BY LUCIA MAURO
Ina Marlowe wants to set the record straight. The producing artistic director of Organic Theater Company insists that all the controversy surrounding the Organic-Touchstone merger was not the result of any clandestine plan to take over Organic and buy up its real estate. "Our plays were making money," she states. "The overhead was killing us. We [Touchstone] were a great company with no money. If we were Celestial Seasonings, Quaker Oats would have bought us."
As Organic embarks on a new partnership with Loyola University–whose 300-seat Kathleen Mullady Theatre on the Rogers Park campus Organic plans to make its home between May and mid-September (with another production in November/December)–Marlowe remains optimistic about ensuring the theatre’s stability. Organic is currently transitioning from its former fall-spring season and will open its 2002-03 season based on the old model–presenting the world premiere of Loyola alumna Dhana-Marie Branton’s Five Rooms of Furniture (Aug. 26-Sept. 15).
Before we jump back to 1995 when two theatres–Organic and Touchstone–with opposing aesthetics but a compatible need for survival joined forces, let’s take a look at the company’s emerging identity on a university campus. According to Sarah Gabel, associate professor and chair of Loyola University’s Theatre Department, both the college and Organic share artistic ties.
"There are about 50 artists with an Organic-Loyola connection over the past 10 years," says Gabel, who directed Organic’s production of The Fantasticks. "We share similar aesthetics…focusing attention on strong, tried-and-true writers–especially American and British writers–and supporting new work. We both pay close attention to [scripts rooted in] the examining of ethics."
Jonathan Wilson, a longtime Organic artistic associate who is directing Five Rooms of Furniture, teaches at Loyola. Branton was one of his students. Managing director Katie Klemme is a Loyola graduate. Many opportunities, therefore, exist for pooling resources and creating internships and possibly co-productions.
Gabel, however, points out that Organic is not in residence at Loyola. This is considered a "partnership," and Gabel says that both parties are in the process of "determining if it’s the right fit for both of us," adding that Loyola will evaluate the situation after each production.
On a related note, Gabel reports that Loyola University is looking to open a storefront theatre space in Rogers Park, but no specific plans have been set into motion.
Marlowe, who has been plagued by the torments of space problems, is determined to make the Loyola-Organic arrangement more permanent.
"This is the nicest space I’ve worked in," says Marlowe. "My heart’s desire was to have a space like this [the proscenium-style Kathleen Mullady Theatre]. There are advantages to being on a college campus, like joint efforts with the Theatre Department and a large alumni base."
Then she heaves a big sigh of relief and admits, "We’ve gone through so many transitions, I think people are just glad the air conditioning works and we’re near an 'eL ’stop."
That statement refers to the saga of the past seven years in which Touchstone (the literary-based theatre Marlowe founded in 1985 at Woodlands Academy in Lake Forest) was dissolved and Organic’s identity re-shaped against a backdrop of nerve-wracking space negotiations and a steady hemorrhaging of money.
Because it would take volumes to recount the original Organic Theater’s legendary history, suffice it to say that the troupe–incorporated in 1972 by Stuart Gordon, Carolyn Gordon and Stuart Glicken–began as an itinerant company before settling for a while at the downstairs space at the former Body Politic. Its world-premiere production of David Mamet’s Sexual Perversity in Chicago has been credited with defining the hard-edged "Chicago theatre style." Organic helped launch the careers of Joe Mantegna and Dennis Franz.
By 1995, however, Organic Theater–which had by then bought the space at 3319 N. Clark–was essentially a rental house. After various board shake ups, it also was faced with major financial problems. Marlowe says that Organic was looking for a company with which to merge. At the same time, the financially strapped Touchstone Theatre–known for its attention to language–and character-based plays, like Hedda Gabler and The Seagull, as well as new works–also was trying to team up with another company.
A few years earlier, Touchstone–which had been producing plays at the Theatre Building and Halsted Theatre Center, with Kevin Snow as resident designer–had moved to its space at 2851 N. Halsted, where high costs and lack of a solid infrastructure hindered the theatre’s future.
"The Organic board had seen my early work," explains Marlowe. "They were looking for someone who was an artistic director, a producer and who was ridiculously tenacious. I was all three. I will walk on ground glass to make things happen."
She reports that, during a meeting with Organic board members, they appointed Marlowe "artistic leader" of the new merger. At this point, Organic had no audience base since it was primarily a rental house, but the board wanted the name to survive. On July 1, 1996, the merger became official. Touchstone dissolved and was absorbed by Organic–whose name Marlowe understood would increase her more literary-based aesthetics profile. Organic’s main asset was its building, which Marlowe planned to move into. That’s when monumental challenges surfaced.
A long and complicated story, the new Organic under Marlowe’s direction could not produce immediately at 3319 N. Clark because a commercial production of Clue: The Musical was running indefinitely in the space. Meanwhile, she says she was renegotiating her lease at 2851 N. Halsted. With no signs of Clue closing, Marlowe renewed her Halsted space lease (essentially being in charge of two theatres). Plus, as Organic, the company’s Equity status shot up from zero to five Equity contracts. Then, almost immediately, Clue closed.
"I had more than one space, high rent, a mortgage and my board dissolved," shares Marlowe. "Then we discovered that the Organic space had several Code violations, which we didn’t have the money to fix. I had a white elephant.
"In the meantime, I could not stop producing in the Halsted space. So we thought we could rent commercial productions at 3319 N. Clark. But that really didn’t happen. We negotiated with Blue Man Group and others. Grants we thought we could get as a merged company never came through. We were so financially drained that we had no choice but to sell the Organic space at 3319."
Artistic successes at 2851 N. Halsted included Racing Demon with Mike Nussbaum, Love! Valour! Compassion!, Coming of the Hurricane, and An American Daughter. But, as Marlowe mentioned before, her company could not handle the overhead. In 1999, Organic was renting space to Famous Door and Red Hen but still losing money. They stayed afloat thanks to a 1998 Resurrection Health Care-commissioned play about breast-cancer awareness, The Gift, written by Marlowe’s husband Ken (a longtime administrator at Goodman Theatre). Collected Stories was the last play Organic produced in that space.
With almost no resources, Organic moved in 1999 to Evanston (the Marlowe’s live in Skokie), hoping to be supported by the community–a dream Marlowe claims never materialized. She made a deal with the Evanston YMCA and Child Care Center–which really looks like a day care center, not a theatre–that included free office space in an adjoining garage. Organic continued to produce Midwest premieres, neglected classics and new pieces. They worked with playwrights John Henry Redwood on Wilson’s production of The Old Settler and Richard Nelson for Marlowe’s staging of Goodnight Children Everywhere. But more setbacks ensued, including subscribers who voiced complaints over certain productions.
"They also hated the space," says Marlowe. "People would yell at me in the lobby about how much they hated the space."
In 2000, Katie Klemme became managing director and took a large part of managing the theatre off Marlowe’s shoulders. A board slowly developed. But Organic was destined to move again, and the Loyola partnership happened, well, somewhat organically. Today the tenacious artistic director believes she can finally breathe.
"I was damned if Organic Theater was gonna die under my watch," insists Marlowe. "I felt like Mother Courage three-fourths of the time carrying the whole fucking thing on my back.
"But today, we’ve got younger artists involved, and there’s a fresh new energy happening. We have a new board, and we held our first retreat. The organization seems ready to build correctly."
Organic’s 2002-03 season includes Edward Albee’s The Lady from Dubuque and Sleuth, starring Tony Mockus and Tony Mockus, Jr.