BY JONATHAN ARBARBANEL
Astute eyes have noticed a new sign in front of the Biograph Theatre on Lincoln Avenue, announcing that the film house soon will reopen under the management of the Village Theatre Group, operators of multi-screen cinemas on Clark Street at North Avenue, and on Sheridan Road near Loyola. Many want to know if Victory Gardens (VG) has given up its proposed acquisition and conversion of the Biograph into a legitimate theatre complex. The answer is "No," according to Victory Gardens managing director Marcelle McVay. She reports that VG is continuing its feasibility and design studies, and that the lease between the Village Theatre and the Biograph includes an escape clause. Victory Gardens is supposed to announce its decision August 1, but observers will not be surprised if the VG option to purchase the Biograph is extended once again, as it has been twice before.
Bill Pacholski, director of membership services for the League of Chicago Theatres, is everywhere these days. Just two days after representing the League at the second Dish theatre industry town hall supper, Pacholski was picked by the Windy City Times as one of 30 outstanding GLBT Chicagoans under 30 years old. The story appeared in the June 26 Pride Month issue of the alternative weekly. As if that weren’t enough, Pacholski served as League spokesman again on the July 8 broadcast of "Marketplace," the daily stock market and economy program carried on National Public Radio (locally, WBEZ 91.5FM). The show featured a segment on the demise of Stagebill, and the lurch in which said demise leaves so many theatres.
By the way, yours truly in PerformInk, Chris Jones in the Tribune and various other reporters got it wrong: Playbill did not buy Stagebill, although it may have acquired rights to the Stagebill trademark; the latter has gone out of business (see related story, p. 1).
There’s nothing like planning ahead, say, four months ahead. Vincent E. Williams announced in May the date of the 8th annual Black Theatre Alliance/Ira Aldridge Awards (BTAA) and the recipient of the BTA’s 2002 Award of Merit. The date is Sept. 18 at the Harold Washington Library, and recipient is actor, producer and writer Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs. Complete nominations for the BTAA are due Aug. 6.
Things were back to normal at Chopin Theatre two days after a ventilation fan on the roof short circuited, sending smoke into the mainstage lighting booth and setting off the sprinkler system. Firemen were called, although there was no fire. The Gift Theatre Company canceled its Sunday night performance of Orestes 2.0, but resumed its regular schedule on Thursday. A Tuesday evening film screening went off as planned. Said Chopin manager Zygmund Dyrkacz, "There were no inspectors, and we are not out of business." He reminded us that Chopin presents some 500 performances, screenings and events a year in its 220-seat mainstage and 100-seat studio.
The Saints has re-elected its officers (Gail Shiman, president) for another year in the saddle, and announced a record-breaking membership of 1,623. Be sure you understand this: over 1,600 people pay annual dues for the privilege of working as volunteers. Last year, The Saints provided ushers to more than 40 theatre and dance venues, and as-needed volunteers for some 150 other events and projects. The Saints now are in their 23rd year.
Live Bait Theatre welcomed a new managing director July 1, to take over from Lotti Pharriss, who’s planning an autumn move to Los Angeles. The new guy is Chad Bergman, who holds a Ph.D. in theatre history and criticism and is described as a director, translator, dramaturg, designer and former college dean. We’re not quite sure how these impressive credentials qualify him for the tasks of fundraising, grant writing, contracts, scheduling, marketing, etc., but Chad sounds like an interesting fellow and we wish him well.
The Lyric Opera Center for American Artists (LOCAA) has named soprano Gianna Rolandi at director of vocal studies. Rolandi has worked with LOCAA students for the last two years, having moved to Chicago from England when her husband, Sir Andrew Davis, assumed the post of Lyric Opera music director in 2000. Ms. Rolandi (that’s Lady Davis in private life) will balance her own international career with weekly LOCAA staff meetings and vocal classes for LOCAA fellows.
Writer and director Carlos Murillo, prominently mentioned in the last two "Behind the Curtain" columns, has bounced back from his unhappy parting-of-the-ways as director of Pura Vida at Live Bait. Murillo’s own play, Offspring of the Cold War, currently is receiving its world premiere at Walkabout Theatre through July 21, directed by Lisa Porrtes, Murillo’s wife. Obviously, they have a way of working out their artistic differences far more successfully than Murillo and Sharon Evans.
The July 28 close of Inside Out at About Face Youth Theatre marks the end of the road for one of Chicago’s most historic theatre spaces, the 140-seat Hattie Callner Theatre of the Jane Addams Center, 3212 N. Broadway. Created in 1963 for seminal off-Loop director Robert Sickinger (then director of theatre for the Hull House Association) the little thrust stage was home to a succession of troupes such as Apollo Productions, Bailiwick, Famous Door, Lookingglass, Prop Thtr (sic), St. Nicholas and Steppenwolf prior to About Face. Among artists who carved careers on the stage are Joan Allen, Beatrice Fredman, William Friedkin, Glenne Headley, Jim Jacobs, John Malkovich, William H. Macy, Laurie Metcalf, Tom Mula, Mike Nussbaum, Jeff Perry, Steve Pickering and David Schwimmer to name a few. The building has been sold to a developer, who is expected either to retrofit it for other uses or tear it down. In addition to the theatre, the Jane Addams Center has an indoor pool, pottery and art studios, classrooms and a gallery.