Equity News Magazine

Equity News is the official magazine of Actors' Equity Association. Equity News has been around in a variety of formats since 1915.

The Ray Lonergan Memorial Library Turns 40

by Gabriela Geselowitz

The Equity Chicago office's best-kept secret is its reference library, free to all members, containing roughly 4,000 plays and books. This year, the union celebrates the 40^th anniversary of the Ray Lonergan Memorial Library. In the auditions waiting room at the union's office, members can pore over plays both popular and obscure.

"Find a script, read a play, find your next part!" said member and library volunteer Raymond Wohl.

The Library's History

Ray Lonergan was an Equity actor based in Chicago who served on what was then known as the union's Midwest Advisory Board (now the Central Regional Board). He died suddenly and tragically at the age of 54 in 1986, hours after opening a production of the musical farce Something's Afoot in Milwaukee.

Also a theatre educator, Lonergan had a vast collection of plays he left behind. Equity member Lynn Mansbach, who became the first chair of what was then the Library Committee, connected Lonergan's family with then Equity Midwest Director Tad Curry to arrange for the donation. Meanwhile, his friends collected money for furniture and more books, and they soon set up shop in Equity's Chicago office.

Iris Lieberman, the head volunteer for the library, has been with it from the start. She was not only friends with Lonergan, she was working on Something's Afoot with him when he died, so she joined that band of volunteers.

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The Ray Lonergan Memorial Library in Chicago.

"It meant a lot to me because I was there," she said. "I want to be a steward of the library. I love books, and I want to help my fellow members, but if there's any other reason it's that. It sounds sad, but that's the hook that kept me going. We can't let this end! It has to go on in his memory!"

Lonergan's collection formed the basis of the library, but over the decades it has taken in donations large and small, including notable ones from member Sidney Eden and former Equity President Patrick Quinn. When the union moved its Chicago office in 2010, the library moved with it. (Some of the books were de-accessioned in the move, but much of Eden's donation is still publicly available at the Performing Arts Library of Roosevelt University under his name.)

A Space for Artists

The library is open whenever auditions are taking place to whomever is auditioning (including non-members), but members do not need to be auditioning to use the library.

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Library volunteers Iris Lieberman (left) and Lucy Zukaitis hold up gift bags for the 40^th anniversary celebration of the library.

"I love books, and I love to read scripts," said Lieberman, who still uses the library for research. "You can find a monologue that nobody else does, and that's what I've done over the years using the library... If you can find something that speaks to you and resonates with you, even if it's a little bit obscure, then I think that's very special, and we can help actors find that because we have so many scripts."

The library's volunteers were originally a committee which these days take the form of an advisory board. They are Equity's own team of lay librarians, doing everything from dusting the books to cataloguing donations to organizing the shelves. There are always snacks at meetings, with sandwiches on long days. These days, the team meets roughly once a month, but it varies based on incoming donations and evolving needs.

"If you like books and you want community, we're your team," said Lieberman.

"I'm always in a good mood after our meetings," said Equity member Lucy Zukaitis, who serves on the advisory board. "We have fun, and the sense of accomplishment is so satisfying."

The library still accepts scripts (in good condition) as well as financial donations. They exist as a 501(c)(3) under the auspices of the Actors' Equity Foundation, which makes donations tax-deductible.

"There will always be a need for a library for actors," said Lieberman. "If you're looking for a new monologue, you're not going to buy ten scripts to maybe find one monologue."

Celebrating 40 Years

"Being a lot younger 40 years ago, I was the young one on the committee," said Lieberman, who joined Equity in 1961 as a child actor. "The committee evolved and morphed."

She became the chair of the committee in the late 1990s. At one point, she was the only volunteer left, but she recruited more members; she has been able to take breaks over her tenure.

"40 years is a long time," she said.

On the afternoon of October 19 in the Chicago office, Equity members and staff celebrated two events: the dedication of the conference room in memory of former Central Regional Director Kathryn V. Lamkey and the 40^th anniversary of the library. Attendees mingled and ate in the newly minted Lamkey Room, and amongst the speeches, Lieberman reflected on Lamkey's support for the library.

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Iris Lieberman holds up the plaque thanking her for her decades of service.

"Kathy was involved in every aspect of it," she said. "Where the bookcases should go, how many chairs would be needed, even down to where to put the light switch."

Attendees helped themselves to commemorative bookmarks, designed by library volunteer Raymond Wohl, building on an earlier design by volunteer Ira Carol, and the library itself offered dessert.

At the Central Regional Board Meeting there earlier that day, Central Region Assistant Executive Director David Kolen presented Lieberman with a plaque thanking her for her decades of service. She reflected on the past four decades, and thanked staff and member volunteers both past and present. Lieberman quoted Equity member Charles Andrew Gardner, whom she recently heard speak in his capacity as SAG-AFTRA's local president in Chicago: "What's the point of being part of a community if you're not part of that community?"

Looking Ahead

"We want our mission to go on for the next 40 years!" said Lieberman. And she has big dreams for what that looks like. That could include bringing back a checkout system, fully cataloguing the collection to share online and to top it all off: A robust, excited volunteer base – including a lead volunteer to pass the torch. (She does not expect to hold the role the next 40 years.)

"Come join us and help us in our mission of helping the actor get that job," she said.

Members interested in volunteering, donating or learning more about the Ray Lonergan Memorial Library should contact Javon Johnson (jjohnson@actorsequity.org).