10-13-06
Opening Night Logjam (Again)
At least four small Off-Loop theatre troupes have reported that not one single member of the press came to see their shows on opening night, or in the week that followed. Of course, all four opened their shows the weekend of Sept. 15-18, a weekend in which 12 shows opened in three days during a week in which 18 shows opened in five days. How many times have I written about this in Behind the Curtain? How many times have I said “stooopid” and “shoot yourself in the foot?”
As many readers know, I’m theatre editor of the Windy City Times, which now provides better review coverage than any other weekly paper in town. Our reviews are all 400-450 words – which is generous by today’s standards – and we review six shows just about every week. But in a week in which 18 shows open, that means we ignore two-thirds of them. Do the math and figure your own odds.
September was the busiest theatre month I’ve ever seen, with 55 openings by my count, and my count doesn’t include improv or sketch comedy, late night shows or kids’ shows. Following the Labor Day Weekend, there were theatre openings every night of the month, Sept. 8-30. Still, no show at all opened on Thursday, Sept. 7, only one show opened on Wednesday, Sept. 6, only one show on Tuesday, Sept. 12, only one show on Monday, Sept. 18, and only one show on Sept. 24, 26, 27, 29 and 30.
October will be slightly slimmer with a mere 44 openings excluding sketch/improv, late night, kids and also Halloween shows. As of Oct. 3, my calendar showed 12 nights with only one theatre opening and eight nights with no show at all scheduled to open! Nonetheless, eight shows are opening Oct. 6-8 and nine shows are opening Oct. 14-16. On Sunday, Oct. 15 alone there will be six press performances, one of which is the grand unveiling of Victory Gardens at the Biograph. Hey, you five other theatres, guess where the critics will be. Hello? Anybody home?
What can you do about this? 1) Get angry and yell and scream and kick at the League of Chicago Theatres until the League agrees to do something. 2) Pick up schedules of all theatre troupes that do full seasons – commercial as well as non-profit – and don’t book your opening night against their opening nights. 3) Make phone calls to other smaller theatres that, like you, may produce at odd intervals and ask them for their next opening dates in order to avoid conflicts and pile-ups. 4) Don’t pick a night on which three other shows open; don’t pick a week in which 12 other shows open. 5) Build flexibility into your schedule so you can shift your press performance by a few days if it means a better chance of drawing press.
And here the sermon endeth. For now. Let us go on to other news.
The well-regarded Reverie Theatre Company is on the ropes and may not produce again. A management vacuum appears to be the issue rather than finances, according to co-founder and artistic director Chris Pomeroy. Several of the company founders have split for opportunities elsewhere, among them actor Jason Vizza (now in Los Angeles), who had been Reverie’s marketing director. Managing director Eva Willhelm also has stepped down. Now Pomeroy, too, is calling it quits to concentrate on writing.
Pomeroy told PerformInk he hopes other company members will fill in the empty management slots and keep Reverie going. Pomeroy said he would remain on the Reverie board of directors if the troupe continues to produce, and mentioned Scott Westerman as a possible successor as artistic director. Just six months ago, Reverie was talking about opening its own space at a Far North location, possibly with Bohemian Theatre Ensemble as a share tenant. Pomeroy said the plan didn’t materialize and is off the table.
Reverie was formed in 2003 by an ensemble of youngish-but-veteran players, and has produced one show a year, with The Cherry Orchard (2003), Marivaux’s The Game of Love and Chance (2005) and a world premiere adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma (2006) among its credits.
The 6-year-old Serendipity Theatre and 14-year-old Terrapin Theatre officially merged at a Sept. 24 celebration party at Webster’s Wine Bar. The new entity will go under the name of the Serendipity Theatre Collective, with Lauren Pesca as artistic director. The troupe’s first project is Voices Underwater by Abi Basch, at National Pastime Theatre, Oct. 8-Nov. 5. The Collective also has announced a Jan. 28-March 4 production of The Exonerated at Theatre Building Chicago. Another production of this play currently is on the boards at the Raven Theatre, so perhaps Serendipity will make another choice. Terrapin has struggled for direction since the still-unsolved murder of artistic director Brad Nelson Winter just over three years ago. The Collective will operate as a non-union troupe, although Terrapin formerly had been a CAT Tier N company.
In November, the Chicago Comedy Company Theatre will celebrate its first anniversary at Streets of Woodfield Mall, the big shoppers’ Nirvana in Schaumberg. Founded by Steve Matuszak in 1996, the Chicago Comedy Company (CCC) largely is known for its corporate entertaining. However, last year the troupe opened a cabaret for the general public at Streets of Woodfield Mall, scoring a hit with the original musical revue RETAIL: Music of the Mall. The follow-up show, A Collection of Silly, Sweet and Sordid Songs, closes this Sunday (Oct. 15) after a two-month run.
Dale Heinen, a founder and co-artistic director of the defunct Footsteps Theatre, returned to Chicago in September to direct the world premiere of Caravaggio at Silk Road Theatre Project. She lives in London now where she continues her directing career. “Chicago’s a friendlier town to work in [than London],” she observed. “I think the most exciting, original writers are currently coming out of the U.S.A…. I spend a lot of time talking about and promoting Chicago theatre.” Caravaggio runs Oct. 15-Nov. 26.
We haven’t heard that playwright William Inge is fashionable again, yet within the last nine months Chicago theatres have traversed all his hit plays: Bus Stop at Writers’ Theatre last winter, Picnic at the Oak Park Festival Theatre this summer, Come Back, Little Sheba at Shattered Globe (through Oct. 21) and The Dark at the Top of the Stairs at American Theatre Company (through Oct. 30). In addition, in 2005 the Artistic Home gave us an Inge failure, Natural Affection. Do we yearn for the sexually repressed 1950s?