One For All and All For - Theater

Juda Youngstrom is probably the only local theater troupe manager who periodically house cleans to supplement her income.

That doesn't make her any different from other members of The Human Ensemble Repertory Theater. For the past six years, they've plastered walls, sold sewing machines, acted in television commercials and installed woodwork by day so they can continue presenting plays.

Their collective efforts seem to be paying off. While other independent companies have come and gone, The Human Ensemble started its sixth season last week, making it the second oldest independent theater troupe in the state. (Theatre 139 is the oldest, having recently celebrated its 10th anniversary.)

The new season also means a new phase in The Human Ensemble's growth, according to Ms. Youngstrom whose first name is pronounced "joo-day").

"We needed new spaces to work in and to tour from," she explained recently during rehearsals for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Sign of the Four," the troupe's season opener which was presented last week in Kingsbury Hall. "Our current goal is to support our actors and technicians. But at the same time, we don't want to loose our other goal of doing good theater."

That approach has motivated The Human Ensemble since it was formed in 1971, when she and a few other University of Utah students began presenting plays in the storeroom of a westside "head" shop, The Cosmic Aeroplane.

"I got behind the idea of forming a company because I knew that if I didn't do it then, I'd never do it," says Juda. "We started with nothing, and never really paid anyone until last year. We've survived because people have been willing to work for free and contribute their genius."

From its start with $100 Juda was given by a friend, The Human Ensemble moved next into The Glass Factory in Arrow Press Square, where they performed for the next four seasons. "Clark-Leaming, which owns Arrow Press, was very helpful that first year when things were very lean," Juda says.

It was during their Glass Factory tenure that The Human Ensemble gained most of its present reputation. Plays like "The Mail in the Meadow," "The Gift of Eutherina Fincham," "Sleepers After Swans" and "We" (all are by Utahn Ken Jenks) mingled with more well-known offerings like "That Championship Season," "Alice in Wonderland," "'The Tempest " and "The Hound of the Baskervilles."

"We haven't let business dictate art," says Juda. "And we collaborate - there isn't a king here, just a lot of very talented people who help each other. Right now, the scenery supervisor can yell at me for not cleaning out my paint brush because we all know that's his job. Some of the other local companies haven't defined responsibilities that well, and they've run into trouble."

More importantly, says Juda, The Human Ensemble is always looking for new plays to present. Last year, for example, they presented "When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder?" a play by Arizona State University professor Mark Medoff. The Salt Lake performance caught the attention of some San Francisco players who now have been presenting the powerful drama there six nights each week for tile past six months.

"We're willing to take chances," says Juda, "and it's come in handy."

Last spring, however, The Human Ensemble moved out of The Glass Factory. "We're in quite a transition right now because we're trying to go beyond Utah and serve all the West with tours," explains Juda. "Last year, when we did 'Red Ryder,' some people from The National Endowment for the Humanities told us we were good enough to work anywhere. We're anxious to see if we really are."

The troupe's members have the experience to back up their talent. In Juda's case, that means
having worked since she was 13, when she spent summers away from her native Great Falls, Mont.. as a technician at Big Forks Summer Playhouse. Starting at the University of Utah when she was 18, she later switched her theater major from technician to directing. By the second year of directing The Human Ensemble, she'd earned enough credits to graduate with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.

Juda says the troupe's fund-raising efforts, which comprise the majority of its operating budget, have been helped mightily the past two years by Brent Curtis, The Human Ensemble's business manager.

Last fall, Curtis was joined by Bob Boulrice "and since they've come on, our help in grants has tripled from $3,000 to $20,000," says Juda. Like other arts organizations in Utah, The Human Ensemble welcomes more contributions, she adds.

Current Ensemble members include Randy Milligan, Shelley Osterloh, Allan Nevins, Vicki Anderson, Scott Zogg, Nolan Palmer and Chuck Cochran. Many of them have appeared in locally produced radio and television commercials.

Juda says that she and the other Human Ensemble members find Salt Lake a good place to work. "We like the new dinner theaters because they turn a lot of people on to theater who otherwise wouldn be interested. And while the opportunities here aren't as great as, say, in New York, the competition isn't as tough either," she says.

"Being part of The Human Ensemble has been like being part of a family. We all change hats to help each other do different things. We plan to tour more, but we'd like to keep Salt Lake as a home base," Juda adds.