12-24-04
From PPAs to the Paper Mill Playhouse— Chicago’s Theatrical News in Review
BY BECKY BRETT
League Helps Streamline PPA Process
This time last year five off-Loop theatres were shut down during the biggest revenue-generating time of the year due to problems with their Public Place of Amusement (PPA) licenses. The League of Chicago Theatres worked diligently with the City of Chicago to make this process easier.
League President and CEO Marj Halperin announced at the CommUNITY retreat this past August that the City of Chicago Department of Revenue was finalizing details of a new PPA license designed specifically for theatres and offering a simplified, streamlined application process.
“The great thing is, they have made steps to improve this process all along, from every meeting we’ve had,” noted Halperin. “The city has been very cooperative.”
According to Ben Thiem, member services manager for the League, the application has been cut from 26 pages down to eight or nine. It is not yet available online until early in the new year, and key members of the staff and board still need to be fingerprinted.
If they need help with their application, member theatres can call the League for help at 312/554-9800.
Breadline Tightens Security After Robbery
In May members of Breadline Theatre were recovering from a violent robbery in which a box office staffer was punched in the face. The thief made off with the cash box containing a little more than $200.
Since the incident, additional safety measures have been put in place to ensure no repeat performances. According to Breadline PR director Heather Carpenter, three main changes have effected their security: No one is left in the lobby alone, the lobby doors are locked to the outside once the show begins, and all cash is removed once the show starts, so there is nothing to steal.
“We want to have a welcoming theatre without compromising the safety of our people,” said Carpenter, assuring us that the hassle of letting in latecomers one by one is worth the extra measure of safety. She noted that their biggest problem was not that the money was in sight, but that someone was able to take advantage of the pre-show chaos and wander around the lobby to see where it was kept.
Other theatres rent Breadline’s space as well. They are informed of the theatre’s policies and why they are in place, but it is up to each company to decide how they want to handle security for their own performances.
Claussen Heads to New Jersey
In October Diane Claussen bid Court Theatre fond farewell when she resigned her position as executive director and went to New Jersey’s Paper Mill Playhouse. She is their new managing director under the leadership of president and CEO Michael Gennaro.
Since Claussen’s departure, the Court has retained the services of executive search firm Albert Hall & Associates to find a permanent replacement. They have performed executive searches for Actors’ Theatre of Louisville, the Goodman Theatre, New York’s Public Theatre and Seattle Repertory Theatre, among many others. In the meantime, Alan Salzenstein will serve as interim managing director under contract until next spring.
Salzenstein brings considerable experience to the Court as former executive director of the Metropolis Performing Arts Centre in Arlington Heights and former managing director of the Apple Tree Theatre in Highland Park. Currently he operates a small private practice as an entertainment attorney and coordinates the Performing Arts Management Program at DePaul University—activities he will maintain while in service at the Court.
As for Claussen, she is settling in nicely at the Paper Mill. She is most impressed at the “sense of long history and commitment of the community, staff and board” to the 68-year-old institution. She and Gennaro are working to help the theatre respond to a changing demographic and difficult economic climate still dogging American non-profit theatre. “It is a community in transition as a lot of older residents are selling their big beautiful homes and moving away,” Claussen says.
Having worked in several theatres in different communities, Claussen knows that the essential challenges remain the same. “You still produce art, and you still have to find an audience for that art.”
And yes, she does miss Chicago.
French Theatre a Hit in Chicago
In October and November the French Consulate General sponsored a festival of contemporary French theatre. Approximately 5,500 people saw 23 shows in various performances at venues around the city.
From full run productions to staged readings to panel discussions, organizers feel the festival was an artistic and popular success. Perhaps the highlight performance, according to cultural attaché and sometime festival producer Yannick Mercoyrol, was the presentation of Black Battles with Dogs by Bernard-Marie Koltès, performed in translation by 7 Stages from Atlanta.
Mercoyrol said that their primary goal was to “open up contemporary French theatre to a new audience.” In fact, the festival wove itself into the fabric of a busy Chicago theatre season, with 17 of the 23 productions being presented by local theatres such as Trap Door, TUTA, Piccolo Theatre, Wing & Grove and European Repertory Company.
French theatre artists also held workshops at several area universities as well as public panel discussions. “It was important to give visibility to new writers, directors and techniques,” noted Mercoyrol.
It is worth noting that the festival received widespread support among the cultural community, including major foundations such as Driehaus, Dr. Scholl, Donnelly and the Chicago Community Trust. Only one-third of the funding for this festival was provided by the French government. “It was important that they know we do not come from France with arrogance and only the support of ourselves,” noted Mercoyrol.
Another festival is not in the works for next year—Francophile theatregoers will need to travel to New York City for their “Act French” festival. However, the staff of four (plus two interns) who produced “Playing French” may be up for it again in 2006. Mercoyrol discussed possibly shortening it to six weeks instead of two months, inviting as many as three major productions from France and attracting more of the Chicago theatre community to the festival.
VG Keeps Trying
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| Kati Brazda and Fritz Weaver in Victory Garden's premiere of Trying. |
Zagat’s, publisher of restaurant reviews generated by the general public also publishes a survey of New York theatre, which presents ratings by audience members rather than critics. Trying spent several weeks in top slots for its category, and according to lead producer Michael Leavitt, even hit the big-time. “One week they combined the Broadway and off-Broadway categories and we were number one. We beat The Lion King!”
Popular acclaim notwithstanding, the production is scheduled to close Jan. 2, 2005. Of its early closing, Leavitt said that it is just “too hard” to get through January and February in New York.
Victory Gardens has another big project in the works with the purchase and renovation of the historic Biograph Theatre. A $15 million capital campaign is underway, garnering early public and private support.
For those of you who have not finished your Holiday shopping yet, naming rights for the main stage at the Biograph are still available for just $1 million.
2004 YEAR-IN-REVIEW
Trends in Chicago Theatre in 2004
Annual Report: A Healthy Year in Chicago Theatre
A Year of Scattershot Splendor
Five Reasons to be Optimistic and a Couple, Three More Not to Be