Ed Gryska: No Business Quite Like Show Business

It all began one winter when Ed Gryska came to Utah to ski. He decided to stay long enough to finish his master's work in English and education, and while he was here, he formed a theater company. About a year later, he was teaching part-time at Cottonwood High School.

Almost 16 years later, former Chicagoan Ed Gryska considers himself to be a "native of Salt Lake by now. I have more friends and family as such here than in Chicago," he said. He no longer teaches at Cottonwood High School, which started out as a hobby, and the theater group he began at Elliott Hall in the First Unitarian Church has become a full-time business endeavor.

Gryska is artistic director of Salt Lake Acting Co., which has developed into a small professional theater carrying regional status. The status arrived with the prestigious 1985 Foundation of Dramatists Guild and CBS's new plays production grant, which produced Jeffrey Kinghorn's "In a Coal Burning House." FDG/ CBS only honors theaters contributing to artistic excellence on a national level, promoting new plays and playwrights.

Gryska says SLAC always tries to present new plays, and thanks to the CBS Dramatist's Guild SLAC was able to produce two new plays this year - Gail Wrongsky's "Wave's Home for Hurtin' Tammies," and Kinghorn's "In a Coal Burning House."

"Normally we only do one, but we always will do a new play - we will always be bringing new plays," Gryska said. He doesn't foresee SLAC becoming like the Louisville Theatre, where they are only doing new plays. "In the Rocky Mountain region, the more theater there is, the more people see theater, the better it is for all people involved. Theater breeds theater," Gryska says. (Closing night of "In a Coal Burning House," Gryska announced that the FDG/CBS panel was delighted to discover there was something "between Las Vegas and Denver.")

Gryska's interest in theater started when he saw his first play as a junior in high school. He pursued degrees in English and education at the University of Illinois and Western Illinois at Macomb. After college, he became involved in summerstock with theaters in the off-Chicago loop. He had the opportunity to work with a wide selection of groups and people, like the Organic Theater and June Pasternak, originator of the play "Grease." The off-Chicago loop provided a variety of off-Broadway influences with five different theaters available to the theatergoer.

When Gryska arrived in Salt Lake City, he saw Human Ensemble presenting serious theater and felt he could add another dimension to the Salt Lake repertoire. SLAC was the first in the area to produce "Hair," "Godspell," "Viet Rock" and "Electrogenesis," all musicals making strong social and political statements of the time - statements that were controversial at best. Not all of these were plays great in stature, nor were they classics. Gryska chooses plays that are out of the ordinary and have something say. "At SLAC, we are doing plays that nobody else feels should be done. No one knew what 'Sister Mary Ignatius' was about, but people heard about it and came to see what the controversy was," Gryska said.

After a couple of years, SLAC moved to the Glass Factory at Arrow Press Square where it became a "full-time profession, because of the people who steered the group toward a full-time administrative, technical group. Tech was excellent for every show," Gryska said. Some of those people who supported this effort included Marcie Nelson, Dale Dean, Steve Harding, Nancy Borgenicht, Mark Chambers and Chris Paulsen.

As positions developed, some made them full-time. Dale Dean is now stage manager at PMT, Nancy Borgenicht is recognized for her ability as a fundraiser and grant writer nationally as well as locally. Ladd Lambert, who is currently the resident scenic designer for SLAC and influential to SLAC's look, started out as an actor. He studied set design at the U. and has been designing SLAC's sets ever since their move to the Marmalade Hill Center.

"Mark (Chambers) started as an actor, moved on to be box office manager, then assistant director, director, and is now general officer of the company. He is established as an effective manager," Gryska said. David Kirk Chambers is an accomplished director at SLAC and is program director for projects prestented at Sundance. He also directs television commercials on a freelance basis.

From the beginning. Gryska wanted SLAC to be more than a regional theater, for all that status entails. The administrative core has come to depend heavily on a full-time staff. "We wanted to have an administrative work force so we could have a technical director, an administrative core, and professional recognition in other parts of the country. The decision to pay actors brought in a whole new set of problems. We give a minimum Equity payment, which is $25 per performance. For the theater to survive, it is vital to have money, regardless of where it is coming from. It became necessary to then create a board to follow staff decisions," Gryska said.

"We don't hire just Equity actors, either. We try to hire locally. Good actors don't stay in Salt Lake because there's not enough work with only two paying theaters. We bring back people from Salt Lake City who are from here and willing to come back with a cut in pay."

Sometimes the full-time staff members are also actors. Gryska says it is can be difficult to find compensation from department members when they want to act. One of the reasons for SLAC's survival comes from the staff's supporting artistic integrity. Though there may be personality differences or someone is not fond of the play being produced, the staff has been supportive and has still contributed to the production.

SLAC has produced over 70 plays, and not all have been successful. Ibsen's classic "Hedda Gabler" drew sparse audiences. Gryska says it is because there are no crossovers from one theater to the next. Audiences patronizing a particular theater do not necessarily see other groups' plays "People willing to take risks come to see Salt Lake Acting Company. PMT feels safe, which is why plays like '[Candide?]' find audience members walking out in the middle of a performance. We're not always safe. It's not deliberate thats just the way it works out."

Gryska says entertainment is the success of theater. "Our plays will always be entertaining. It may not be the best show, but it will always be entertaining. Theater is a business and should be treated as a business. If we have to TV entertain (to survive), we'll do it. We want to give people an entertaining evening, who are willing to take a chance. We want to make theater available to local people. We want to continue to grow and stay here, but we need support to maintain the theater."

Four years ago, a consultant from New York was hired to develop a four-year growth plan for SLAC. She met once a month with SLAC for a year. "It was the best thing; we ever did," Gryska said. "It forced us to be organized. The budget was a snap for next year, because it was in the plan The plan calls for a full-time staff."

Since SLAC's move to the Marmalade Hill Center in 1982, the group has received wide notoriety, aside from the FDG/CBS award. SLAC received the Circle Award for Best Touring Production of 1982 by the San Francisco Bay Area Critics Association. The award was given for Al Brown's play, "Back to Back," which also won [Dramat..?] magazine's L.A. Critics Choice for Best Play of 1984. David Krane's "Salmon Run" also premiered with SLAC, opening in February, 1984. The play is now one of four finalists in the National Repertory Theater Foundation's New Play Competition. Emily Mann's "Still Life" won a 1982 [missing word] Award and premiered regionally on SLAC's stage. SLAC's version of the play just closed in London.

Ultimately, Gryska's philosophy is, "If it's not going to be pleasant, I'm not going to do it."

It must not be unpleasant. He's still doing it.