Equity News Magazine

Frank Hartenstein

Equity stage manager and former councilor Frank Hartenstein passed away on February 21 at the age of 85.

Hartenstein was born on July 22, 1939, in Fort Scott, Kansas, to Frank D. Hartenstein and Lois O. James Hartenstein, and was raised in Bloomington, Illinois. He first became interested in theatre in high school and was active in the theatre program at Illinois Wesleyan University in several capacities, including actor and director.

After graduating college, Hartenstein served in the U.S. Army in Fort Bliss, Texas, where he continued to create theatre as part of an entertainment unit. After his service he did graduate theatre work at Wayne State University, and then began moving across the country, doing technical direction and stage management in Massachusetts and Ohio. He moved to New York and began working off-Broadway and elsewhere in the East.

Hartenstein’s Broadway debut was in 1972 in Night Watch, for which he served both as stage manager and standby performer. He would understudy one other play that year, but from then on he transitioned fully backstage, stage managing and occasionally assisting in technical direction or set design. All told, he worked on about 30 Broadway productions over the course of 40 years, including the original runs of Big River, Starlight Express and Into the Woods and revivals of Mame, Peter Pan, The King & I and 42^nd Street . Notably, he was a stage manager for A Chorus Line from its Public Theater debut to its Broadway transfer and on to its first national tour.

Working on another national tour, the first for Sweeney Todd, Hartenstein met his wife, Equity member Melanie D. Vaughan, and they were married nearly 40 years.

Throughout his Broadway career Hartenstein continued to work elsewhere, including frequent jobs at La Jolla Playhouse as well as gigs abroad in London.

For his union, Hartenstein served as Eastern stage manager councilor from 1987 to 1997. In 1996 he served on the negotiating team for the Production Contract. Even after leaving council, he remained committed to Equity, sitting on the Stage Managers Committee until 2018, including serving as 2^nd vice chair. His other governance involvement included the League of Resident Theatres Committee and the AGMA Merger Ad Hoc Committee.

Hartenstein was a Tony voter during his time on council. He was also an educator for many years, including at Rutgers University, the Yale School of Drama and the University of California at San Diego, in addition to informally mentoring many stage managers.

Hartenstein has another claim to stage management fame: Calling the cue to drop the ball in Times Square at midnight as the year turned from 1999 to 2000.

Hartenstein is survived by Vaughn, his sister Barbara and three nephews. The family asks that those who wish to honor Hartenstein’s memory donate to the Entertainment Community Fund or Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

— Equity News Staff

Jeremy Phillips

Jeremy and I graduated high school together, and then he helped me get my first job after grad school at the Little Theatre on the Square in Sullivan, IL, where I was a part of the SM team for three summers. He SMed there for five summers, where he also eventually served as company manager and production manager. And that's just a fraction of his theatre career. I remember him as hardworking, passionate about musicals, and gone far too soon.

Obituary here: https://www.otthaverstock.com/obituary/Jeremy-Phillips

— Veronica Zahn