BY LUCIA MAURO
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For as far back as he can remember, Criss Henderson has been putting on shows. Early on, they took place in his family’s basement and backyard. While growing up in Deerfield, Ill. he regularly gathered friends together and directed them in a cornucopia of comedies, dramas and even the village’s annual Independence Day musical revue. Not surprisingly, he started his own theatre company while still attending Deerfield High School.
At the time, little did he realize that someday he would be a key driving force behind the building of Chicago’s third largest non-profit theatre. And his efforts are being rewarded. Henderson, executive director of Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, will travel to the Kennedy Center on April 9 to receive the "Arts Administrator of the Year" award given by Arts Management magazine.
The honors have been pouring in for Henderson and CST’s founder-artistic director Barbara Gaines for the past few years since the pair spearheaded the construction of a $24 million facility on Navy Pier. The stunning glass theatre complex, which opened to much acclaim in the fall of 1999, is modeled after Stratford-Upon-Avon’s Swan Theatre.
Henderson was among 1998s top 40 business people under the age of 40 in Crain’s Chicago Business. The following year, he and Gaines were named Chicagoans of the Year by the Chicago Tribune. Henderson’s accomplishments include producing CST’s past 11 seasons (going back to its leaner days as Shakespeare Repertory based at the sight line-challenged Ruth Page Theatre); and launching Team Shakespeare, the company’s education program; Free Shakespeare in Grant Park; and Hyatt’s ShakesPIER Festival.
But the highly approachable administrator, with a modest disposition, is quick to praise his colleagues.
"I don’t take full credit for the growth of Chicago Shakespeare Theatre," says Henderson, 37, from his office overlooking an endless expanse of Lake Michigan. "I steered the car a little bit. It was Barbara’s vision, and it involved the passion and commitment of Barbara, our board members, our artists, our staff and the City.
"We were a storefront theatre becoming a major cultural institution. Initially, consultants told us that we would not be able to raise more than $6 million. But we raised in excess of $14 million. The timeline is staggering. Over the last three years, our growth has skyrocketed. Our resident playwright had a lot to do with that, too."
Now well into its second season at Navy Pier, CST has managed to successfully create programming and marketing strategies that appeal to tourists and locals willing to mix the Bard with a Spirit of Chicago cruise, a trip to the IMAX or a ride on the ferris wheel. Last summer, it presented a transfer of the Marriott Lincolnshire’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, a reprise of the ImprovOlympic’s Hamlet the Musical and its own abridged family version of Romeo and Juliet. Henderson reports that 50,000 people attended CST’s "Summer on Stage" initiative.
The current season opened with The Two Gentleman of Verona, followed by a studio production of Peter Whelan’s The Herbal Bed, the "World Stages" offering of the Stratford Festival of Canada’s production of Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s The School for Scandal; Barbara Gaine’s epic staging of King Lear (with multifaceted ensemble member Greg Vinkler marking his 20th CST performance in the title lead Feb. 9-April 22); and Peter Brook’s much-anticipated minimalist Hamlet in May. Each season is geared toward showing the range and possibility of Shakespeare, while giving audiences an opportunity to experience other playwrights and performance styles.
"This is a big glass building for a reason," notes Henderson. "We want it to be for all people. They can look in. It’s accessible with a lot of points of entry. I think our audiences are not necessarily diehard Shakespeare lovers; they’re theatre lovers."
When speaking of CST’s rapid expansion, Henderson does not resort to dry fundraising statistics and management-development theories–although a sturdy business plan and support from the board and the City of Chicago certainly pushed this project forward. He prefers to talk about the personalities involved; the people who worked tirelessly to "produce" what he views as the longest-running show in history: the bricks and mortar of a theatre facility.
Henderson and Gaines initially considered gutting the Ruth Page Theatre and turning it into a bona fide performance space. They also proposed buying the Royal George Theatre and reconfiguring it. But their plans shifted to more fluid environs in the summer of 1997.
"Barbara and I sat on a bench at Navy Pier," he recalls, "and it all suddenly made sense that this is where we had to build our theatre. Then we just hopped on the train and put it into high gear.
"I think from the start we said, if this didn’t work–if the City wasn’t interested in our plans–it wouldn’t be our fault. Our idea was to give the city an internationally recognized Shakespeare theatre. That goal could never be achieved in our old space. We are selling Chicago-style Shakespeare–a level of quality and high theatricality. It was our desire to leave a lasting theatre. We owed it to our artists, who have grown with us over the years, to give them a broader palette–and we owed it to our loyal audiences."
Most theatre artists are familiar with CST’s humble beginnings: a production of Henry V on the roof of Lincoln Park’s Red Lion Pub in 1986 and its move the following year to the Ruth Page Theatre, where it resourcefully staged a smattering of Shakespearean works on a small budget before officially launching a three-play season in 1994. Now CST reaches over 90,000 theatregoers; Team Shakespeare, its education program, exposes more than 50,000 secondary and middle-school students annually to the Bard.
