Best Places to Stay, Best Places to Work: Best Practice for League of Resident Theatres Actor Housing as Explored Through the Total Product Concept

The purpose of this study is to identify best practices for League of Resident Theatres (LORT) actor housing, understanding housing as part of in how these organizations achieve artistic excellence. The project begins with an exploration of the LORT and Actors’ Equity Association history and background, the relationship between actor housing and creativity, LORT-Equity Agreement rules, and the role of the company manager. Using Theodore Levitt’s Total Product Concept model, the project defines the generic, expected, and augmented product through research, interviews, and surveys with the field and envisions elements of the potential product. This results in recommendations for organizations to discover where their actor housing sits within the Total Product Concept, and to define how they value housing within the artistic process. Knowing this they can work toward the findings of 1) creating a village, 2) predictability and consistency, and 3) what’s inside matters. Tools to help them accomplish these findings include growing partnerships and building an infrastructure for support.