THTR103 Week 8 Notes PDF

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THTR103 Week 8 Notes Video 1 -

Growth of theater becomes exponential Baby boom generation Counter-culture New wave happened about every 5 years

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2nd Wave mid 1970’s Co founder of Kingston mines goes on to found The Victory Gardens Theater Non-profit model North Side Auditorium building clark st. near Wrigley Dennis zachek and marcel mcvay – ran victory gardens They move back to the space where the body politic was on Lincoln ave Add 2 additional space to perform 2006 moved again, 2 blocks north 2017 green house theater center still open for business Victory garden currently has 2 theaters

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Increases diversity of off loop theaters Val Grayward – Kuumba Theater ETA Creative Arts 1971 o Jon Brown/ Johnson 1972 – chuck smith – XBAG o Sky Loft players – chuck smith saw his first play o XBAG was housed in parkway community house o Only lasted 4 or 5 years o Chuck smith continued in theater o Goes to college and then in 1984 goes back to parkway o Chicago theater company first black company to use the Equity contract 1976- Jackie Taylor – Black onsombel theater o Uptown center hull house o Specialized in biographical plays about black musical artists o Began as a for profit theater o 2010 went to not for profit

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Video 4 and 5 are interviews Video 6

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“At the drama Shelter” 1969 (gay or lgtbq theaters) Godzilla Rainbow Trope 71-74 o Drag theater o Founded gary tucker – stage name 11 o Late night attraction o Started after grease at knigston mines Artemis Players (lesbian trope) 2nd wave of off loop theater created the first lasting bridge of Chicago theater between commercial for profit and the growing non profit theater 1976 – 2 graduates – stewart oken and Jason brett :Apollo prodcutions o Moon Children by micheal weller o Founders bring actor from champaign  Robert Falls o Apollo productions is for profit – blend profit model with alternative play o Raise money to build new theater 1978 – Apollo theater center on Lincoln theater, first new theater build only for off loop theater – still for profit o Stewart become independent – worked for Disney – brought lion king to broadway – founded own company – produced adams family and American in paris

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Organic theater – used invanho then when to a movie theater and remodeled David mamet – st. Nicholas theater – not for profit o Late 1970’s went to NY o Does films and tv o Creates the Chicago Style of theater Stepphenwolf theater – 1976 – started in a burb o Terry kinny, jeff perry, kary sencis o 1981 – moved in to Chicago – move to st. Nicholas theater – then moved to there own theater 1976 – Byron Schafer jr – Belmont ave – theater complex o Creates 3 theaters with 150 seats o Rents them out to theater companies o Theater Building Chicago o Died in 1990 heart attack o Still in business – stage 773 1974 – opend theater in howard street – wisdom bridge theater o 1977 – Robert falls take over

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Organization – 1977 – The Chicago alliance for the performing arts CAPA

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o Assists off loop theater and performing arts o Byron shafer jr. o 1979 – the league of Chicago theaters  All theaters o CAPA close in 1981 1971 – COLT Contract o Required minimum number of equity member a theater had to hire o St.nicholas theater o Many didn’t use this 1983 – CAT agreement Chicago area theater o Eliminated hiring requirement o 6 tiers o National model for other places across the country 1987 – league of Chicago theaters – 112 member theaters – budget 20000 – to 1 mil + - 75 were non profit – 20 commerical – 9 university – 8 community theaters o Those that used equity – 42 of 112 and 29 of 42 used CAT 1983 – off loop had become an industry

Video 9 SWAY -

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The original Victory Gardens Theater was on the third floor of the Northside Auditorium Building, now the Metro music venue. A number of theatres were founded within the African-American community, although non-Black theatre-goers were welcome. A company called At the Drama Shelter was, arguably, Chicago's first LGBT theatre company, co-founded just weeks after the 1969 Stonewall Riots in New York City. It was founded by lovers Daryl Hale and Ron Hitchcock. Several years later, the Godzilla Rainbow Troupe, presenting at Midnight at the Kingston Mines Theatre Company, performed works in a gender-bending style called Theatre of the Riduculous. The first important playwright to emerge from the new Off-Loop Movement was bright, brash David Mamet. He founded the St. Nicholas Theatre Company in 1972, but the company really flourished from 1975-1982. Mamet was off to New York by 1976 and then on to Hollywood. His tough, foul-mouthed, street-wise writing came to represent "Chicago Style" theatre with a take-no-prisoners edge. Mamet's plays were produced by The Body Politic, the Goodman Theatre, the Organic Theater Company and St. Nicholas before he left town. As a teenager, he sought out Paul Sills and Robert Sickinger and worked as a go-fer in order to watch them work. Steppenwolf Theatre Company was started in a church basement in Highland Park in 1976 long before it became world-famous. The company moved into Chicago several years later, first setting up shop in the Jane Addams Center--once home to

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Robert Sickinger--and then taking over the St. Nicholas Theatre Company space at 2851 N. Halsted. Theatre Building Chicago opened up Belmont Avenue as an Off-Loop Theatre venue. Created by producer and director Byron Schaffer, Jr., Theatre Building Chicago had three performance spaces of approximately 150-seats each. Today, the building is called Stage 773. Hundreds and hundreds of productions have been presented there since 1976. Another vitally important company was the Wisdom Bridge Theatre, far north on Howard Street at the end of the CTA Red Line. It was considered a seedy neighborhood in 1974, and the theatre itself was up a long, steep staircase on the second floor of a long-gone building. Seating fewer than 200 people, Wisdom Bridge became a nationally-known company under the brilliant young artistic director, Robert Falls (see earlier notes on Oken and Brett)...