2-4-05
BY JONATHAN ABARBANEL
The Joseph Jefferson Awards Committee is exploring ways to bring the Jeff Awards back downtown, and possibly get them back on television. We think this is a splendid and do-able idea whose time has come. When they were on TV in the 1970's and 1980's, the TV stations (Ch. 2 then Ch. 11) picked up a considerable portion of the production cost for shows at the Shubert or the Blackstone (now Merle Reskin) theatres. The trade-off was that every star appearing in town (and some who weren't) had to be courted (usually by Essee Kupcinet) to appear on the show, so it would have marquee value. Rex Harrison, John Houseman, Carol Channing, Mickey Rooney, Jim Belushi are a few of many who did their part over the years. It didn't do much good: the ratings usually were poor, which is one reason that TV dropped the Jeffs.
That was then, this is now. Today, you could have a roster of marquee stars, all of whom have absolutely legit hometown connections: William H. Macy, Laurie Metcalf, William L. Petersen, Megan Mullaly, Meshach Taylor, Skip Sudduth, Richard Marx, John Mahoney, Joan Allen, John Malkovich, Harry J. Lennix, Bill Murray, Betty Thomas… The list today nearly is endless.
According to Jeff Committee Equity chairperson Jeffrey Marks, the committee held discussions last year with the Goodman Theatre about staging the 2004 awards show there. For various reasons, the decision was made to return to the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie, but the door to the Goodman was by no means closed. Marks said that the Goodman, or conceivably the Reskin Theatre, could be sites for future Jeff ceremonies, perhaps even this year's November presentations. As for TV, Marks said the goal is not for live coverage of the complete awards show, but for a produced-for-TV special program that would include edited highlights from the awards presentations.
Peter Zeisler, one of the chief architects of the not-for-profit theatre industry in America, died Jan. 16 at his home in Dobbs Ferry, NY. He was 81. The history of theatre in Chicago over the last 40 years would be dramatically different and lesser were it not for Zeisler, even though he was not specifically affiliated with any Chicago cultural institutions.
Born in New York City, Zeisler began his career as a Broadway stage manager, but left the commercial theatre industry in 1963 to co-found the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, a pioneering regional company. As managing director of the Guthrie from 1963 to 1970, Zeisler invented much of the vocabulary of the not-for-profit world. He went on to serve as executive director of the Theatre Communications Group (TCG) from 1972 to 1995, greatly expanding its size, influence and range of services and programs. For example, on Zeisler's watch, TCG published the landmark book "Subscribe Now!" by Chicago's own Danny Newman. Peter Zeisler was a brilliant and eloquent advocate for the theatre industry and a tremendous enthusiast as well.
There's a happier TCG-Chicago link to report this week. Director and author Sean Graney, founder and artistic director of The Hypocrites, has been named a 2004 recipient of an NEA/TCG Career Development Program grant, worth $17,500. Graney is one of six directors and six designers selected. It's a great honor to be sure, but it's too bad Graney couldn't have held off one more year. Owing to a newly-formed partnership with the Ford Foundation, the 2005 grants will be worth $22,500 each and will go to seven directors and seven designers. By the way, application deadlines for the 2005 grants are Feb. 7 for directors and Feb. 14 for designers. More info is available at www.tcg.org.
The Shubert Theatre is dead. Long live the LaSalle Bank Theatre! With the final performance of Monty Python's Spamalot on Jan. 23, the Shubert Theatre closed its doors to undergo an $8 million restoration and refurbishment (as previously reported in PerformInk). When it reopens in the fall, it will bear the name of the bank that's paying most of the bills for the work (along with $2.5 million in tax increment funding (TIF) from the City of Chicago).
Well, the 2,000-seat house hasn't always been called the Shubert, either. It opened in 1906 as the Majestic Theatre and office building, the name that's still engraved above the door. The Shubert Organization bought it in 1945 and sold it to the arch-rival Nederlander Organization in 1991.
Other announcements:
Congratulations to Chicago Tribune critic Chris Jones and Redmoon managing director Gillian Darlow on the birth of their second child. Evan Donovan Darlow Jones was born at 7:54a.m. on Jan. 13 at Northwestern Memorial. Just in case you think having two small boys would slow Jones down, he was spotted at the theatre that same night.
Verbatim Verboten is not letting a possible lawsuit slow it down (PerformInk, Nov. 26). The show is set to make its NYC debut Jan. 31 at Fez. Michael Martin's theatrical presentation of illicitly recorded and uncensored conversations featuring public figures is directed by John Pinckard and produced by Vicki Quade. The show runs through Feb. 28 at 380 Lafayette St., inside the Time Café. For more information visit www.feznyc.com.
Chicago playwrights Jeffrey Essman and Brendan Healy are co-winners of the $1,000 Heideman Award from Actors Theatre of Louisville's 2004 National Ten-Minute Play Contest. Essman's Johannes, Pyotr & Marge and Healy's Picnic (pic-nic): vi, will be produced as part of the 29th annual Humana Festival of New American Plays (Feb. 27 – April 9). The award, designed to discover outstanding 10-minute plays by unknown or established playwrights, has been given annually since 1979.
Neo-Futurists founder Greg Allen will also see his work performed at this year's Humana Festival. He's one of seven playwrights contributing to Uncle Sam's Satiric Spectacular: On Democracy and Other Fictions Featuring Patriotism Acts and Blues Songs from a Red State. Wendy McClellan directs the Actors' Apprentice Company in this group-written show.
And a couple more Chicago playwrights will be featured in Smith and Kraus monologue collections. Monologues from Mark McCarthy's Occupational Hazards and Jill Elayne Hughes' The Fainting Couch will be included in the new editions of these popular books.
Finally, let us note the passing of musician and composer Gary Jinks, who died suddenly on Jan. 13. Jinks played in orchestras for a number of musicals. He was 51.
Jenn Goddu contributed to this column.