditions and interviews more than 2,000 artists, artisans and administrators before selecting about 20 performers and 20 interns.

Apprentice/intern company director Michael Legg said he sent out e-mail messages to the incoming apprentices and interns Tuesday morning just after the theater's announcement.

Among the responses was one from incoming marketing intern Sonia Diaz, who wrote, "This is such wonderful news. Thank you for sharing. I cannot wait to write Mr. Cockrum an amazing thank you letter."

Bielstein said in 2006 the theater received a grant from Louisville's C. E. and S. Foundation that helped cover several years of financial assistance for apprentices and interns.

Legg spoke with The Courier-Journal from Lubbock, Texas, where he is working with a Texas Tech University's theater program for part of the summer. In his eight years of working with the Actors Theatre, he has had to find work during the summers. He said this new grant, which will allow him to keep working at Actors Theatre over the summers, will enable him to accomplish more long-term planning and improve the program.

Legg said the program produces a six-show season, which is separate from the theater's main stage season and has a curriculum. That curriculum teaches members about the play development process with short plays by commissioned playwrights; allows them to develop new works for The Tens, a group of plays chosen from the theater's National Ten-Minute Play Competition; and perform and mount new work during the annual Humana Festival of New American Plays. During the festival, the theater also organizes company showcases for invited agents, casting directors and other industry professionals.

The apprentice/intern company, founded 44 years ago, has a nine-month program that runs from August to April when company members produce a six-show season that is separate from the theater's main stage season, Legg said.

Bielstein said the department's budget has been approximately $300,000 in recent years. The theater's 2015-16 operating budget is just under $11 million.

Reporter Elizabeth Kramer can be reached at (502) 582-4682. Follow her on Twitter at @arts_bureau.