LORT was formed by the largest of regional theatres to negotiate with theater unions. Membership is restricted to US theatres considered as "non-profit" by the Internal Revenue Service.
History
The League of Resident Theatres was formally established on March 18, 1966 by Peter Zeisler, managing director of the Minnesota Theatre Company (a.k.a. the Guthrie Theater), Thomas Fichandler, general manager of D.C.'s Arena Stage, and Morris Kaplan, an attorney. Peter Zeisler was appointed the first president, with Thomas Finchandler as vice president and William Bushnell, manager of Baltimore's Center Stage, as secretary. There were 26 member theaters at the organization's founding. Until then resident theater troupes negotiated individual contracts with Equity; most of them used modifications of commercial theater contracts. In some instances the theaters operated under the terms of Equity's new stock contract, however, resident theater managers have long felt burdened by what they call Equity's "one production" type of contract used on Broadway.
↑Wilmeth, Don B.; Bigsby, Christopher (1998). The Cambridge History of American Theatre. Cambridge University Press. p.244. ISBN978-0-521-66959-7. In response, the largest regional houses formed a collective bargaining alliance, the LORT, to combat the unions. LORT, which represents approximately one-third of regional theatres (including several in New York City) negotiated its first contract in 1966 with Actor's Equity.
Harvey Fierstein / Marco Paguia, David Oquendo, Renesito Avich, Gustavo Schartz, Javier Días, Román Diaz, Mauricio Herrera, Jesus Ricardo, Eddie Venegas, Hery Paz, and Leonardo Reyna / Jamie Harrison, Chris Fisher, Gary Beestone, and Edward Pierce (2025)
