10-26-07
Raven Theatre at 25
The Raven Theatre in Edgewater embarks on their 25th anniversary season this fall—the sixth in their current location at Clark and Granville. Perhaps more aptly called a phoenix due to their death and rebirth in 2000-2002, Raven is going strong with an expansion in their artistic scope and educational programs, and the addition of a full-time general manager this fall. But what happened to Raven off stage is just as interesting as what happens on stage.
Raven was founded as an ensemble-based company, and I had the opportunity to speak not only with the founders, Michael Menendian and JoAnn Montemurro, but with ensemble members Chuck Spencer and Liz Fletcher. It was on the strength and commitment of the ensemble that Raven was able to weather two years of not producing theatre and transition to where they are today.
Founded in 1983 (the official 25th “birthday” is March, 2008), Raven began producing plays in a converted postal station in Rogers Park. They had a successful 15-year run in that space until 1998/99 when they learned the Chicago Board of Education planned to buy the entire block of buildings for a new school.
After a much-lauded production of A View from the Bridge, Raven ceased production for two years while finding, funding and building out their new space. However, thanks to their (at the time) new education outreach program, Raven did not cease operations entirely.
Spencer recalled, “It was a big blow to lose the space, but the Raven in that [new] space is really an incredible story.”
Company members and community leaders alike banded together to make the new theatre a reality. Menendian and Spencer both praised Alderman Patrick O’Connor of the 40th ward for his help throughout the process, saying that without him it never would have happened.
Company member Mark Yates, who also happened to be a practicing real estate attorney, offered his services in the move and in opening the new theatre. Fletcher also stepped up when called upon and served as the company’s director of development during that transition.
“Fundraising was our biggest challenge because the budget kept growing due to city demands,” said Menendian. “There are very strict codes and we had to change things [in the new space] right to the very core.” They did keep the shell of the building, since a complete teardown would have likely cost twice as much.
Fletcher helped raise what ended up being $2 million for the purchase and renovation of the former grocery store into the two-theatre complex we know today. Fletcher has been acting with the company since 1991 and became a company member in 1997.
“I’d never actually done a job like development director before,” she said, and taking on that job was a big commitment, as it left no time for acting. Fletcher, who subsequently won two Jeff Citations for her acting work with Raven, went almost three years before she appeared on stage again.
“I was working 20-30 hrs a week on actually trying to convince people to give us money,” she said. “Because it was my favorite theatre company in Chicago, I wanted it to live. I signed on for whatever was going to happen next. None of us really knew how much it was going to cost and how much time it was going to take and how many hoops we were going to have to jump through.”
“We went from a 70-seat storefront to a 200 seat complex,” said Menendian. Budget-wise the leap was even more extraordinary—from approximately $100,000 a year to the $2 million build-out.
“There were all kinds of nightmares with building,” said Menendian. “It was scary for us to go from a small storefront to a theatre complex, but after 15 years of storefront, I wasn’t going to look for another storefront for another 15 years.”
Although the contractors did the major construction, company members came in to do things like paint and install shelves—sometimes well into the wee hours of the morning, and while still working their day jobs.
Raven was scheduled to open the new space with a production of Scott McPherson’s Marvin’s Room, which was put off several times due to construction delays. Fletcher, who was slated to play Lee, and Spencer recalled what a triumph it was to finally open that show.
“I remember when JoAnn and I were looking for pants for Neil [the boy cast as Charlie],” said Fletcher. They found pants that were too long for him, which they felt would be in character with the family’s economic status. However the production was delayed so long that, according to Fletcher, “The pants started out rolled up and by the end of the run they were floods,” as the boy hit his growth spurt.
All the 4 a.m. paint-a-thons were worth it, though. Menendian loves the new space and the freedom it affords not only his directing, but also his designers. He also emphasized, “The support that we’ve gotten in the neighborhood, working with the different schools and with the neighbors, has been great.”
Raven has felt comfortable enough to recently expand their artistic mission to include the great plays of Europe and Russia, producing Dancing at Lughnasa and The Seagull in recent seasons. Although they are interested in spreading their creative wings, Menendian was sure that they would “always come back to our home base that is American theatre.”
Not every foray off the beaten path is a success, and “sometimes you take a chance that’s so outside the box from what you usually do,” said Menendian. Twelve years ago they read a play they thought was hysterically funny. It was The Elvis by Will Kern, a Monty Python-esque musical comedy. It also went down as Raven’s greatest commercial failure.
“The critics ripped it apart and nobody came. The lesson was since we’re not known for musical theatre perhaps we shouldn’t do something so unknown. But we look on it with fondness,” laughed Menendian.
Even today, with their community support and critical acclaim, Raven wouldn’t want to afford too many more commercial failures. Menendian noted, “We created certain expectations from our audience. When you vary from that, you’re asking people to take a big chance on you. Two years ago we did Dancing at Lughnasa, which was a departure for us because it wasn’t American, but it gave us confidence that we could branch out.”
That confidence also comes from knowing you have a core ensemble of actors, directors, designers and administrators who provide the foundation from which to experiment. Several ensemble members have been with the company 20-21 years. Although Menendian and Montemurro (as founders) make all major artistic decisions, the company has always been ensemble-based.
However, the company is non-Equity, so hanging on to those ensemble members as they union-up hasn’t been easy. Fortunately Raven has occasionally made special arrangements with Equity so that ensemble members may still perform with the company. “It’s few and far-between,” said Menendian, but it’s an option when the role calls for it.
Mostly they remain non-Equity because they produce large ensemble plays (think 10-plus characters). “It’s very difficult to consider Equity with such a large number of contracts,” said Menendian. “We’d always be looking for plays with less than six characters.”
Looking ahead to their 25th anniversary season, Raven is opening with Tennessee Williams’ Night of the Iguana, which had been on their “shortlist” for several years. “When we pick what we think is a great American play, we’re attracted to the storyline of course and a lot of times we weigh it against the limitations of casting and whether or not we’re ready to cast it,” said Menendian.
Also in their upcoming season is Columbinus, written by Stephen Karam and PJ Paparelli, and directed by Greg Kolak who also directed The Exonerated. It is a play about the Columbine massacre, so the theatre plans a special outreach effort with panel discussions and underwriting to be able to bring in high school groups for free or at a very low cost. This production is a Chicago premiere. The first half focuses on the culture of the school, and the second half deals with the two young men.
Beyond what happens on stage, Menendian looks forward to growing the administrative areas of the company so that he can focus more on the artistic side. “We’re looking at bringing on a full-time general manager later in the fall,” he said.
And having gone from a 70-seat storefront to a 200-seat complex, he recognizes the need to grow the audience as well through additional marketing efforts and expanding their database.
All in all, with their ensemble and core audience in place, Raven is poised to soar ahead.