Two lean years of pandemic economics, entwined with continuing, insistent calls for real racial justice and gender equity and an end to sexual abuse. The 20s have been a difficult decade for Chicago theater companies, and other theatre companies. Some Chicago theaters have been able to relocate to new performance spaces or itinerant venues despite these difficult times.
This theater environment has changed significantly, as it has in all major theater cities. The two-year-old pandemic caused more economic damage than most other industries to live theater and music; some theaters were destroyed. While the pandemic raged for two years, we became acutely aware of how blind most companies were to the need to racial justice, equity, and the demands made by the #MeToo movement. The #NotInOurHouse organization in Chicago succeeded in setting new theater standards regarding sexual abuse. The We See You White American Theater movement is calling for radical change in theater management nationwide. Many theaters have responded to these issues, but mainly through rhetoric. Some theaters have taken a more aggressive approach to play selection, casting, or staffing.
Theatre Y North Lawndale site rendering by P.K. Vanderbeke Architects.These are just a few of the planned moves by theater companies.
Steep Theatre, which has been producing exceptional theater (like its productions of Pomona and First Love Is the Revolution) at its storefront space near the Berwyn Red Line station, just announced that it has found its new home just down the street. Steep intends to buy the former Christian Science Reading Room, 1044 W. Berwyn, near the northwest corner Berwyn/Kenmore in Edgewater. From 2008 to September 2020, the former property was the company’s home. The building was vacated by Steep due to imminent commercial development. Steep signed a Purchase and Sale Agreement and intends to purchase the building for its permanent home. The company will launch a capital campaign in the spring.
The 3,500-square-foot building is about the same size and shape as the former Steep and adjacent Boxcar spaces. It is situated on a 17,500 square feet lot that will provide ample parking and growth potential.
Timeline Theatre rendering byHGA.Timeline Theatre, which has long made its home at a church at 615 W. Wellington St., is developing a brand new location at 5033-35 N. Broadway in Uptown, near popular music venues like the Green Mill, the Riviera and the Aragon. While they are currently performing at Theater Wit they will also be producing at the Wellington Street space until their new facility opens in 2024.
Timeline has hired HGA, a noted architecture firm with more than 100 theater projects in their portfolio, to rebuild the purchased building, a five story, 45,500-square foot warehouse building and a vacant lot near the corner Broadway/Argyle. Two black box theaters, each with seating for 250 and 150 people, will be featured in the new facility. The TimeLine’s hallmark immersive lobby and information experience will be expanded.
Northlight Theatre rendering by EckenhoffSaunders Architects.Northlight Theatre is purchasing a new property at 1012-16 Church St. in downtown Evanston for its new permanent home. Northlight has been performing at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, Skokie for many years. However, its original theater was in Evanston. This will mark the theater’s 45th anniversary of owning its own space.
The new building will be located on a 21,000-square-foot property. It will house a 38,000-square-foot theater and community center. This includes a 300-seat mainstage, rehearsal room, and a glassed in rooftop skyroom. There are also lobby lounges and concession areas. The pandemic delayed fundraising and the company announced its plans for 2019.
Gift Theatre, which recently celebrated its 20th anniversary, is giving up the Milwaukee Avenue storefront in Jefferson Park where a great deal of theater magic took place, such as Wolf Play. Gift Theatre has been at this location since 2005. Recently, Gift announced that it will be entering a new era of community life with a larger space within the same neighborhood. Although the location has yet to be announced, Michael Patrick Thornton, the artistic director of Gift, says that they have hired an architectural consultant and theater consultant for the project. Thornton stated that the new facility will provide a community gathering space with large lobby, rehearsal space, and a larger performance space. The former stage measured only 23 feet in width and 10 feet in depth. Although they have begun fundraising, the theater has not yet announced the date for its reopening.
Theatre Y event rendering by P K Vanderbeke Architects..Theatre Y, a small experimental theater company that produces internationally as well as locally, is investing in some big ideas as it develops a new theater/community campus in North Lawndale, near Pulaski Road and 21st Street. Theatre Y has been an itinerant company for years, performing at rental venues in Logan Square and Lincoln Square as well as others.
The New Youth Program, one of Theatre Ys key programs, funded by Innovation 80, will engage local young people in theater and puppetry productions. The program will fund a pilot puppetry program designed by Michael Montenegro, a nationally known, Chicago-based puppeteer.and led by a local community organizer.
Theatre Y is partnering with Worldview Solutions on a comprehensive vision, including listening and responding to the community, and finding new solutions. With a $250,000 grant from the Neighborhood Opportunity Fund, this urban renewal plan will integrate high-end architectural, landscape, and spatial design in ways usually reserved for wealthy areas of Chicago. The campus is intended as a live/work space for some of its artists too.
Artistic director Melissa Lorraine says the theaters goal is revitalization without gentrification. The theaters revitalization concept centers the theater and its live/work space as part of the new campus, in partnership with community leaders, designers, urban planners and local artists.
Copley Theatre interior. Image courtesy enjoyaurora.comParamount Theatre in Aurora is opening its newly refurbished Copley Theatre with an all-new subscription series, titled the Bold Series. The new theater, which seats 165 people, is located across the street from the Paramount Theatre. It is situated in an area that was once a neglected and run-down area of Aurora. The new theaters first production will be Lynn Nottages Sweatan ideal choice for this blue-collar city. The Copleys Bold Series will include four plays that the theater describes to be fearless, unpredicted and thought-provoking. Paramount usually employs many Chicago theater performers.
Other Theater Moves
The Chicago theater scene is enhanced by a number of venues with multiple performance spaces where theater companies without a brick-and-mortar home can find comfortable places to show their wares. Theaters like the Athenaeum Theatre or the Greenhouse Theater Center offer multiple spaces. Theaters like Victory Gardens, Raven, Goodman, and Steppenwolf have studio- and black-box spaces that are available for rent to itinerant companies.
Because it is an important branding tool, most companies aim to own or rent their own theater building. Building ownership can be expensive and stressful. This is why multispace venues are so valuable.
Numerous theaters have recently moved to new venues.
Invictus Theatre, a five-year-old company that formerly performed at the Pride Arts Center, has a new home at 1106 W. Thorndale (formerly the Frontier). Their inaugural production there was last falls stunning version of Hamlet.
The Artistic Home, which made its home in a cozy storefront on Grand Avenue for years, has given up that space and is now performing at the Den Theatre on Milwaukee Avenue, where they staged Sarah Ruhls Eurydice in October. Their training program, where they work in the Meisner Technique, is now offering classes at the new training studio at 3054 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Collaboraction has moved out of its longtime home in the Flat Iron Building at North, Damen and Milwaukee, and is producing at venues and community centers around the city, particularly on the south and west sides. its new play,Trial in the Delta: The Murder of Emmett Till, begins February 26 at the DuSable Museum of African American History.
Hell in a Handbag Productions has lost its space in Marys Attic in Andersonville. After producing their Golden Girlsparody at the Leather Archives and Museum, their next two plays will be staged at the Chopin Theatre.
Strawdog Theatre lost its (relatively) new home at the former Signal Ensemble Theatre on Berenice and Ravenswood. Links Hall will be their next production.
BoHo Theatre is moving to The Edge Theatre on Broadway later in the year for a production to be determined. .
About Face Theatre is moving from Theater Wit to The Den Theatre, where they will stage Laced in March.
Promethean Theatre Ensemble is moving to the Factory Theater on Howard Street for their Richard III production in May.
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago recently announced that they are moving their offices and rehearsal space to a location in Water Tower Place. Their Spring Series will be held at the MCAs Edlis Neeson Theater.
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