Henderson joined the then-Shakespeare Repertory in 1990 as managing director when its office consisted of a third-floor walk-up apartment on Broadway. At that time, the man who seems to live in a suit remembers owning only one rather dated green suit (with padded shoulders) that he wore to his interview with Gaines.
"I didn’t have that much management experience," acknowledges Henderson. "And I didn’t go to a lot of Shakespeare productions either. But, over the years, I was given the luxury of getting hands-on experience.
"A decade ago, we weren’t programming all that heavily (about 10 weeks a year), there was no large staff to manage, and our annual budget was under $200,000. There were no prospects but a famous playwright and Barbara’s vision. Especially over that first five-year period, I learned through trial and error."
He continues, "The trend now is to attract administrators with MBAs. I think if I had a strong business background, I wouldn’t have had to suffer through all the trial and error. But it also let me create systems and skill bases appropriate for the work of this theatre."
Henderson cites 1993 as a pivotal year of positioning. The troupe put all its eggs in one basket in the hopes that Gaines’ production of King Lear (the only one that year) would be a smash hit and, therefore, open up more funding opportunities. The goal was to raise enough money to mount a three-play season and, ultimately, to establish a firm foundation of critical and financial support leading to the groundbreaking on Navy Pier. Fortunately, Lear was a success and, from that point on, Henderson has worked on putting a solid infrastructure and fundraising mechanism in place.
"I understand theatre as a product," explains Henderson. "I can take an idea and translate it into action. I also realize that you can’t administer art. It’s a contradiction. Art is a messy thing. Putting on a play is messy. Things change from day to day, from show to show.
"I was lucky. I had an organization that was small enough so I could try things and fail and try to learn how to manage. I think arts administration is something you need to do. You need to learn lessons over and over again. It’s about the people and the partnerships. Barbara founded a company and let me move it forward."
Henderson’s artistic background served him well. He realizes that the artistic and business sides must complement each other. His understanding of how a play takes shape gives him the flexibility to think on his feet and be resourceful. He’s not just juggling budgets and managing a staff. He’s actively involved in the artistic process.
At CST, Henderson and his staff cultivate those ties by joining the cast for breakfast on stage for the first day of rehearsal. They also get together for happy hour later in the run. This season, according to the executive director, CST will do 533 performances of 10 projects. He believes establishing a bond between the artists and administrators is crucial for a mutually beneficial working environment.
This approach can be traced to his early theatre years in Deerfield. After high school, Henderson started a theatre company called Seahorse–acting in and directing a variety of plays. Then he enrolled in the acting program of The Theatre School at DePaul University, only to find out that acting and directing were not his strongest suits.
"I was a horrible actor," says Henderson with a laugh. "And I was a fine director, but my instructors began to suggest that I look into different areas of theatre."
He took a number of courses in production design and stage management and found out that he was "an excellent stage manager." Henderson’s theatre degree from DePaul emphasized production management. While still in college, he expanded the ensemble of Seahorse and continued to put on shows throughout Chicago, but eventually disbanded the troupe.
In 1988–two years after graduating from DePaul–he moved into the arena of small-scale commercial productions, teaming up with local producers to form the production company of Banta, Salzenstein and Henderson. They produced the hit comedy A Girl’s Guide to Chaos at the Royal George Theatre and moved it to Boston. Two years later, he joined CST as managing director–a position that changed to producing director and its current title of executive director.
His experience extends to a variety of arts organizations. Henderson serves as president of P.A.C.T. (Producers’ Association of Chicago-area Theatres); on the board of directors for the Illinois Arts Alliance; and as a grants review panelist for the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. For many years, he was a member of the Jeff committee and a board member of the League of Chicago Theatres.
Henderson defines arts administration as more of a process than a finished plan.
"Theatre is a place of possibility," he says. "And audiences don’t see the people behind the curtain making sure things run smoothly. I’m the invisible guy. I subscribe more to the artistic side of theatre than to any one management theory.
"My job is like putting on a play. Instead of a text, actors and designers, I work with a set of resources, a board and a staff. We are improvising 24/7 for the life of the theatre."
Henderson then takes down a framed quote by Peter Brook from his wall and hands it to me. This, he says, is his foremost management principle:
"It’s no use making plans. In the Theatre we spend every free moment meeting, dining, drinking, phoning, by day and night, dreaming up projects–and although we believe in them and announce them, they are never what we finally do. We are ping-pong balls bouncing off the net of events. I’m always finding myself in the most unexpected places, volleyed from one spot to another by obstacles that suddenly arise."