Victory Gardens' decision to move its operations a few blocks north on Lincoln with the purchase of the historic Biograph Theatre garnered a great deal of attention in the last few weeks. Why not? We're talking a $9-million renovation of the nationally landmarked movie house and the continued existence of the Tony-award winning ensemble's live theatre venue at 2257 N. Lincoln Ave. It's great news.

Yet there's another company that has also just announced it's looking for a new home. After 13 years in the historic Calo Theatre in Andersonville, Griffin Theatre Company is shopping for a permanent space of its own. New owners of the company's space at 5404 N. Clark Street wanted to increase the rent by 15 to 20 percent, on top of asking the theatre to pay steeply rising property taxes. In two years, the company's expenses for rent and taxes would have been double what they were paying now, said managing director Bill Massolia. "When you think about that, if you're paying upwards of over $5000 a month you should be putting that into a mortgage."

The company is working with Alderman Patrick J. O'Connor of the 40th Ward to find a property in the Edgewater neighborhood. They will be itinerant while looking for a new home, Massolia said. Yet he was optimistic in mid-July that Griffin would find what it was looking for. "There are a couple possibilities that I can't really get into right now because I don't want to jinx it," he said. Griffin hopes to find a place, with parking, where they can build a 99-seat theatre and a smaller 40 to 50-seat studio. "There are buildings out there that can accommodate that," he said. They're hoping to have something purchased within the year.

Griffin has many children's shows scheduled for national tour and will be performing at the 27th Annual International Showcase of Performing Arts for Young People in January 2005. In the meantime, Griffin's 16th mainstage season will be announced later this summer. "We'll probably sit the fall out and produce in the late winter," Massolia said.

Griffin plans to rent temporary office and rehearsal space in Edgewater. If they weren't so stuck on that neighborhood they might have considered the Athenaeum for office space. If you thought the 2003 demise of nonprofit arts service organization ArtsBridge was the end of low-cost business and administrative assistance to emerging cultural groups, think again.

The Athenaeum continues to operate ArtsBridge-type services for small theatres. The low-rent office space once available through ArtsBridge with cubicles, a shared conference room and access to a copier and phone services, has remained open. In fact, said general manager Fred Solari, there are more companies in there now than before. "The space is still going and we even expanded it," he said.

Where ArtsBridge supported some 300 cultural groups in its near 18 years of operation, the Athenaeum now has Kate McGovern and the Arts and Entertainment Management Project. "Kate's been doing some seminars and workshops and just private one-on-one counseling," Solari said. He hopes to expand this program into something more permanent and is seeking funding and grants to that end.

McGovern, a professor of entertainment law at DePaul University, has been offering legal consulting, seminars in copyright and legal issues, and has launched a new mediation service to help organizations settle arts-oriented legal issues for only $75 per hour.

Groups will be able to get a "Taste of the Athenaeum" on Sept. 25. Seminars on board development and marketing will be offered in the morning. Following that there will be performances by the potpourri of people sharing office space at the theatre.

"I've always thought that the work that ArtsBridge did was just amazing," McGovern said, explaining her decision to step in and try and keep it going. "I know how these companies struggle and sometimes…not only do they not know what to ask, they don't know whom to ask."

For more information on the management project or office space availability, call 773-935-6080.

Every summer it's as if all the rain and bright sunshine cause new theatre companies to grow. Two of the fledgling ensembles hoping to take root in the city are Eleventh Hour Theatre and Caffeine Theatre. (If they're successful, there may be more companies sharing that Athenaeum office space!)

Eleventh Hour will demonstrate its commitment to revitalizing lesser-known works of major playwrights with Being Seen: 3 Acts by Beckett at Links Hall July 30 – Aug 8. The company of recent college graduates had been putting up summer shows in Winnetka but Being Seen marks its first foray within the city limits. Caffeine presents the Chicago premiere of Sandra Deer's Sailing to Byzantium in a debut dedicated to exploring social questions through the poetic tradition. The play runs Sept. 12 through Oct. 10 at Live Bait Theatre.

Want to see you or your theatre's name in bold print? If you have news or announcements for Behind the Curtain e-mail Jenn at JQGoddu@sbcglobal.net.

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