There hasn't been any official announcement—yet—but a small box at the bottom of page 22 of the program for Take Me Out thanks "outgoing managing director" Christopher Sink for his service to About Face Theatre. Then, on page 25, the program identifies Greg Copeland as the current managing director. Naturally, we made inquiries about what wuz what, particularly as Chris Sink was on the scene for less than two years.

Before coming to Chicago, Sink had been managing director of Shakespeare and Company in Lenox, Mass. for more than a decade and had overseen the troupe's multi-million dollar transition to a new 40-acre home in the Berkshires. About Face was a considerably smaller theatre, where the challenge was to expand fundraising and establish a national profile for the company. Working with artistic director Eric Rosen and the About Face board and staff, Sink accomplished both those goals, especially with the participation of About Face in the development of the Broadway and national success, I Am My Own Wife.

In moving to Chicago, Sink's longtime partner had left an executive administrative position at Simon's Rock College in Great Barrington, Mass. (a few miles from Lenox). Recently, Simon's Rock (affiliated with Bard College) had offered him a vice-presidency if he came back, and he and Sink decided to return to Massachusetts. There were some persuasive family-related factors involved in the decision as well.

Sink's successor is no stranger to About Face. Greg Copeland produced a string of shows for the troupe between 1997 and 2001, and co-founded About Face Youth Theatre. He left About Face and Chicago to pick up an MFA in theatre management from the Yale School of Drama, and produce fringe theatre and special events in New York City. Now that he's back in town, he says one of his goals is to shepherd the About Face musical Winesburg, Ohio to a future commercial production.

The League of Chicago Theatres reports that the new Public Place of Amusement (PPA) license—first reported in January to be in the works—still is a-comin' down the pike, and League CEO Marj Halperin hopes it will be signed, sealed and delivered before she leaves her post at the end of June. She confirms that it will be an entirely new PPA category designed specifically for Off-Loop venues and will offer a much shorter and simpler application process. It will not, however, offer any changes in the building codes, something the League had sought.

Meanwhile, the City of Chicago has announced that enforcement authority for PPA licenses has been removed from the Department of Revenue and settled on the Mayor's License Commission and Local Liquor Control Commission. Mayor Richard M. Daley has determined that collecting revenue and enforcing licenses—which has to do largely with various codes—should be separate functions. With regard to the PPA, this effectively reduces the role of Revenue to that of cashier and not cop. Thus, there will be no more vigilante-like Revenue Raids, such as those that shuttered five Off-Loop theatres in November 2003. In the future, the License Commission will handle PPA applications, although checks still will go to Revenue.

A cautionary tale for all: actor/director Andrew Boyer recently found himself on the losing end of a lawsuit for copyright infringement when he attempted to download a movie on his home computer. "The settlement amount I was offered was far out of my financial means," he says, "and when I explained this to the lawyers they were distinctly unsympathetic. Ultimately, they did lower the amount of the settlement, but even this new amount is more than I can hope to pay. A payment plan was offered, but that payment plan is only over a set period of time and basically equals doubling my rent every month."

In an attempt to make lemonade from lemons, Boyer is presenting an original theatre piece in a one-night benefit for himself, April 16, 8 p.m. at Bailiwick Arts Center, 1229 W. Belmont. Tickets are $15. There will also be a reception with silent auctions, raffles and merriment. Proceeds exceeding the settlement amount will be donated to The Viola Project, a non-profit Shakespeare performance workshop of which Boyer is co-founder.

"The film I was sued for is a children's fantasy, and in response my show will be fantastical in nature. It will be a retelling of the Perseus myth based on my own play The Terrible Head. In this play a young man is sent to cut off the head of a gorgon to prevent his mother from marrying a tyrannical king after he is found to be copying court music. This telling, however, has a post-modern twist and all do not live happily ever after."

Boyer dances with Instruments of Movement, a contemporary dance company, and performed in MacBeth and An Evening at Le Bouef sur le Toit in the Playing French Festival. He served as assistant director for the world premier of Sin: A Cardinal Deposed at Bailiwick and the current About Face production of Take Me Out.

Speaking of Take Me Out, the following anecdote was told at the recent Chicago conference of the National Alliance for Musical Theatre. A large, conservative theatre in the southern states staged Take Me Out this season to attract a younger and alternative audience. It was considered a high-risk project that could offend the company's substantial older subscription audience, especially with its now-famous baseball locker room shower scene featuring a half-dozen athletic actors in the nude. At the end of one performance, the managing director overheard two seventysomething female patrons as they left the theatre. "My goodness," one said to the other, "I've never seen six of them at the same time before!"

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