BY LUCIA MAURO
It’s obvious from a roundtable-style interview with administrators and instructors that the Chicago Center for the Performing Arts (CCPA) is actively engaged in educating the whole artist. While they each bring individual approaches and theories, a collaborative energy gets set into motion as they share ways of teaming up and even creating a multidisciplinary CCPA ensemble. They’ll even take each other’s classes. Down the hall, rehearsal is in full swing in the 350-seat mainstage for Court Theatre’s "two-piano" version of My Fair Lady (running through May 26); and, downstairs, three more theatres (thrust, cabaret and black box) are being built.
The CCPA–officially opened in 2000 but challenged by construction delays–is now an 80,000-square-foot artistic mall-in-the making which, over the next two to three years or so, plans to encompass a large-scale training facility, theatres, restaurants and entertainment-related retailers. Located at 777 N. Green St., the facility is part of a gradually increasing River West theatre district, which includes Chicago Dramatists and the high school-level Chicago Academy for the Arts.
"The Chicago Center for the Performing Arts does not just serve as a roof of commonality," says Murray Schultz, chief operating officer. "Our programs do not operate independently. Our plan is to become a comprehensive facility that offers educational and commercial opportunities within the full spectrum of the arts."
Brothers Anthony and Joe Tomaska (of Tony 'n’ Tina’s Wedding fame) came upon this former Montgomery Ward warehouse–with its thick concrete reinforcements and exposed brick walls–in the mid-1990s while scouting out film locations. They purchased the building with the goal of shaping it into a multi-venue entertainment complex. Refurbishment and construction have been funded primarily through private funds and, according to Schultz, the learning process has been ongoing (especially in the arena of city licensing). So the CCPA is not setting definitive dates for completion. Meanwhile, its mainstage and training facilities are up and running.
The CCPA officially debuted with minimal fanfare in 2000 with Ron Hawkins’ His Way: A Tribute to the Man and His Music, followed one year later by the interactive mystery, A Dinner Party to Die For and, more recently, Miracle on 34th Street. In addition, a variety of theatre artists (adults and children) can study with industry professionals at the CCPA’s Training Center, Josephine Forsberg’s Players Workshop, the School of Music, and the Chicago Casting Center.
Janet Louer and Tina O’Brien–former agents with Harrise Davidson–co-founded the Training Center in cooperation with their Chicago Casting Center (also housed at CCPA) in order to give actors an all-encompassing education. The Casting Center itself focuses on film, television, Broadway and regional theatre.
"What do we think is the foundation of training?" clarifies Louer, who managed actress Heather Headley, "Multidisciplinary training–not one methodology. I’ve thought of it this way. If you could take an actor–like a baby–with no previous training, how would you structure their education?
"You would start from the body–using techniques like Plasticene and Laban–then you would spark the imagination through improv, move up to vocal training and then the text. We want to change the way people are trained, and we want to provide New York and L.A. with well-rounded people to cast."
The adult curriculum at the Training Center includes comprehensive classes in movement, textual improv, Shakespeare, advanced scene study, applied script analysis, as well as on-camera technique (sitcom, pilot season workout, acting for soaps) and a musical-theatre conservatory (with courses like Building a Repertoire–Acting the Song, Sondheim, and the Broadway Audition). Louer has crafted musical-theatre workshops affiliated with the Broadway productions of Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King. The co-directors’ goal is to strongly link training with casting. As casting directors, they are open-minded about seeing every actor an agent feels strongly about.
Louer and O’Brien work closely with Steve Roath, managing director of Players Workshop, and Richard Schieler, director of the School of Music. The CCPA team of instructors also envisions hands-on classes in TV writing and production.
Roath, who also serves as artistic director of Phoenix Ascending Theater, was recruited by Louer to move the 37-year-old Players Workshop to a solid venue. Roath’s goal is to retain Forsberg’s belief in improv’s potential for creativity more than treating it like a form of comedy.
"Improv is more than bathroom humor and sex," comments Roath. "Our improv is Meisner-based. It gets you out of your head and into your emotions. It’s about tapping into creativity and passion."
He adds that students are currently writing a sketch-comedy revue based on the writings of Erma Bombeck.
Louer points out that, from her experience in casting, it was difficult for improv-based actors to apply improv skills to a script: "Steve’s [Roath’s] idea is actor-based," she says, "so that improv—trained actors can transfer seamlessly to a script. We have an improv-to-sitcom class and integrated scene study taught by [Steppenwolf associate artist] Curt Columbus — textual improv on a Chekhov play."
Players Workshop–which includes a corporate training division–consists of seven terms: building an ensemble and trust through basic improvisation skills; Meisner-based acting; creating your environment and finding the arc of a scene; discovering the dimension of characters inside yourself; structuring a scene; improv styles from musical to satire; and creating, writing and directing your graduation show. A Players Workshop "Improv Retreat" will take place Aug. 16-18 in Lake Geneva, Wis.
Schieler, who heads the School of Music, finds that actors are interested in taking voice lessons (including proper projection techniques). One of the School’s most innovative programs is its Cubase Home Recording Studio Training/Studio Recording. These classes are designed for artists to build a home-recording studio from the ground up. The advanced software in the studio allows the user to record MIDI or audio, edit, add effects using VST plug-ins, mix down and burn a final product to CD. The Casting Center also uses the recording studio for voice-overs.
"We’re translating the education into performance," says Schultz, "because each school can utilize our theatres for performances."
CCPA is testing out its new slogan of "See a Star, Be a Star," which reinforces its dual performing/training purpose. And, as the downstairs construction continues, CCPA gets closer to being the one-stop-shop dream Schultz has termed "the Woodfield of the theatre community."
For more information on the Chicago Center for the Performing Arts, call 312/327-2040 or visit www.theaterland.com.